American Board of Family Medicine Elects New Officers and Board Members

June 6, 2015 - The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) is pleased to announce the election of four new officers and four new board members. The new officers elected at the ABFM's spring board meeting in April are: James Kennedy, MD of Winter Park, Colorado elected as Chair; Keith Stelter, MD of Mankato, Minnesota as Chair-Elect; Jimmy H. Hara, MD of Los Angeles, California as Treasurer; and Christine C. Matson, MD of Norfolk, Virginia as Member-at-Large, Executive Committee. In addition, the ABFM welcomes this year's new members to the Board of Directors: John Brady, MD of Newport News, Virginia; Colleen Conry, MD of Aurora, Colorado; Robert J. Ronis, MD, MPH of Cleveland, Ohio; and Melissa Thomason of Pinetops, North Carolina.

The new ABFM officers will each serve a one-year term: James Kennedy, MD, Chair, is a practicing family physician in Winter Park, Colorado where he started a new Advanced Idealized Micropractice in 2005. He is also the Chair of the County Medical Society and the Rural Health Network in his community. In addition, Dr. Kennedy has served as an Assistant/Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center since 1994.

Keith L. Stelter, MD, Chair-Elect, is the Associate Director of the Mankato Family Medicine Residency Program in Mankato, MN and an instructor with the Rural Physician Associate Program of the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Jimmy H. Hara, MD, Treasurer, serves as Associate Dean and Professor of Family Medicine at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science. He is the Residency Program Director Emeritus, after serving 25 years as Director for Kaiser Los Angeles. Dr. Hara is also a clinical professor of family medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Christine C. Matson, MD, Member-at-Large, Executive Committee, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. She has served as Director of the Family Medicine Residency Program and Co-Director of the Family Medicine/Internal Medicine Combined Residency Program in Norfolk, Virginia.

The following new Board members will each serve a five-year term:

John Brady, MD, John Brady, MD is the owner/physician of The Village Doctor, a solo, independent family practice he opened in Newport News, VA in 2003. He is the President of the Ideal Medical Practices organization and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Colleen Conry, MD, is the Senior Vice-President for Quality and Clinical Affairs in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado. She previously served as Vice-Chair of Graduate Medical Education at the University of Colorado.

Robert J. Ronis, MD, MPH, is the Douglas Danford Bond Professor and Chairman for the Department of Psychiatry, and the Associate Director for the Neurological Institute and Psychiatrist-in-Chief for the University Hospitals Case Medical Center at Case Western University School of Medicine.

Melissa Thomason has been a Vidant Health Patient and Family Advisor since 2011 and has participated as a Patient Advocate and Speaker throughout the country. She currently serves on North Carolina Quality Center's Patient and Family Advisory Council, National Quality Forum's Surgery Standing Committee and North Carolina Institute of Medicine's Patient and Family Engagement Taskforce.

The remaining current members of the Board are: Elizabeth G. Baxley, MD of Greenville, North Carolina; Laura M. Brooks, MD of Lynchburg, Virginia; Montgomery Douglas, MD of Valhalla, New York; Joseph Gravel, Jr. MD of North Reading, Massachusetts; Carlos Roberto Jaén, MD of San Antonio, Texas; Jerry Kruse, MD, MSPH of Springfield, Illinois; Lorna Lynn, MD of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania; David E. Mercer, MD of Omaha, Nebraska; Marcia J. Nielsen, PhD of Washington, DC; and David Soper, MD of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.