AAFP Names 2018-2019 Board of Directors

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Academy of Family Physicians held elections for its board of directors this week at its annual Congress of Delegates, the organization's governing body. Members of 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 131,400 physicians and medical students.

    --  John S. Cullen, MD, FAAFP, is president. Cullen is a family physician in
        Valdez, Alaska. He has practiced the full scope of family medicine in a
        rural community of 4,000 people for the past 25 years. Cullen works in a
        small group practice and is director of emergency medical services at
        Providence Valdez Medical Center. He has been actively involved in
        residency and medical student teaching for more than 20 years, providing
        comprehensive training in rural health care. He is an associate clinical
        professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in
        Hanover, New Hampshire. From 2007 to 2013, Cullen served on the Alaska
        State Medical Board. During this time, he also served on the National
        Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services for the Centers
        for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
    --  Michael L. Munger, MD, FAAFP, is board chair. Munger has been a
        practicing family physician in the Kansas City metropolitan area for 32
        years. He is currently in practice at Saint Luke's Physicians Group in
        Overland Park, Kansas, where he also serves as vice president of medical
        affairs for primary care. The group has 115 physician members at 16
        different sites, 11 of which are participants in the Comprehensive
        Primary Care Plus Initiative. Through such initiatives, Munger and his
        team continue to be leaders in strengthening primary care to promote
        better health and reduce overall health care costs. He formerly served
        as medical director for The Sweet Life at Grand Court assisted living
        facility, also in Overland Park.
    --  Gary L. LeRoy, MD, FAAFP, is president-elect. LeRoy is a family
        physician in Dayton, Ohio. He is the associate dean for student affairs
        and admissions at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine,
        where he is also an associate professor of family medicine. A lifelong
        Daytonian and public servant, LeRoy cares for the underserved as a staff
        physician at the East Dayton Health Clinic. He was the clinic's medical
        director from 1994 to 2008, and helped secure funding to remodel and
        expand the center and its services. LeRoy serves the Dayton community
        through Reach Out of Montgomery County, Dayton Public Schools, the
        American Red Cross and Saint Vincent's Homeless Shelter.
    --  Alan I. Schwartzstein, MD, FAAFP, is speaker of the AAFP Congress of
        Delegates. Schwartzstein is a family physician at SSM/Health Dean
        Medical Group in South Central Wisconsin, where he has practiced for the
        past 30 years. He has more than 35 years of clinical experience and
        background in leadership, community service, public health, advocacy and
        education. He also serves as a clinical assistant professor at the
        University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison,
        where he teaches both students and residents.
    --  Russell W. Kohl, MD, FAAFP, is vice speaker of the AAFP Congress of
        Delegates. Kohl is a family physician living in Stilwell, Kansas, and
        serves as chief medical officer with TMF Health Quality Institute, a
        Medicare quality improvement organization serving Oklahoma, Arkansas,
        Missouri, Texas and Puerto Rico. He also cares for patients and
        supervises residents part-time as a clinical associate professor of
        family medicine with the University of Oklahoma Rural Residency program
        in Bartlesville. He previously served as chief medical officer of
        TransforMED, ran a full-scope solo practice in rural Oklahoma, and
        served in the United States Air Force as a senior flight surgeon.
    --  Douglas E. 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.
    --  Robert F. Raspa, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve his term on the board of
        directors. Raspa is a retired captain in the U.S. Navy and has been a
        practicing family physician and faculty member with St. Vincent's Family
        Medicine Center since 2003. He is also a clinical associate professor at
        Nova Southeastern School of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, and
        clinical assistant professor at both the Florida State University
        College of Medicine in Tallahassee and University of Florida College of
        Medicine in Gainesville. Raspa continues to provide inpatient,
        maternity, pediatric and outpatient care to a full panel of patients.
    --  Leondard D. Reeves, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve his term on the board
        of directors. Reeves is a family physician and associate dean of the
        Northwest Clinical Campus of the Medical College of Georgia in Rome.
        Reeves is also a family physician at the Free Clinic of Rome, where he
        serves as board president. Previously, Reeves served as assistant
        director of the Floyd Family Medicine Residency and clinic director of
        the residency offices at Floyd Medical Center in Rome.
    --  Ada D. Stewart, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve her term on the board of
        directors. Stewart is a family physician with the Eau Claire Cooperative
        Health Centers in Columbia, South Carolina, where she has practiced
        since 2012. She currently serves as lead provider and HIV specialist. In
        the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, Stewart enlisted in the U.S. Army
        Reserves and was recently promoted to the rank of Colonel. She is a
        preceptor for medical residents, medical students and nurse
        practitioners.
    --  Sterling N. Ransone, Jr., MD, FAAFP continues to serve his term on the
        board of directors. Ransone is a third-generation family physician in
        Deltaville, Virginia, and has practiced medicine for more than 25 years.
        He currently serves as physician practice director at Riverside Fishing
        Bay Family Practice. He also serves as an assistant clinical professor
        of family medicine and population health at Virginia Commonwealth
        University in Richmond.
    --  Windel A. Stracener, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve his term on the board
        of directors. Stracener is a family physician in Richmond, Indiana,
        where he cares for patients of all ages at the Wayne County Community
        Health Center, a federally qualified health center affiliated with the
        Wayne County Health Department. He also serves as the student health
        physician at Earlham College and medical director of the Acute
        Rehabilitation Unit for Reid Health Center, both in Richmond.
    --  Erica W. Swegler, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve her term on the board of
        directors. Swegler is the family physician owner of Beacon Family Health
        Care in Austin, Texas. She also serves as a preceptor for medical
        students through the Texas Family Medicine Preceptorship Program.
        Swegler served on the Physician Advisory Committee for the Dallas-Fort
        Worth Business Group on Health.
    --  James A. Ellzy, MD, FAAFP, is a member of the board of directors. Ellzy
        is a family physician in Washington, D.C., where he also serves as the
        deputy program executive officer at Defense Healthcare Management
        Systems. In addition, Ellzy serves as associate faculty at the Fort
        Belvoir Family Medicine Residency, where he teaches and maintains a
        full-scope clinical practice including outpatient care, inpatient care
        and obstetrics.
    --  Dennis L. Gingrich, MD, FAAFP, is a member of the board of directors.
        Gingrich is a family physician in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He currently
        practices family medicine and teaches residents and students as a
        professor in both the Department of Family and Community Medicine and
        the Department of Humanities at Penn State College of Medicine in
        Hershey. He has served more than 20 years on the medical school
        admissions committee, and has spent more than 25 years organizing
        premedical programming and serving as an advisor to the college's Family
        Medicine Interest Group.
    --  Tochi Iroku-Malize, MD, MPH, MBA, FAAFP, is a family physician in Long
        Island, New York. Iroku-Malize serves as founding chair and professor of
        family medicine for the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at
        Hofstra/Northwell  in Hempstead, New York, and chair of family medicine
        for Northwell Health. She was previously the director of the family
        medicine residency program at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, New York.
        She was active in the Association of Family Medicine Residency
        Directors, which presented the Silver Program Director Recognition Award
        to her in 2015.
    --  LaTasha Seliby Perkins, MD, is the new physician member of the board of
        directors. Perkins is a family physician in Washington, D.C. She 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.
    --  Michelle Byrne, MD, MPH, is the resident member of the board of
        directors. Byrne 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. A member of the AAFP since 2016,
        Byrne currently serves on the AAFP Commission on Membership and Member
        Services.
    --  Chandler Stisher is the student member of the board of directors.
        Stisher is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Alabama
        School of Medicine and a Master of Public Health student at the
        University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health. He 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. Stisher is currently the student member to the
        AAFP Commission on Education, and serves as national coordinator for the
        AAFP Family Medicine Interest Group Network.

About the American Academy of Family Physicians
Founded in 1947, the American Academy of Family Physicians represents 131,400 physicians and medical students nationwide, and it is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Family physicians conduct approximately one in five of the total medical office visits in the United States per year - more than any other specialty. Family physicians provide comprehensive, evidence-based, and cost-effective care dedicated to improving the health of patients, families and communities. Family medicine's cornerstone is an ongoing and personal patient-physician relationship where the family physician serves as the hub of each patient's integrated care team. More Americans depend on family physicians than on any other medical specialty.

To learn more about the AAFP and family medicine, visit www.aafp.org/media. Follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. For information about health care, health conditions and wellness, visit the AAFP's award-winning consumer website, www.familydoctor.org.

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SOURCE American Academy of Family Physicians