Program director brings passion for education to FUTURE
May 8, 2025, David Mitchell — Kamini Geer, M.D., M.P.H., FAAFP, was severely ill, and multiple trips to different doctors yielded few answers and mounting frustration.
A visit with a new family physician made all the difference.
“He was the first one who actually listened to what I had to say about my illness and how it was affecting my life,” said Geer, who was diagnosed with lupus at 15. “He figured out what was going on and got us connected to the right specialists. As things changed, he was always making sure that he stayed ahead of my health and what I needed to do to stay healthy.”
The experience changed Geer’s health and her life.
“That sparked my interest in family medicine,” said Geer, the interim program director of the Advent Health East Orlando Family Medicine Residency. “The ability to meet a patient at first point of contact, listen to them and get them the help they need really made a big difference in my life. I wanted to be able to make that kind of difference for other people.”
Geer hopes to help provide a similar spark for medical students in her role as chair of the planning committee for the AAFP’s FUTURE (formerly the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students). The July 31-Aug. 2 event in Kansas City, Missouri, features educational sessions, procedural workshops and a residency fair that offers an opportunity to meet with hundreds of program representatives from around the country.
“Students truly get to see what the breadth of family medicine is like,” Geer said. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to not only see that breadth, but also to get introduced to different programs and talk to family medicine residents and learn what it is to be part of our specialty.
“For residents, if you are interested in being a teacher or an advocate for your program, it’s a really great opportunity to do that in the expo hall. There also are some great educational sessions for residents.”
Students and residents also will elect their peers to national leadership positions and debate policy during their respective congresses. Geer said that is a valuable opportunity to “demonstrate to the Academy what's important to residents and students.”
Geer has worked in assistant, associate and program director roles for the past 14 years, and is director of the women’s health fellowship program at AdventHealth Winter Park. She didn’t initially plan a career in academic medicine, but during her women’s health fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center, a senior faculty member made an important observation after watching her precept residents.
“They said to me, ‘I think you’d make a really great teacher,’” Geer recalled. “’Would you consider a career in teaching?’ I’d never really thought about that before or why that would be important to me. I realized I really enjoy watching those ‘aha moments’ and guiding people through becoming a physician.”
Geer is a member of the Florida AFP Foundation’s Board of Directors and also serves on the committee that plans the chapter’s CME meetings.
“Education is really important to me, and there are different levels of that,” she said. “I get to work with students, residents and fellows, which is really enjoyable and I’m really lucky to be able to do that. But you also can affect education for the people who are out in practice, and we get to bring them evidence-based medicine and new knowledge.”
As a member of the AAFP’s Commission on Education, Geer has tapped into her event-planning experience as the chair of the FUTURE planning committee.
“What a great opportunity it is to plan this for residents and students, and to lay out education for people who really are considering being part of family medicine,” she said.