The
AAFP Foundation is calling on U.S. family physicians to help their colleagues
from around the world attend the 17th World Conference of Family Doctors.
The meeting, sponsored by Wonca, the World Organization of Family Doctors,
will be held Oct. 13 -17 in Orlando, Fla., in conjunction with the AAFP Scientific
Assembly.
The foundation has established the Wonca Bursary Fund to help pay registration, travel and accommodations expenses for international family doctors who would otherwise be unable to attend the meeting.
Former AAFP President Richard Roberts, M.D., of Madison, Wis., in December was among those who helped get the ball rolling with a $5,000 donation earmarked for the fund. Roberts has pledged another $5,000 this year. And AAFP President Michael Fleming, M.D., of Shreveport, La., has donated his entire President's Grant -- $10,000 -- to the fund. Fleming challenges other FPs in the United States to avail themselves of this opportunity to help spread the mission and message of family medicine around the globe.
"As an American family physician, I understand how fortunate I am to be able to attend meetings such as the AAFP Annual Assembly and Wonca 2004," Fleming says. "I want family physicians just like me from all over the world to have that same opportunity. I hope others will accept the challenge and help fund these international opportunities to share our Academy."
To learn more, go to http://www.aafpfoundation.org/x319.xml and click on "Wonca Bursary Fund." You can also contact the foundation's executive vice president, Sandra Panther, at (800) 274-2237, Ext. 4450, to make a donation.
FP Report is published by the AAFP
News Department.
Copyright © 2004 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.