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  • Longtime Leader Gives Back by Mentoring Students, Residents

    Jan. 29, 2024, David Mitchell — Marla Tobin, M.D., FAAFP, left clinical practice in 1997 and retired as a physician executive in 2012, but the family medicine trailblazer is still making an impact on the specialty.

    Marla Tobin, M.D., FAAFP

    Tobin was the first woman to serve as student chair (1980) and resident chair (1982-83) of the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. She’ll return to Kansas City, Mo., July 31-Aug. 2 for that event (now FUTURE) as a mentor for the AAFP Foundation’s Emerging Leader Institute, which pairs students and residents with family medicine mentors who support ELI participants in a year-long project.

    “I think you get a lot of inspiration by seeing the next wave of people coming behind you who are so talented,” said Tobin, who has served as an ELI mentor for a decade. “The fact that they’re taking this on during residency or medical school is a real challenge. Those years are fast moving, and they’re learning everything there is to learn about medicine and family medicine. They must learn a lot of time management, skill development and leadership.”

    Tobin, a past president of the Missouri AFP, said it was important to give back to the next generation. She benefitted from an AAFP development program for aspiring physician executives in the 1990s that paired her with mentor Jane Murray, M.D., who had served as the AAFP director of education and chair of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Kansas.

    “When I was running a busy practice and took the AAFP Fundamentals of Management Course, we had a year-long curriculum, did a special project and were paired with a mentor very similar to the ELI program,” Tobin said. “Jane became not only a mentor, but a lifelong friend, as did others in the program, and I discovered new career opportunities and leadership skills that served to expand my world in family medicine and my career.”

    Tobin’s experience in that development program led to a recommendation and a new job as a medical director with Aetna Inc., where she oversaw a network of more than 3,000 physicians and 30 hospitals in three Midwestern states. She moved on to United Healthcare and later back to Aetna, eventually serving as senior regional medical director for a 15-state area.

    “Look at the opportunities that are laid out ahead of you,” said Tobin, who was a rural small practice owner who also developed a federally qualified rural health clinic, and taught students and residents early in her career. “There's a lot of things that you just don’t see in your future that you want to keep the door open to be able to say yes to.”

    One of Tobin’s recent ELI mentees was Kelly Dougherty, M.D., a third-year resident at the Mercy-St. Louis Family Medicine Residency, who hopes to practice in a rural setting.

    “She’s done some amazing things already,” Tobin said of Dougherty, who is the resident trustee for the AAFP Foundation Board and has been a visiting scholar with the Robert Graham Center and the Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care, as well as a recipient of the Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education. “I think it’s extremely important to have mentors and leaders who are women, minorities and new physicians to give people a chance to see what they want in their own future. I feel like I’m more impactful as a role model for women because I am a woman, and for rural docs because I’ve been in rural practice, and for people who want to run a practice because I’ve run a practice myself. If you’ve done something, you know you can be there for somebody who might want to do it in the future.”

    Tobin was the first convener of the National Conference of Women, Minority and New Physicians in 1990. That AAFP leadership development event, now the National Conference of Constituency Leaders, will mark its 35th anniversary April 24-26 in Kansas City, Mo.

    NCCL has grown into a leadership development event for these underrepresented member constituencies: women; new physicians; international medical graduates; members who are Black, indigenous or people of color; and LGBTQ+ physicians and allies. The event coincides with the Annual Chapter Leader Forum, which is a developmental program for chapter-elected leaders and chapter staff.

    Dates to Know

    National Conference of Constituency Leaders: Registration is open now for the National Conference of Constituency Leaders, April 24-26 in Kansas City, Mo., which is a leadership development event for women; new physicians; international medical graduates; members who are Black, indigenous or people of color; and LGBTQ+ physicians and allies.

    FUTURE: Registration opens Feb. 14 for FUTURE (formerly the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students), scheduled for July 31-Aug. 2 in Kansas City, Mo.

    Emerging Leader Institute: Applications for the AAFP Foundation’s Emerging Leader Institute are due by March 1. Thirty selected residents and students will attend FUTURE before attending ELI Aug. 2-3. Participants receive a $1,000 scholarship, a family physician mentor, and the opportunity to develop and complete a leadership project.

    “I went to a lot of AMA meetings in my resident and student days, and there were so few women, new physicians and minorities,” she said. “The Academy was the first organization in the medical world to really give younger physicians a role in policy change, decision-making and elections. That was a time when there was an increasing focus on getting minorities and new faces into family medicine. There were a lot of visionary people on the AAFP Board who wanted to hear from those groups and make room for them. They were working to make the conference something that could bring people together. There were so many important issues that were being brought forward by these groups and the residents and students, and the Academy was recognizing that was something that they wanted to perpetuate and create pathways into the discussion about policy.”