Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Do what you can. 

-Arthur Ashe (Tennis Champion)

New Format

Student members have unique needs from their Academy, and now you'll get JUST the news you need.  That will make the monthly e-News a bit shorter, but 100 percent relevant!

Complete the student survey

IAFP now has over 1,000 student members. Consider we had less than 700 just two years ago, so student membership is a growing constituency of the IAFP.  We need to know what you need, what you like and what you're concerned about!  Your input will help shape our Illinois student delegate's votes at the AAFP National Conference of Student Members, as well as provide guidance to the IAFP leadership and staff.  The survey is very short, but the responses are very valuable.  If you have already graduated, please skip survey.

Please take the student survey by July 16.

Thank you,

Aaron Goldstein, Student President

Kristina Dakis, Student President-elect and Delegate to AAFP National Conference 

Meet your new Leaders

Student President - Aaron Goldstein of UIC joins the IAFP Board of Directors as the Student representative

Student President-elect Kristina Dakis of UIC will serve as the Illinois Delegate to the AAFP National Congress of Student Members, and then will join the IAFP board in July 2014. 

Congrats to our AAFP National Confernece Scholarship recipients

Kristina Dakis

Aaron Goldstein

Lolita Ontiveros  

Erin Schifeling

AAFP National Conference Poster Presenters from Illinois

Congratulations to the Illinois attendees who are participating in the AAFP National Conference Poster Presentation Competition.  If you are going to the conference, stop by and see them!

Clinical Inquiry:

Rapidly Progressive Encephalopathy in a 49 Year Old Female: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Ranga Patri, MD

Community Project:

Active K: Filling a Need for Organized Physical Activity Among Kindergarteners

Katie Lowry and Daniel Sadowski

Research:

Investigation of First Year Medical Students' Career Preferences

Kimberly Clinite and Stephanie Kazantsev

Congratulations to SIU Springfield and UIC Family Medicine Interest Groups (FMIG) which have both been selected as 2013 Programs of Excellence by AAFP!  

The 2013 results and the continued good news for family medicine demonstrate that we must continue to trumpet family medicine and build on our efforts to grow the future family medicine workforce.  Our upcoming Family Medicine Midwest conference, October 4-6 in Milwaukee provides a tremendous and tangible opportunity for Midwestern residency programs and medical schools to collaborate on the shared mission of providing a strong primary care workforce to reduce the shortages currently predicted by many expert groups.  

Students can apply for a scholarship now online.

The IAFP is serving as the meeting manager for the first-ever conference of this new 12-state alliance.  The Family Medicine Midwest Collaborative includes:  Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.   

If you have a news item to share, email it to Ginnie Flynn at gflynn@iafp.com.

The Associated Press published a story asking how can America meet the growing demand for access to primary care services when millions of Americans gain insurance coverage through Medicaid or subsidized private plans when the Affordable Care Act rolls into the next phase Jan. 1, 2014?  One version of the story that ran in Crain's Chicago Business and the Daily Herald included input from Russell Robertson, MD about obstacles to converting medical students to family physicians.  Another version of the AP story ran in the Southern Illinoisan that included the career plans of Northwestern-McGaw resident Stephanie Place, MD - who will stay in Chicago to practice at an FQHC after fielding tons of job offers.  A companion sidebar article included input from SIU Dept. of Family and Community Medicine interim chair John Bradley, MD on how the ACA provides the benefits of insurance and some mechanisms for physicians to improve efficiency through EHRs, but also can be challenging for physicians to manage the immense changes so quickly.

Dawn Brunner, MD was back on Ask the Family Physician on WCIA-TV June 18. The topics covered sunscreen SPF fact and fiction, new vaccine requirements (such as Tdap) and migraines.

Ravi Grivois-Shah, MD has been busy!  He was quotedin a June 15 Chicago Tribune exploring why honesty in speaking with your doctor is so important. Next, on June 18 he received the Excellence in Public Health Policy Award from the Illinois Public Health Association for his work with the Oak Park Department of Health and advocacy efforts in his home city of Oak Park and in his practice location in Chicago.  And finally, heprovided insight on how to wisely consider social media when researching job candidates in a June 24 article in American Medical News

Michael Hanak, MD was elected to the position of chair-elect for the AMA's Young Physician Section.  He recently served as our Illinois delegate to the New Physicians section of the AAFP National Congress of Special Constituencies.

Jerry E. Kruse, M.D. has been named executive associate dean and chief executive officer of SIU HealthCare at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. He received the unanimous support of the SIU HealthCare Board of Directors, the clinical chairs and hospital partners.  Kruse has been professor and chairman of the Department of Family & Community Medicine from 1997 until March 2013. He will be the authority for all clinical and clinically related academic issues and planning. He is also a plenary speaker at the 2013 Family Medicine Midwest Conference, Oct. 4-6 in Milwaukee.

SIU - Quincy Family Medicine was featured in a June 3 American Medical News article on preventing physician burnout.  Their system using medical assistant scribes for every patient visit drastically increases the time spent talking to patients and decreases the time spent behind a computer screen.

Jeff Ripperda, MD provides insight as to why men don't see the doctor often enough - and why they should - in honor of Men's Health Week in the June 9 issue of the Southern Illinoisan. 

Thomas Lee, MD is featured in a June 12 Joliet Herald News article advising parents how to prepare and pack for their kids heading to summer camps.

Ingrid Antonsen, MD has been named Christie Clinic's Physician of the Year for 2013. Antonsen, head of the clinic's Family Medicine Department, has been a practicing physician at Christie Clinic for 18 years. The selection of Physician of the Year is determined by a vote of Christie team members.

Tony Miksanek, MD organized the first annual Kids Fun and Fitness Day on June 9, sponsored by the River to River Running Club and Southern Illinois Healthcare.  The IAFP's Family Health Foundation of Illinois donated Tar Wars pencils for the kids' goody bags.  Families and Community leaders from across the region participated. Check out the fantastic photos here.

Mark Rastetter, MD of Chicago was selected to receive a 2013 Pfizer Teacher Development Award based on his scholastic achievement, leadership qualities and dedication to family medicine. He is part-time faculty at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program.