I first met TJ when he was newly diagnosed with HIV. Good-looking and soft-spoken, he was an out, young, gay black man who considered himself a leader amongst his peers. TJ had been infected recently, and knowing that patients diagnosed early are thought to enjoy better outcomes if they start medications quickly, I figured he […]
When a friend of a friend of mine committed suicide recently, it hit me harder than I would have imagined. I didn't know the man and knew little about him other than that he was an emergency medicine resident and a member of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. When I learned of his […]
It helps to remember that we hold the key to the health of our patients, a point that was driven home at this year's AAFP National Conference of Constituency Leaders. I often hear that this conference is the heartbeat of the Academy, the place where key issues are tackled with an emphasis on change. Each chapter […]
In the summer of 2013 I was sitting in a small humid room in a coastal agricultural town in Ecuador, a young community health Peace Corps volunteer working on his personal statement to get into medical school. A few months later I received good news, acceptance to UC Davis, specifically the new accelerated medical school […]
Many years ago, I brought my new stethoscope up to Community Hospital and the Family Practice Center across the street on Chanate, and spent three wonderful, intense years starting to learn to be a family doctor. And began building relationships with people who came to call me their physician, and with people who came to […]
When I was a medical student, I was uncertain how to become a leader. What I was certain of, however, was my love of free pizza.
An ancient Chinese philosopher said 'journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'.
I want to share a recent anecdote from my clinic which highlights how patient centered family medicine is cost effective and simply good care for patients.
During one of my breaks from medical school in Cuba, I rotated at a US hospital. I was rounding with a third year Family Medicine resident who had a patient with a pleural effusion that needed draining.
Our hashtag #FMRevolution (aka Family Medicine Revolution) was born in 2011. At the time, my aims were two-fold:
