AAFP Names 2014-2015 Board of Directors

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2014 /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 115,900 physicians and medical students nationwide.

• Robert Wergin, MD, FAAFP, is president of the board. Wergin is a family physician in Milford, Nebraska. Previously, he served three years as a director on the AAFP Board and one year as president-elect. Wergin was chosen president-elect in September 2013 by the Congress of Delegates, the AAFP's governing body. He practices the full spectrum of family medicine, from obstetrics to geriatrics, at the Milford Family Practice Center, from obstetrics to geriatrics. He also serves as medical director of Crest View Care Center.
• Wanda Filer, MD, MBA, FAAFP, is president-elect. Filer is a family physician in York, Pennsylvania. Previously, she served three years as a member of the board of directors. 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.
• Reid Blackwelder, MD, FAAFP, is board chair. Blackwelder is a family physician in Kingsport, Tennessee. Previously, he served one-year terms as president and president-elect, and three years as a member of the AAFP Board of Directors. Blackwelder serves as director of the Medical Student Education Division for the Department of Family Medicine at East Tennessee State University's James H. Quillen College of Medicine in Johnson City, Tennessee, where he is also a professor of family medicine. He previously served as program director of the Kingsport Family Medicine Residency Program of ETSU for more than 13 years and remains on faculty at the residency.
• John Meigs, MD, FAAFP, is speaker of the Congress of Delegates, the governing body of the AAFP. 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 vice speaker of the Congress of Delegates, the governing body of the AAFP. Orgain is a family physician in Chicago, Illinois. Orgain 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.
• 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 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, is a member of 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 III 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, is a member of 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, is a member of 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, Minnesota. 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.
• 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.
• Carlos Gonzales, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve his term as a member of the board of directors. He is a family physician in Patagonia, Arizona. Gonzales currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, where he also is assistant dean for Medical Student Education. In addition, Gonzales serves as an advisor to the college's Traditional Indian and Western Medicine Collaboration as well as to minority medical students. He is the director of the University of Arizona's Rural Health Professions Program and the Commitment to Underserved Peoples Program.
• Lloyd Van Winkle, MD, FAAFP, continues to serve his term as a member of the board of directors. Van Winkle has been a family physician in solo practice in rural Castroville, Texas, for nearly 30 years. He is the medical director and CEO of United Physicians of San Antonio ACO. He also serves as a clinical associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. In addition, Van Winkle is the health officer for Castroville and its neighboring community, La Coste, and served as medical director of the Medina Valley Emergency Medical Service for more than 25 years.
• 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.

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 115,900 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care. 

Approximately one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is nearly 214 million office visits each year — nearly 74 million more than the next largest 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

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