Jeffrey Zavala, MD, FAAFP
Candidate for president-elect
Personal statement
I have a strong interest in serving the AAFP as president-elect. Family medicine is the foundation of our health care system, and I am committed to strengthening its future. My interest in this position is to continue recruiting medical students and removing the burdens of practice to improve the health of all people.
My career reflects a broad range of clinical and leadership experience. I practiced full-spectrum family medicine in rural Montana for 17 years in a community of 1,500 people, including surgical obstetrics, endoscopy, ER, LTC and inpatient care. I then joined a multispecialty private practice, where I gained valuable insights into practice operations and physician leadership in a private practice model.
I returned to Montana to serve as CMO for a regional multispecialty group in Billings. After four years of leadership, I became the CMO of the medical group for Montana and Northern Wyoming. I had the honor of leading a 350-plus-member group of physicians and APPs across 42 clinics and three hospitals, including inpatient and outpatient specialties.
Currently, I teach at Rocky Vista University—Montana College of Osteopathic Medicine. I teach health systems science, ethics and clinical medicine. I am co-director of the first-year clinical sciences curriculum and contribute to leadership development. Drawing on my family medicine experience, I collaborate with colleagues across the curriculum and support teaching wherever needed. This allows me to expose students to family medicine and inspire interest in our specialty.
Through these experiences, I have had the honor to grow my leadership skills and advocate for the physicians I serve. This helped me to understand medical practice from rural to urban and inpatient to outpatient. It has provided me with the skills to advocate for family medicine as an absolute necessity for health care.
Leadership is essential to the future of our field, and the AAFP is fortunate to have an extraordinary leadership team guiding that path. Through my own leadership experience, I have developed skills in finance, strategy, policy, governance, performance management and team building. I would be honored to continue working alongside this team to help reduce the burdens of practice, so our members can focus on what matters most: patient care.
In conclusion, I am interested in being president-elect of the AAFP to continue supporting family physicians in delivering the best evidence-based health care. I also want to continue the current efforts to grow the family medicine specialty. My goal is to serve our members, improve their practice environment and help them deliver the best care. I believe my practice experience and leadership opportunities have prepared me for the work needed as president-elect.
Jeff Zavala, MD, FAAFP’s, background in family medicine, health care administration and teaching has uniquely prepared him for leadership as the AAFP president-elect.
His childhood taught him about urban and rural life, with a mix of school years in Denver and summers on his grandfather’s farm in Iowa. At the University of Denver, he was a sports science major, and exercise physiology and anatomy stirred his interest in medicine. At the University of Colorado School of Medicine, he was mentored by Larry Green, MD, who convinced him to be a family physician.
Residency at Phoenix Baptist provided him with exceptional mentors, Edward Paul, MD, and Greg Vandekieft, MD. Upon finishing, he wanted to work and ski, so he highlighted all the ski areas on a map of the Rocky Mountains and landed in Red Lodge, Montana. After three years, he realized his residency training was strong in clinical medicine, but he needed more procedural training. He applied for a faculty/fellowship in Memphis. After being trained in C-sections, ultrasound and endoscopy, he returned to Red Lodge. In Memphis, he was mentored by Mark Deutchman, MD, and William Rodney, MD. He also learned how much he loved teaching. On returning to Red Lodge, he started teaching students and residents, and volunteering at the Billings family medicine residency.
After 17 years in Red Lodge, the hospital stated it would discontinue OB. At that time, his youngest daughter wanted to attend a ski academy. He took this opportunity to join a multispecialty private practice in Utah, where he learned about private practice operations and leadership.
After four years in Utah, a CMO position in Billings was open. He was excited to move back to Montana, so he applied for the position. Upon returning, he practiced while being the CMO. After two months, he realized it was not good for his patients, so he stopped clinical practice. Initially, he led clinics in the Billings region. After four years, he was asked to take on all the employed physicians and APPs in Montana and Northern Wyoming. The group grew from 130 to 350-plus members, 42 clinics and hospital specialist groups.
Jeff has been active in the AAFP since medical school. He served on the Commission on Membership and Member Services as a student and resident. He was also on the Rural Health Committee as both a member and the committee chair. He wanted to run for the Board of Directors but was too busy. His best friend, Dennis Salisbury, MD, ran for the BOD, and Jeff supported him as he knew Dennis would be a great leader. The year Dennis ran for the BOD he was diagnosed with melanoma. Unfortunately, the AAFP never had Dennis as a leader, as he died from melanoma. This loss reinvigorated Jeff to run, as rural medicine needed more representation. His time on the BOD has been an incredible experience, which is why he chose to run for president.
Currently, he teaches medical students and enjoys giving back to the profession.