Black family medicine leaders map community-building and leadership

David Mitchell — When AAFP president-elect Kisha Davis, MD, MPH, FAAFP, becomes president in October, she will be the third person in seven years to ascend to that role after previously serving as convener of the AAFP’s National Conference of Constituency Leaders (NCCL).

How NCCL inspires new family medicine leaders

Mears-Clarke: What started you on the pathway to leadership, and what has kept you engaged?

Davis: I was “volun-told” by my former residency director to go to NCCL. She offered to pay for me to go to the conference, and I said, “Sure. I’ll try it.” I didn’t know what NCCL was. I assumed it was just CME. I didn’t realize that it also was an opportunity for leadership development, building community, advocacy and so much more

Often, leadership starts with simply being willing to show up and push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” That resonates deeply with me because my leadership journey didn’t begin with intending to lead, it began with saying, “Yes, I can be of service.”

Why diversity benefits everyone

Davis: This is a really important point, especially around NCCL. That is such a powerful conference to bring people together. It’s an opportunity to talk about issues in your practice, in your life and to push the Academy forward on those issues our communities are facing.

NCCL also creates community. If you’re working in a practice and you are the only LGBTQ+ person or the only Black person at the practice, or you’re a new physician and you’re working in a practice with folks who have been in practice for 20 to 30 years, you may not feel at home in that practice. NCCL gives the opportunity to create a community among family physicians. There is benefit to me as an individual of learning from fellow family physicians who are in my community and hearing their challenges.

As an LGBTQ ally, for example, I have learned so much by going to the LGBTQ+ constituency meetings. I gained a greater appreciation for struggles that I didn’t realize my fellow physicians and patients were facing. That understanding makes me a better advocate. And in the end, diversity makes all of us better physicians.

Mears-Clarke: I love that sense of validation and growing together as a community. You found your leadership path at NCCL, which is a great opportunity for practicing physicians. What kind of opportunities are there for students and residents in Academy leadership?

Opportunities for student and resident leaders

Davis: There are so many ways to be involved in the AAFP for students and residents.

We have a whole conference dedicated just to students and residents for them to learn from each other and get excited about family medicine. Other medical specialties don’t do that. You can be on the AAFP Board of Directors as a student or resident, and most of our state chapters have students and residents on their boards. We want you to serve on our commissions, and we expect you to contribute. The voice of students and residents within our Academy is so strong. It helps us be better physicians because we know what folks on the ground are dealing with.

Mears-Clarke: I’m on the Board of the California Academy, and we very much depend on students to help keep us grounded. There’s an issue with institutional inertia and groupthink associated with executive leadership. Students and residents help us think differently because they bring fresh perspectives, and are often the first to say, “This is not actually the direction that we want to take things.”

Davis: You were a chief resident and now an FMOB fellowship director. You serve on the California AFP board, not to mention lots of leadership roles in your hospital. What leadership role have you enjoyed most?

I hear folks who say they feel like they have to do something because they’re worried about missing out on an opportunity, and if they don’t do this thing now, they’ll never be able to become X, Y or Z later. I’ve never lived my life like that. I never knew what step was next. If you had asked me five years ago if I would be health officer, that wasn’t on my radar. When the thing is ready for you, it is ready for you. If you’re going to have to give up your peace to do the thing and completely stress yourself out, then it isn’t time for you to do it yet.

There is a narrative, especially for women leaders, that you have to do it all: have a family, have the job and do extra things on the side. No, you don’t have to do it all. You can have it all, maybe not all at the same time. Be intentional and think about, what do I need right now? What does my family need right now? What does my job need from me right now? What does the world need from me right now?

It’s OK to say, I want to be a leader, and you can do that at your practice. You can do that at your medical school. It doesn’t always have to be on a national stage. Do that when you’re ready and when it feels right.

We need to make sure that we are taking care of our own mental health so that we can be here for the journey and be here for the long term. Trying to do all of it all at all at once probably isn’t helping you.

How do you decide what you say yes to and what you say no to?

Mears-Clarke: It comes down to capacity. The mission and interest may resonate, but if the capacity isn’t there, the joy will quickly turn into a burden. Effective leadership comes from checking in with yourself, your partner and your family before you say yes to something. There are not that many physicians and medical students, so you will be offered several opportunities throughout your career. Feeling like you have to say yes is a strong internal feeling, and one that deserves reflection, and real discussion. What’s most important is that you feel whole and you’re able to fulfill your role as a parent, a sibling, a partner or a child. It’s OK that the organization comes after all that.

The second thing I would say is that leadership is a skill. It’s like riding a bike or swimming. It is something that can be learned and mastered. As long as you’re willing to choose your mentors, lead with humility, ask questions and reflect on what your skills are and your areas for growth, you can be a successful leader. That’s probably one of my favorite parts about being a leader: that you don’t have to be perfect. The whole point is to grow, experience new things and change as you as you continue through your career.

I go to Hopkins once a year to teach first-year medical students intro to clinical medicine: how to take a history and physical. I do it because they may never see another family physician until they get to their third year. It’s important for me to make sure they see and know what family medicine is from their first day.

They don’t see many Black female physicians, and I want to make sure that they see one early in their medical career. That takes an hour out of my time. I hope, though, that it has some impact on them, on what they could do with their career, how they think about primary care and family medicine, how they think about diversity in medicine.

It doesn’t take much of our time to be able to be those mentors. So yes, reach out. I will follow up, and so will most family medicine leaders. So don’t be afraid to reach out to us. We’re not scary.