Rosemarie Sweeney

Rosemarie Sweeney, vice president of practice advancement and advocacy at the AAFP, is responsible for overseeing government relations and policy center divisions in Washington D.C. and the information technology, health information technology center and practice support divisions at the organization’s headquarters in Leawood, Kan. She was instrumental in the development of The Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care and the development of the Center for Health Information Technology.

In 1979, Sweeney joined the AAFP’s Washington office as director of government relations, a position she held until 1992 when she was promoted to vice president. Before joining the AAFP, Sweeney was a staff associate for federal agency affairs at the American Osteopathic Association. She subsequently was appointed an assistant project director to administer a grant from the (then) Department of Health, Education and Welfare to develop the Professional Standards Review Organization’s screening criteria, and then served as a government affairs representative. From 1971 to 1974, Sweeney served on the professional staff of U.S. Representative Margaret Heckler (R-Massachusetts).

Sweeney is a member of several professional associations, including Women in Government Relations and the American Association of Medical Society Executives. She has served on the Advisory Panel on Medicare Education for the Department of Health and Human Services, the board of directors of the Westmoreland Children’s Center, the board of trustees of Washington Episcopal School, both in Bethesda, Md., and currently serves on the Board of Advisors of Washington Episcopal School. She volunteered as an EMT with the Glen Echo Fire Department and a crisis counselor for Montgomery County, Md.

Sweeney is listed in the first edition of Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare and in the 1993 edition of Who’s Who of American Women. In 1991, she received the Maryland Governor’s Victim Assistance Award for her work as a volunteer counselor with the Montgomery County Sexual Assault Service. She earned her undergraduate degree in political science and her master’s degree in public administration from American University in Washington, D.C.