GME Award winner made most of long route to family medicine residency
Dec. 4, 2025, David Mitchell—From undergraduate studies, to medical school and residency training, the development of a family physician typically takes 11 years.
For Priscilla Auguste, MD, MHS, there were certainly no shortcuts.
“It’s been a journey,” said Auguste, chief resident at the Mercy Health St. Vincent Mercy Family Medicine Residency in Perrysburg, Ohio. “All the things I’ve done so far have given me tools to make the medical school and residency journey an above-and-beyond experience. I learned so many skills that feed into what I do now.”
Auguste’s health care journey started in nursing. She earned associate degrees at a Florida community college more than 20 years ago, but that field left her wanting more.
“There are limits on what you’re allowed to do and say,” she said. “That wasn’t enough for me.”
Still, she valued the experience.
“I learned a lot about compassion,” said Auguste, who was one of a dozen residents recognized with the AAFP’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education this fall during the Family Medicine Experience in Anaheim, California. “I learned what nurses are capable of and how to work with them because I understand what they do.”
Family medicine resident rooted in research
Auguste earned a biology degree at St. Mary’s Public Honors College of Maryland in 2005 and a master of health science in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2009. She stayed at Johns Hopkins, doing research for three more years.
Medical school was always in her plans, but she “got sidetracked.”
At the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins, Auguste worked as an analyst on the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes project as part of the Chronic Kidney Disease-Epidemiology Consortium. That role offered her opportunities to publish and present research. She also worked as a researcher on an educational tool to help patients with end-stage kidney disease make informed decisions about their transplant options. During her graduate education at Hopkins, Auguste also taught epidemiology to masters students.
We streamlined the AAFP awards process
A new application process makes it easier to nominate yourself or a colleague for AAFP awards and recognitions. Applications for the Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education open in early 2026. Other recognitions are open for nomination now.
“I love teaching,” she said. “Epidemiology and statistics can be hard, but I love being able to explain things in a way people can understand.”
She continued her work in research as a consultant and learned more things that apply to her work as a physician.
“I learned how to do qualitative research,” she said. “In graduate school, I worked with quantitative research, a lot of numbers and heavy statistics, but I didn’t get to experience the qualitative side. When it comes to the patients in my clinic, I realized that I have to use the qualitative piece to understand and describe the needs of patients. Why aren’t they eating well and exercising? What are the barriers? It takes more of a qualitative approach.”
“There’s a lot of nontraditional students there,” she said. “They decide they want to be a doctor. But when you decide that late, the path isn’t easy for going back into school. I’ve met EMTs, nurses, lawyers—people from all different backgrounds and educations—who found it was hard to navigate the process for admission to a U.S. medical school.”
Winners of the AAFP Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education are recognized on stage at FMX 2025 with Academy President Sarah Nosal, MD, FAAFP, and EVP/CEO Shawn Martin.
An emerging family physician leader
Auguste has held numerous leadership roles, including student representative for the journal American Family Physician, chair of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Trainee Advisory Committee, and communications and research director for the Association of Black Family Medicine Physicians.
In 2024, she was selected as a scholar in the AAFP Foundation’s Emerging Leader Institute (ELI), which pairs family medicine residents and medical students with family physician mentors in a year-long program aimed at sharpening their leadership skills.
Auguste is continuing to work on her ELI project, which aims to develop and implement a curriculum to help family medicine residents and medical students lead free workshops to help patients with diabetes, hypertension and obesity adopt healthier lifestyles. Once fully developed, Auguste hopes to share the curriculum with residency programs across the United States.
“It opens doors,” Auguste said of the ELI program. “If you have big ideas, it gives you permission to expand your ideas and go for it in many different ways. The recognition pushes you. I learned how to move a project with many moving parts forward, how to use resources at your fingertips, and networking on a subject you are passionate about.”
Based on her research at Johns Hopkins, Auguste initially planned to pursue nephrology as a medical career.
“During the first two years of medical school, you do basic medical sciences and learn about the human body and how it functions,” she said. “During the second two years, you’re going to the hospital and working with patients. When I got to that point, I realized I didn’t want to focus on kidneys for the rest of my life. It seemed limiting, and I like variety. I wanted a space where I could see kids, adults, geriatrics and work in women’s health. There’s only one place where you can have that variety of patients, and that’s family medicine.”
From learner to teacher
Auguste is still learning about leadership as a chief resident.
“Being able to lead a team is important, but one of the things I learned in life that has been very helpful is delegation,” she said. “In all of my experiences in leadership, I’ve learned that it's very easy to get overworked and to burn out when you don’t delegate and share the load. I like the idea of empowering other people to take on responsibility, so they feel like they are part of the solution. In this way, they too get to grow in leadership.”
Auguste doesn’t know exactly what her next stop will look like after completing residency, but she knows with certainty that it will involve academic medicine and teaching the next wave of family doctors.
“I love teaching,” she said. “I feel like I’m good at explaining things. I’m a good listener, and that will continue to serve me well with patients, and students and residents.”