American Academy of Family Physicians Chooses Mary E. Frank, M.D. As President-Elect

NEW ORLEANS – Mary E. Frank, M.D., a family physician in Rohnert Park, Calif., has been chosen president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). The Congress of Delegates, the AAFP's governing body, elected Frank to the position during the organization's annual meeting Sept. 30-Oct. 2 in New Orleans. Previously, she served three years as a member of the board of directors. The AAFP represents more than 94,300 physicians and medical students nationwide.

In full-time private practice, Frank has been the facility medical director of Primary Care Associates of Rohnert Park. She is also an associate clinical professor of ambulatory and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She served as a clinical instructor of family, community and preventive medicine at Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., and was the residency program director at Sutter Hospital in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Frank, a member of the AAFP since 1973, has served on numerous Academy commissions and committees addressing issues such as state and federal health policy, domestic violence, adolescent and women's health, and organized medicine. She served as chair of the Commission on Legislative and Government Affairs and of the Committee on Women. During her tenure as member of and board liaison to the Commission on Legislative and Governmental Affairs, Frank served on the task force that developed the AAFP’s annual state legislative conferences. While liaison to the Commission on Quality and Scope of Practice, she participated in the development of the AAFP’s new Quality Enhancement Program and the Linkage Project to integrate quality, education and research activities.

Frank represents the AAFP at the National Quality Forum and the Board of Directors of the Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation (COLA). In addition, she has served as AAFP liaison to the Carnegie Foundation Conference on Healthy Youth for the 21st Century, AMA Representation Workgroup, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Committee on Adolescent Health. She also has represented the AAFP at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Frank earned her undergraduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, N.J., and her medical degree from Penn State University in Hershey, Pa., in 1973. She completed a family practice residency and teaching fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She is board certified by the American Board of Family Practice and is an AAFP Fellow, an earned degree awarded to family physicians for distinguished service and continuing medical education.

Frank has volunteered for more than 10 years with Special Olympics and participates in her local high school's annual 24-hour relay to support substance abuse programs for students. She is a regular speaker at the National Youth Leadership Forum.