Student elective opened career path for AFP editor

She found it in a one-month elective in medical editing.

“When I talk to students, residents and early-career physicians, I talk about serendipity,” said Sexton, the editor-in-chief of American Family Physician and an associate professor of family medicine at Georgetown. “You have to work hard, but you also have to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves.”

Sexton matched with the family medicine residency at Georgetown, which has been a partner of AFP since the journal's inception in 1950.

“I checked out the program and fell in love with it,” she said. “It was a perfect pairing of education and clinical care. The combination made sense. I wanted to continue working with the journal.”

Jay Siwek, MD, FAAFP, wanted her to continue, too. Siwek, then editor of AFP and chair of Georgetown’s family medicine department, encouraged Sexton to continue her training as AFP's medical editing fellow and later recruited her to join the faculty at Georgetown.

Sexton has been involved with AFP, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, in various roles for nearly 30 years. She succeeded Siwek as editor-in-chief in 2018 and added the role of editor-in-chief of FP Essentials last year.

Sexton served as the student and resident member of the AFP editorial board during her training, and one of her top priorities as the journal’s new editor was to reinstate those leadership opportunities for future family physicians.

“It’s a great place to learn,” she said. “The way I dipped my toe into editing was learning to be a good reviewer. It helped me help my patients. I learned how to think critically, be informed and give patients the best answers I could. We need more family medicine writers, editors, researchers and reviewers.”

During residency, Sexton had intended to focus on academic medicine, but two years after completing her editing fellowship she opted to open a private practice in Arlington, Virginia, after a hospital system closed a primary care practice.

“I could practice anywhere, but I don’t want to leave,” said Sexton, who still sees patients a few days a week. “I’ve built something. I love the community of patients I see. It’s not just about medicine. My patients have become like family over the years. I don’t want them to be in that situation again.”

Not surprisingly, Sexton uses AFP in her own clinic.

“I love evidence-based learning,” she said. “I like to tell my patients things based on research or reading I’ve done. It’s like getting paid and having dedicated time to study.”

She also likes teaching, and learning from, her peers. Sexton recently moderated a discussion about the opportunities—and threats—presented by addressing health equity with artificial intelligence at the Family Medicine Experience in Anaheim, California. That session, one of more than 130 available in FMX On Demand, also featured these panelists:

• Renee Crichlow, MD, FAAFP, chief medical officer at Codman Square Health Center; vice chair at the Boston University Medical School Department of Family Medicine; lecturer at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and AFP medical editor for diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Octavia Amaechi, MD, FAAFP, chief medical officer and chair of the Health Equity Committee at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in South Carolina; faculty at the Spartanburg Regional Family Medicine Residency; and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility editor of Family Medicine.
• Jose Rodríguez, MD, FAAFP, associate vice president of the University of Utah Office of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; professor in Utah’s Department of Family and Preventive Medicine; associate medical director at the Redwood Health Center; president of the Family Physicians Inquiries Network; deputy editor of Family Medicine; and an editorial board member for the Annals of Family Medicine.

“Panel discussions are my favorite because I find that format engaging,” Sexton said. “I learn from the people I’m presenting with, and they all have different perspectives and expertise.”