FP Report -- September 1999
EVP: 'This is the best job in medicine, and I'll miss it.'
EVP Robert Graham, M.D., says he plans to leave AAFP; President Lanny Copeland, M.D., listens.Robert Graham, M.D., told AAFP employees July 26 that he would leave the staff next year, after a new EVP is selected.
"This is the best job in medicine, and I'll miss it, but the time is right to move on," Graham said.
He has directed the Academy staff since 1985. He said three key elements are in place: AAFP's financial condition is excellent, its senior management team is strong and stable, and arrangements have been completed for building and financing the Academy's new headquarters in Leawood, Kan., in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
On a personal note, Graham's departure from the staff will allow him and his wife, Jane Henney, M.D., to share the same home base. She is the FDA commissioner, and she and Graham have had a commuter marriage for eight years.
AAFP President Lanny Copeland, M.D., of Albany, Ga., thanked Graham for heading up the Academy since 1985 and said he was appointing an EVP search committee. It will be chaired by President-elect Bruce Bagley, M.D., of Albany, N.Y., and Deputy EVP Michael Miller, J.D.
Graham first worked on the AAFP staff in the mid-1970s as field representative and then assistant director of the Education Division. He served in the Public Health Service in Washington, D.C., from 1976 to 1985, becoming head of the Health Resources and Services Administration and assistant surgeon general.
"It is with decidedly mixed emotions that the Board has started discussions about a search process for a new EVP," said Board Chair Neil Brooks, M.D., of Rockville, Conn. "The Board would have been more than happy to see Bob's tenure extend into the next decade. However, we understand and respect the reasons for his decision."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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