AAFP Names 2015-2016 Board of Directors

DENVER, Sept. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Family Physicians held elections for its board of directors this week at its annual meeting. The board of directors advocate on behalf of family physicians and patients nationwide to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system. The AAFP represents 120,900 physicians and medical students nationwide.

• Wanda Filer, MD, MBA, FAAFP, is president. Filer is a family physician in York, Pennsylvania. Previously, she served three years as a director on the AAFP Board and one year as president-elect. She is the founder and president of the Strategic Health Institute in York, a health care consulting firm dedicated to building awareness of today's health issues and the need for change. In addition, Filer is a family physician at Family First Health, a federally qualified health center in York and Adams Counties. She also served six years as the associate program director at the York Hospital Family Practice Residency Program.
• Robert Wergin, MD, FAAFP, is board chair. Wergin is a family physician in Milford, Nebraska. Previously, he served one-year terms as president and president-elect, and three years as a member of the AAFP Board of Directors. Wergin practices the full spectrum of family medicine, from obstetrics to geriatrics, at the Milford Family Practice Center. He also serves as medical director of Crest View Care Center.
• John Meigs, MD, FAAFP, is president-elect. He is a family physician in Centreville, Alabama. Meigs was in private practice in Centreville, Alabama, his hometown, from 1982 to 2013. In 2013, he merged with another practice to become a part of Bibb Medical Associates, which is housed in a clinic at Bibb Medical Center, a 25-bed rural hospital in Centreville. He also serves as chief of staff at Bibb Medical Center.
• Javette Orgain, MD, MPH, FAAFP, is speaker of the Congress of Delegates, the organization's governing body. Orgain is a family physician in Chicago, Illinois. She is a clinical associate professor of family medicine in the University of Illinois – Chicago Department of Family Medicine. She served as medical director at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System (formerly University of Illinois – Chicago) Mile Square Health Center. Orgain also serves as medical director/consultant for the Village of Park Forest Health Department.
• Alan I. Schwartzstein, MD, FAAFP, is vice speaker of the Congress of Delegates, the organization's governing body. Schwartzstein is a family physician at Dean Clinic in Oregon, Wisconsin, where he has practiced for the past 26 years. He has more than 30 years of clinical experience and an esteemed background in leadership, community service, public health, advocacy and education.
• Douglas Henley, MD, FAAFP, is executive vice president and chief executive officer of the AAFP. Henley works with the AAFP Board of Directors on the mission, strategy and vision for the AAFP, and provides representation to other organizations, including those in the medical, public and private sectors. He also serves on the board of directors of the AAFP Foundation, the charitable arm of the AAFP.
• Mott Blair, MD, continues to serve his term on the board of directors. Blair is a family physician at Vidant Family Medicine in Wallace, North Carolina. As a regional medical director in the system, Blair has led the practice into a National Committee for Quality Assurance-recognized Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home. He is also an affiliate assistant professor in the department of family medicine in East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine.
• John Cullen, MD, continues to serve his term on the board of directors. Cullen is a family physician in Valdez, Alaska. Cullen works in a small group practice and is both chief of staff and director of the emergency medical services at Providence Valdez Medical Center. From 2007 to 2013, Cullen served on the Alaska State Medical Board. During this time, he was also asked to be on the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health for Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• Lynne Lillie, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve her term on the board of directors. She is a family physician in Red Wing, Minnesota. Lillie has 18 years' experience as a full spectrum family physician and currently serves as a physician for the Mayo Clinic Health Systems of Red Wing. She has a clinical focus on geriatrics, women's health and dermatologic procedures. Prior to joining the Mayo Clinic Health Systems, Lillie served as the medical director for Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury, Minnesota.
• Jack Chou, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve his term as a member of the board of directors. Chou is a family physician in Baldwin Park, California. Chou has been a practicing family physician at Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center for almost 15 years and has been the center's physician in charge since 2006. He also currently serves as an assistant professor of physician assistant education at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.
• Robert Lee, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve his term as a member of the board of directors. He is a family physician in Johnston, Iowa. Lee currently serves as the associate medical director for The Iowa Clinic, a multi-specialty clinic based in Des Moines, Iowa. He co-founded and practiced family medicine at Lee & Ruisch Family Medicine Physicians in Johnston from 2002 to 2012. Prior to that, he practiced for 11 years at Iowa Health Physicians in Des Moines. In addition, Lee has served as an adjunct clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City.
• Michael Munger, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve his term as a member of the board of directors. Munger is a family physician in Overland Park, Kansas. He is currently in full-time practice at Saint Luke's Medical Group in Overland Park, where he also serves as medical director for Saint Luke's South Primary Care. The group has 100 members at 14 different sites, all of which have received Level 3 patient-centered medical home designation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. He formerly served as medical director for Sweet Life at Grand Court Assisted Living, also in Overland Park.
• Carl Olden, MD, FAAFP, is a member of the board of directors. Olden is a family physician in Yakima, Washington. He is the senior family physician at Pacific Crest Family Medicine. He also serves as the medical director for quality assurance, utilization review and medical staff services for Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. He is a clinical instructor in family medicine for the University of Washington School of Medicine and Pacific Northwest University of the Health Sciences.  
• John Bender, MD, MBA, FAAFP, is a member of the board of directors. Bender is a family physician in Fort Collins, Colorado. Bender is senior partner and chief executive officer at Miramont Family Medicine. He serves as president of the Colorado Medical Society. He is also an associate professor of family medicine with a preceptor appointment to the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and a preceptor to Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
• Gary LeRoy, MD, FAAFP, is a member of the board of directors. LeRoy is a family physician in Dayton, Ohio. He is the associate dean for student affairs and admission at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, where he is also an associate professor of family medicine. LeRoy is a staff physician at the East Dayton Health Clinic.
• Marie-Elizabeth Ramas, MD, is the new physician member of the board of directors. Ramas was elected to a one-year term by the new physician constituency during the AAFP National Conference of Constituency Leaders and was confirmed by the AAFP's governing body, the Congress of Delegates. She is a family physician in Mt. Shasta, California. As medical director of the Mercy Community Rural Health Clinic, Ramas cares for uninsured, low-income families and provides comprehensive family medicine services in both inpatient and outpatient settings, for all ages.
• Richard Bruno, MD, MPH, is the resident member of the board of directors. Bruno was elected to a one-year term by the National Congress of Family Medicine Residents and was confirmed by the governing body of the AAFP, the Congress of Delegates. Most recently, Bruno has been resident chair of the AAFP National Congress of Residents and is currently a member of the AAFP Commission on Education.
• Tiffany Ho, MPH, is the student member of the board of directors. She is a third-year student at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Ho was elected to a one-year term by the National Conference of Medical Students and was confirmed by the governing body of the AAFP, the Congress of Delegates. Active on the national, state and local level, Ho served on the AAFP Commission on Quality and Practice, as a student director on the Maryland Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors and as student trustee on the MAFP Foundation Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2014.

Editor's Note: To arrange an interview with any of the board members, please contact Kristin Pitts at (800) 274-2237, ext. 5221 [email protected].

About the American Academy of Family Physicians

Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents 120,900 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Family physicians conduct approximately one in five office visits -- that's 214 million visits annually -- 48 percent more than to the next most visited medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide more care for America's underserved and rural populations than any other medical specialty. Family medicine's cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the specialty of family medicine, the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care, and for downloadable multi-media highlighting family medicine, visit www.aafp.org/media. For information about health care, health conditions and wellness, please visit the AAFP's award-winning consumer website, www.FamilyDoctor.org.

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SOURCE American Academy of Family Physicians