NCCL leader eager to ‘fight the good fight’ for patients
June 26, 2025, David Mitchell — In the past two years, Florida has passed multiple laws that limit the care that Victoria Otano, MD, and other physicians can offer their patients.
But the Argentine who graduated from the University of North Georgia and the University of Kansas School of Medicine before landing in the Sunshine State for residency is in no hurry to pull up stakes again.
“It’s easy to think about places like Florida and be like, ‘Oh, I never want to practice in Florida or Texas,’” she said. “At the same time, our patients need us here. We are a safe space for them. It's important that we continue to get involved and not turn our backs.”
In April, Otano was elected co-convener of the LGBTQ+ constituency during the AAFP’s National Conference of Constituency Leaders, which is an annual leadership development event for underrepresented member constituencies: women; new physicians; international medical graduates; Black, indigenous and people of color members; and LGBTQ+ physicians and allies.
“I fit in a lot of different groups,” quipped Otano, who previously has been a minority delegate at the event. “I've been representing Florida for three years at NCCL. I'm very passionate about fighting for rights. As a person of the LGBTQ community myself, and as an advocate for my patients, I felt like this was the next step, to be in a national role and see what can be done on a different level.”
Otano, an assistant director and core faculty member of the Orlando Health—Bayfront Family Medicine Residency in Saint Petersburg, has served on the Florida AFP’s Justice, Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Council since 2023 and also served on a related task force that preceded it in 2022.
“The FAFP realized a few years ago that the majority of our members was not representative of the population that we serve,” she said. “The chapter really has tried to be more inclusive. We want to engage new grads and minority physicians, and talk about the issues affecting the minority populations we serve. We meet three times a year and discuss hot topics, and there are always hot topics here in Florida.”
Otano’s involvement in family medicine leadership dates to medical school when she was the first student to serve as the AAFP’s liaison to the Latino Medical Student Association.
“That was definitely a steppingstone,” she said. “I was lost, going from undergrad to medical school, and, all of the sudden, I had these national organizations I could get involved with. I got a lot of leadership training. The door opened for me to understand how things work in organized medicine, things a student otherwise wouldn't get an opportunity to see.”
Several leadership roles for students and residents will be filled during elections at FUTURE (formerly the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students), July 31-Aug. 2 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Otano attended National Conference while she was attending med school on the other side of the state line, in Kansas City, Kansas. She keeps coming back each spring for NCCL.
“You’re providing care and trying to figure out what's best for your patients,” she said, “but it can be very isolating when you're by yourself in your state. You're trying to advocate for your patients, and you feel like you alone might not be doing much. When you go to these conferences and you have leaders from all over the country fighting for the same things that you're fighting for, it gives you a lot of energy to come back and continue to fight the good fight. It gives you motivation to keep going.”