July 31, 2025
A (full) FUTURE day for an advocacy-minded resident
By Grace Kelly, MD
Follow along as we experience a day at FUTURE with Grace Kelly, MD, PGY-3, chief resident of the University of Florida Family Medicine Residency Program in Gainesville, Florida. She’s also resident alternate delegate to the AAFP’s Congress of Delegates.
5 a.m.
Up and getting ready to go for a 5:30 run with AAFP President-elect Sarah Nosal, MD, FAAFP. We did three miles, and then I ran five on my own.
As soon as I moved to Gainesville, I joined a running group. Right now, I’m training for the Chicago marathon in October. I run anywhere from 40 to 55 miles a week. I’m usually working toward something: a half-marathon, a 5K. I’m competitive. I have the running club but also pay a running coach.
The running club has also been a way to meet people and exercise some self-care. Looking back, one thing I’d tell myself pre-residency about my experience the past couple of years is that you can’t pour from an empty cup. You have to invest in your own well-being. That’s definitely where the running comes in.
Beyond that, I like having a lot of friends outside medicine. Many of the other runners are near my age. It’s a college town, and between this and medical school I have a lot of friends who are Ph.D. students. But I’ve gotten to know plenty of other people from other age groups, too, and that all helps keep my life more balanced.
7:40 a.m.
Coffee to go from the hotel before heading to the convention center. Today I got a flat white. I prefer hot coffee year-round, even living in Florida. At home, I have Nespresso machine, and I like to experiment with it. If I have access to espresso, I get a flat white or a cappuccino. You can tell from my badge that coffee is a thing for me.
8 a.m.
First session: Advocacy 101.
8:45 a.m.
I raise my hand and ask to hear more about the AAFP’s student debt and workforce advocacy. It’s an Academy tenet that we’re building the workforce, but at the same time we all know it’s going to be harder for people to go into this specialty knowing how much more of a loan burden and, potentially, how much less pay to expect. I’m interested in recruiting residents, and these are huge factors.
9 a.m.
I introduce myself to the Advocacy 101 panel: David Tully, the AAFP’s vice president of Government Relations; Rebecca King, senior strategist, state affairs and member advocacy; and Domenic Casablanca, MD, FAAFP, who is on the board of the Academy’s Family Medicine Political Action Committee.
9:05 a.m.
They didn’t have to lobby me all that much: I’m already planning to attend next year’s Family Medicine Advocacy Summit for the first time and sign up for the Academy’s Advocacy Ambassadors.
10:20 a.m.
I’ve spent half an hour calling a couple of patients who had abnormal test results and answering another patient through the portal. Now I’m headed into the joint resident-student COD session, and I stop to give a short interview for the AAFP social media team.
10:24 a.m.
As part of the 10:30 session, I’m going to deliver a report on the past year’s activities with Payal Morari, the student delegate to COD, so we’re looking it over.
10:44 a.m.
We give our report.
11:15 a.m.
I knew months ago that I wanted to run for resident chair of FUTURE, so I’ve already submitted all of my materials. But Derek Southwick, MD, PGY-2, who’s with Indiana University’s Family Medicine Residency and is the Indiana COD resident delegate, just formally nominated me as part of the rules process, meaning I needed to stand and formally accept the nomination.
I’ve loved being in the Congress of Delegates—it’s been amazing. It makes sense to continue with the momentum.
To apply to be a FUTURE chair, you have to have served on a commission or in COD at least one year. You submit your CV, a letter of support from your chapter and a letter from your program or associate program director. You have to prepare a speech, and there’s a live Q&A.
I’ve practiced my speech a couple of times. It’s based on what people are concerned about, what you know residents are concerned about. I know I’ll talk to more people while I’m here and ask what’s on their minds. That’s what I want to do as chair of FUTURE: talk to people.
11:48 a.m.
I get to catch up with Derek after the session ends.
11:50 a.m.
Anyone else who wants to run for something has through tomorrow to throw in. The other person nominated to run for FUTURE chair so far is Taree Chadwick, student member of the AAFP Board of Directors. We just picked up our “candidate” badges.
I’ve definitely thought about running to be on the board, but I don’t know that I’d get the full benefit of serving there right now, in a year when I have so many responsibilities going on. Down the line I think I’d like to run for the new physician position on the board.
12:10 p.m.
Lunch and digging into resolution writing. I wish more people knew about this part of FUTURE and that it’s not a hard thing to get into. It’s good experience to write policy, to word a resolution in a way that can make change. I’ve gotten to know all the people on leadership now. We go to conferences, and they become your close friends and inspire you. We hung out last night.
1:15 p.m.
Working on a couple of resolutions: one about having international medical graduate representation at the Resident COD, and one centered on medical schools supporting multilingual education. Last year I was still new to this process. This time, it’s exciting to help collaborate with people and get them more involved in the leadership and governance process. I like helping people work on resolutions. I agree with whatever other residents feel passionate about—we should make it happen!
2:55 p.m.
Back from a coffee shop in KC’s Crossroads District, where I walked to get another flat white (this time from P.T.’s) and answer more messages. Now I’m headed into Main Stage to listen to Marcia Faustin, MD, FAAFP.
3:45 p.m.
Nodding along a lot with what Dr. Faustin says. And she and I have something in common: She said she and her husband, who’s also a family physician, went through Match at the same time and ended up where they wanted to go. My wife and I did that. She’s a psychiatry resident in Gainesville.
4:15 p.m.
Reference committee orientation. I’m in the No. 2 committee tomorrow, but we don’t yet know what that group will review.
5:15 p.m.
Working our program’s booth in the Expo Hall. The thing about recruiting is that someone should visit this booth and be excited to maybe come to Gainesville. We do so much outpatient care, for one thing and for me that’s made it a great program.
My wife and I were in medical school together in Cincinnati, and when she got an interview for residency in Gainesville, I reached back out to the program director. When we went to visit, we saw that everything we wanted was there: really good thrift stores, a lot of outdoor activities, and it’s affordable and close to my wife’s family.
Being chief, it’s a lot of administrative work. And there have been a lot of changes this year to my program. We’re in a transition period, with an interim program director and a new program director and some resident flux, so it’s been challenging. Overall, I’m glad I’m doing it, but I much prefer talking to people—getting people’s ideas and working toward broad-scale change—rather than nitty-gritty spreadsheets and scheduling. I get to have those kinds of conversations at FUTURE.
I love coming here because I feel energized about family medicine. You can get tired and bogged down with residency, with the day to day, but then you come here and you’re like, Let’s do it.
7:45 p.m.
Ending the day eating barbecue at County Road Ice House with my fellow Gainesville residents. Looking forward to another full day tomorrow.