People in the News -- July

The council of the World Organization of Family Doctors, or Wonca, recently named AAFP Past President Richard Roberts, M.D., of Madison, Wis., Wonca president-elect.

The election took place before the 18th Wonca World Conference, which was held July 24-27 in Singapore. Roberts will be installed at Wonca's next triennial World Conference, to be held in May 2010 in Cancun, Mexico.

Wonca represents more than 200,000 general practitioners and family physicians from 79 countries. The organization advocates issues affecting its members and their patients at an international level ,where it interacts with other global entities, such as the World Health Organization.

Family physician Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A., was voted chair-elect of the Federation of State Medical Boards, or FSMB, at the organization’s recent annual meeting. Benjamin will become chair of the FSMB in May 2008.

Benjamin is founder and CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala. She has served on many FSMB committees, including the recent workgroup that developed the FSMB's Model Guidelines for Opioid Addiction Treatment in the Medical Office, and on the National Board of Medical Examiners. She also chaired the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 3 Committee. In Alabama, Benjamin served on the state’s Board of Medical Examiners for 12 years.