Am Fam Physician. 2006;73(10):1683
Under the direction of Editor Jay Siwek, M.D., the AFP medical editors examine each manuscript and department for accuracy and practicality. This second in a three-part profile looks at AFP's four associate editors. Four other editors were highlighted in the May 1 issue; the remaining team profiles will appear in the June 1 issue.
Barbara Apgar
Associate Editor Barbara Apgar, M.D., M.S., is a professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. After obtaining her medical degree and completing a residency at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, she completed a Faculty Development Fellowship at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Dr. Apgar began her association with AFP in 1995 and currently edits and develops manuscripts. She has a primary role in editing and formulating questions for the Clinical Quiz, and also coordinates the Advance Life Support in Obstetrics series for AFP. Dr. Apgar says she relishes her work and the opportunities it provides to assist new authors in the editorial process.
Clarissa C. Kripke
Associate Editor Clarissa C. Kripke, M.D., is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She obtained her medical degree at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa., and completed her residency at Fairfax (Va.) Family Practice. Dr. Kripke began her association with AFP as a medical editing fellow (1998–1999), and completed the Northern California Faculty Development Fellowship (2000–2001).
As a manuscript editor and coordinator of the Cochrane for Clinicians department, Dr. Kripke finds it “a pleasure to work with the authors and manuscript editors of the top clinical journal.” She also feels a responsibility to ensure AFP is accurate, objective, and practical.
“I was humbled to learn that AFP readers submit nearly 1.5 million credits of CME from the quiz cards each year,” she said. “Knowing that the information in AFP is really being used keeps me focused.”
Sumi M. Sexton
Associate Editor Sumi M. Sexton, M.D., is an assistant professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine and is president of Premier Primary Care Physicians, P.C., in Arlington, Va. After earning her medical degree at the University of Miami School of Medicine, she completed her residency at the Georgetown University-Providence Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program; she also was an AFP medical editing fellow (2000–2001).
Dr. Sexton has coordinated the complementary and alternative medicine, radiology, and the American Heart Association article series; formulated Clinical Quiz questions for evidence-based departments; and edited various departments. She finds her work on the journal compelling: “Once I started, I couldn't stop, because the editing is so rewarding,” she said. “It allows me to enrich my organizational and writing skills, creativity, and medical knowledge—all at the same time.”
There are negatives, too, such as the occasional manuscript that fails critical review. “Rejection letters are difficult to write,” she said. “But ultimately, the readers' needs are the priority.”
Anne D. Walling
Associate Editor Anne D. Walling, M.B., Ch. B., F.F.P.H.M., is a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the associate dean of Faculty Development at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. After receiving her medical degree from St. Andrews University, Scotland, she completed her residency at Dundee Teaching Hospitals, Scotland, and is a fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Physicians.
Joining AFP in 1989, Dr. Walling has edited manuscripts, authored Tips from Other Journals, and edited the Quantum Sufficit department. She takes pride in the journal's usefulness: “When I visit a physician's office, I am delighted to see AFP not just in the office but usually open—or tables and diagrams torn out and being used.”
Dr. Walling has kept her sense of humor. “I once met a ‘fan’ at a conference who praised me to the skies,” she recalls. “Then he said, ‘I thought you would be taller'.”