75 and counting — A look back at TAFP’s 2023

Last year saw a big anniversary for the Academy, an exciting update to TAFP’s CME program, wonderful leaders for Texas family medicine, and so much more. Read on to learn about the Academy’s work, achievements, and celebrations as of late. And as always, check your inbox for TAFP News Now and stay connected with us on social media to always be in the know.

As of November 2023, TAFP had 5,528 active members across the state and a total membership of 9,095, which included 1,043 family medicine residents and 1,860 medical students. TAFP typically retains about 94% of active members from year to year, and more than 74% of eligible family physicians in Texas are TAFP members.

Not only are TAFP live CME events back in full force since pandemic-related event cancellations, but we’ve transitioned to a dual in-person and online model. Since the Texas Family Medicine Symposium in June 2023, all CME events have been offered in-person like always, with an additional online option for attendees to partake in the education from wherever works best for their schedules. The online option also added video playback of all CME content for in-person attendees as well. We will continue this model for all 2024 events.

More than 1,000 people attended live TAFP events in 2023, with an additional 492 online attendees. Approximately 481 physicians worked toward their maintenance of certification through TAFP’s 18 Knowledge Self-Assessment Workshops. Of those 18 workshops, 12 were offered virtually and six were offered in person in conjunction with TAFP CME events.

TAFP is one of the few state chapters that is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and was successfully reaccredited in 2022 for another four years. TAFP has remained accredited continuously since 1996.

Thank you to TAFP’s leaders

The Academy is led by the board of directors, as well as a set of officers. Many TAFP members volunteer their time serving our parent organization, AAFP, in a number of ways. Thank you to everyone who serves TAFP, AAFP, and organized medicine as a whole!

Thank you to the 2023-2024 officers: President Terrance Hines, MD; President-Elect Lindsay Botsford, MD, MBA; Treasurer Ike Okwuwa, MD; Parliamentarian Adrian Billings, MD, PhD; and Immediate Past President Emily Briggs, MD, MPH.

TAFP would also like to thank current TAFP board members: Lane Aiena, MD; Kathryn Baker, MS; Adrian Billings, MD, PhD;

Lindsay Botsford, MD, MBA; Emily Briggs, MD, MPH; Tricia Elliott, MD; Terrance Hines, MD; Farron Hunt, MD; Ashok Kumar; MD; Amanda Mohammed-Strait, MD; Donald Niño, MD; Kasiemobi Okonkwo, MD; Ike Okwuwa, MD; Sherri Onyiego, MD, PhD; and Rashmi Rode, MD.

Numerous TAFP members represent Texas to AAFP each year, including to the Congress of Delegates. The 2023 delegation included Emily Briggs, MD, MPH; Tricia Elliott, MD; Clare Hawkins, MD; and Ashok Kumar, MD. Thank you to all for representing Texas to the national Academy!

TAFP members also attend AAFP’s National Conference of Constituency Leaders each year. Thank you to these family physicians for serving in 2023, representing both Texas as well as their underrepresented constituencies: Gerald Banks, MD; Olusesan Olotu, MD; Kelly Bennett, MD; Terrance Hines, MD; Jessica Garcia, DO; Bharat Joshi, MD; Jean Ghosn, MD; Jessica Glick, DO; Rida Khan, MD; and Dyanna Fountain, MD.

TAFP is well-represented in other medical organizations. In May 2024, Sam Mathis, MD, completed a two-year term in the young physician seat on the TMA Board of Trustees. Dr. Mathis and Linda Siy, MD, were elected by TMA to serve on their AMA delegation. Greg Fuller, MD, was elected in 2023 to serve as a trustee on the TMA Board of Trustees, and Rodney Young, MD, won a seat on the TMA board in 2024. Additionally, David Schneider, MD, is the board chair and immediate past president of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine.

Celebrating the 2023 TAFP award winners

Every fall, TAFP’s annual awards are announced at the Annual Session and Primary Care Summit. Here are the 2023 winners.

Ron Cook, DO, MBA, was named the Texas Family Physician of the Year for his years of service as chief health officer for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, as well as his community work during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cook quickly became a trusted local expert for the city of Lubbock and the wider West Texas area. Numerous colleagues nominated Cook for his warm approach and ability to give comfort and hope during uncertain times.

Alyssa Molina, MD, MPH, was named the Public Health Award winner for her tireless efforts to set up treatment and transfer protocols in the early days of the pandemic. Molina collaborated with the regional medical director to make sure they received necessary supplies and medications when urban facilities stopped accepting transfers. She was instrumental in organizing local and countywide vaccine clinics, resulting in thousands of at-risk citizens receiving the vaccine early. Molina is faculty at the Conroe Family Medicine Residency Program, and previously practiced full-scope family medicine in Eagle Lake, Texas. Her nominator, Russell Thomas, DO, called her efforts “nothing short of heroic,” saying that her work on behalf of the county reflects the “true dedication of a compassionate physician.”

Mary Nguyen, MD, and Lloyd Van Winkle, MD, were announced as the TAFP Foundation Philanthropists of the Year. They have both been generous donors to the TAFP Foundation for many years. With their sponsorship of the Foundation fundraising event at the 2023 Annual Session, they crossed over to the Pioneer level of giving — the highest level in the cumulative donor program. They have both served on the Foundation Board of Trustees and they frequently volunteer to review scholarship applications or other activities that keep the Foundation moving. They are in private practice together in Castroville, Texas. In addition to being generous donors themselves, they are excellent at encouraging others to give. They also personally work toward the Foundation’s mission by nurturing medical students and residents in their practice.

Victoria Udezi, MD, MPH, was named the Diversity and Health Equity Leadership Award winner for her strong advocacy for health equity through education, scholarship, and community engagement. She is the director of diversity and inclusion for the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UT Southwestern in Dallas, and the assistant program director of the Community Medicine Fellowship there. She also co-directs the community health rotation, the Health Equity Advocacy and Research Training Track, and the Global Health Track. Under her DEI leadership and through departmental and community collaborations, the department has implemented bias trainings, revision of recruitment efforts, an annual department anti-racism challenge, and more.

Mark T. Nadeau, MD, was named the Full-Time Faculty Exemplary Teaching Award winner, for his ability to set the tone for a lifetime of learning. He is the program director for the UT Health San Antonio Department of Family and Community Medicine Residency Program, as well as faculty at the UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is a distinguished teaching professor and founding member of the Long School of Medicine’s Academy of Educational Scholars. Nadeau also serves as a board member for the TAFP Alamo Chapter. Nominators repeatedly mentioned Nadeau’s way of tailoring his teaching style to accommodate diverse learning needs, and his ability to promote curiosity and critical thinking.

TAFP partnerships and advocacy

TAFP launched the Partners in Health program in 2023, as a way to connect family physicians with organizations committed to supporting family medicine and promoting the health of all Texans. Our Partners in Health provide patient education and high-value tools designed to help family physicians and their care teams deliver well-coordinated, comprehensive primary care. Learn more about the program and the partners at tafp.org/partners-in-health.

TAFP is also affiliated with a number of coalitions as a way to advocate for the family physicians and patients of Texas. This includes working with the Texas Public Health Coalition as a charter member. Created in 2006, the coalition is a collection of organizations that share an interest in advancing the core public health principles at the state and community levels. In particular, the coalition addresses the leading causes of death and disability in Texas, which includes cancer, tobacco usage, stroke, and obesity.

The Texas Immunization Stakeholder Working Group is a coalition of public sector, private sector, and community groups that TAFP participates in. It was formulated as a recommendation of various studies and legislation passed by the 78th Texas Legislature to increase partnerships across the state to raise vaccine coverage levels and improve immunization practices for all Texans.

TAFP is also a member of the Texas Women’s Healthcare Coalition, which is made up of statewide partners ranging from health care and public policy organizations to faith-based groups. The coalition advocates for sufficient funding for state programs that provide accessible health care to low- and moderate-income women across Texas.

And lastly, TAFP is a member of the Texas Tobacco Control Coalition, which is made up of diverse organizations with an aim to reduce the use of tobacco and e-cigarette products, as well as increase the number of quit attempts in Texas through evidence-based strategies.

TAFP jumps into the future

The newly redesigned tafp.org was officially launched in 2023. The new site houses all the same informative content, but in a new, more modern design that is both easier to navigate and much more functional across all devices, including your smartphone. Some content has been reorganized to create a better overall flow of the site’s usage, so if you haven’t poked around on it much yet, we highly recommend you reacquaint yourself!

TAFP’s Family Medicine Leadership Experience is proud to have graduated another class of future family medicine leaders. The latest FMLE class of 14 family physicians completed their program in the fall of 2023 after a year’s worth of leadership development through interactive learning sessions, didactic lectures, and small-group breakouts. Physicians in the program learned about advocating, communicating, negotiating, resolving conflicts, public speaking, interacting with the media, and more. The program was developed as a way to equip family doctors with the skills needed to lead their physician groups, health care systems, academic institutions, community organizations, and professional societies.

After much success with FMLE, we launched the similar Resident Leadership Experience in 2022. The program’s first class of 21 residents graduated from the yearlong program in 2023, and the second class of 21 will graduate in the spring of 2024. Participants experienced content similar to that of FMLE, but delivered in a way that was more relevant to residents. The sessions are a mix of in person and virtual, with topics such as interpersonal skills, advocacy, communications, media training, and more. TAFP would like to also thank Drs. Jean Ghosn, Jessica Glick, Farron Hunt, Rashmi Rode, Puja Sehgal, and Gurjeet Shokar for serving as mentors to the RLE class.

As you may know, TAFP has been the administrator of the Texas Family Medicine Preceptorship Program since 2011. The program is designed to match first- and second-year students enrolled in Texas medical schools with experienced family physicians for a two- or four-week period to help them gain real-life experience in a community setting, giving them the opportunity to explore what it truly means to be a family physician. The state restored funding for TFMPP in 2015, which means students are once again earning stipends for the rotations they complete with family physicians.

Thank you to all physicians who have served as preceptors over the years, and thank you to the program’s director, Adrian Billings, MD, PhD. Because of you, TFMPP was able to match 205 medical students across the state for rotations with family physicians in 2023. And thank you to those who have already signed up to volunteer their time this summer for the program.

TAFP’s councils hard at work

TAFP’s three councils continued the new council forums throughout 2023, in addition to holding their typical business meetings. Forums give the councils the opportunity to provide updates on their work to TAFP’s broader membership, and to invite speakers on topics within their purview. This allows for more active members to hear from guest speakers, rather than just council members. The forums are now held in conjunction with the Member Assembly. The councils have each been busy in their own right lately — check out some of their work.

The Council on Medical Practice works to support the family physicians of Texas and their practices, which encompasses everything from physician well-being and professional development, to practice viability and health system reform. The council recently invited TAFP member Michelle Owens, DO, FAAHPM, to speak to the broader membership about the resiliency narrative and how it may harm physicians’ well-being. At the request of TAFP’s board of directors, the council has recently been overseeing some work of the Academy that focuses on new payment models, most notably, value-based care. Member Peter Venezuela, MD, MBA, released a “Value-Based Care 101” video in collaboration with TAFP, as part of our value-based care resource toolkit. Check out the full toolkit at tafp.org/healthy-practice.

The Council on the Health of the Public works to improve the health of Texans and their communities through advocating for access to care, improving the quality of care, and supporting clinical research. In 2023 the council conducted a survey to identify public health priorities the TAFP membership thinks the Academy should be focusing on. The survey found that top priorities are mental and behavioral health, affordable care, access to care, and physician well-being. The council recently invited representatives from the CPAN-adjacent program, PeriPAN, to discuss their hotline for physicians. The recently launched Perinatal Psychiatry Access Network is available in select Texas regions for clinicians to call when treating pregnant women and new mothers who may be experiencing mental health distress.

The Council on Workforce and Member Engagement works to advance the specialty of family medicine and strengthen TAFP through ensuring a sufficient health care workforce, to create strong family physician leaders, and to host and support an engaged community of family physicians across Texas. The work of the council includes interacting with, supporting, and creating opportunities for family medicine residents and students, as well as fostering new family medicine leaders through programs like FMLE and the newly created RLE. The council was instrumental in creating the RLE curriculum and new initiatives to target our future workforce before medical school. In recent years, TAFP began collaborating with HOSA Future Health Professionals to support high school students interested in careers in health care.

TAFP celebrates 75 years

In 2023, TAFP celebrated 75 years of working and advocating for the family physicians of Texas. In honor of such a big birthday, here’s some Academy history.

TAFP was originally founded in 1948 as the Texas Academy of General Practice. The national equivalent was founded the year prior in 1947, “to promote and maintain high quality standards for family doctors who are providing continuing comprehensive health care to the public,” according to AAFP. TAFP was the fifth chartered state chapter of AAGP, and J.B. Copeland, MD, of San Antonio, served as the Academy’s first president.

The TAFP Foundation was organized in 1960, and still to this day works to support educational and scientific initiatives of family medicine to improve the health of all Texans. Through the generous contributions of members, corporations, and friends, the Foundation funds student scholarships, research, resident activities, and more.

In 1971, AAGP rebranded to the American Academy of Family Physicians we know today, and TAFP soon followed suit. The name change was meant to more accurately reflect the changing nature of family medicine.

TAFP now represents more than 9,000 members across Texas — family physicians, family medicine residents, and medical students — throughout 33 local TAFP chapters. TAFP is the state’s largest medical specialty organization. Thank you all for an incredible 75 years!

TAFP wouldn’t be the strong advocacy and education organization we are without our members — the family physicians of Texas, family medicine residents, and medical students. Thank you for all you do for your patients and the patients of Texas!