August 4, 2022, 11:30 a.m. David Mitchell (Kansas City, Mo.) — Each year, the AAFP Foundation selects 30 scholars to participate in its Family Medicine Leads Emerging Leader Institute, which coincides with the AAFP’s National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students.
Student and resident scholars, who receive a $1,000 scholarship to attend National Conference and the Emerging Leader Institute, spend a weekend in workshops relevant to their assigned leadership tracks: policy and public health, personal and practice, or philanthropic and mission-driven. The scholars also participate in a project management workshop. After the conference, they spend eight months working with volunteer family physician mentors to develop and execute projects related to their tracks. Projects are submitted for evaluation, and nine project awards are presented.
The top winners in each track presented their projects July 29 at National Conference. AAFP News talked with one of the winners — Francesco Satriale, M.D., a first-year resident at the Family and Community Medicine Residency at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Penn. — about the experience and why he encourages his peers to apply when the next application cycle opens in December.
AAFP News: What did you learn through this process?
Satriale: The biggest learning from ELI came through practicing key leadership skills in real time: running meetings, setting expectations with those you are working with, communicating, and understanding where other people are coming from and how they can best contribute.
AAFP News: You were paired with mentor Douglas Spotts, M.D., vice president and chief health officer at Meritus Health. What have you gained from that relationship?
Satriale: Working with Dr. Spotts was fantastic. We have a lot of overlap in our experiences. I was a medical student at Penn State, and he is also an alumnus. He practiced in Lewisburg, Penn., for decades, which is where I attended college at Bucknell. We really hit it off. Our meetings were very productive, and he provided excellent guidance. I couldn’t speak more highly of him.
AAFP News: Your project focused on the health effects of climate change. Is your work on that topic complete or ongoing?
Satriale: My work is ongoing. I’m working with a medical student at Penn State, Kyra Chester-Paul. She’s interested in taking it forward and has identified a faculty mentor at PSU to help apply a formal research component to the work.
AAFP News: A new application cycle for this program opens in December. Would you encourage other students and residents to apply?
Satriale: I would encourage students and residents to participate in ELI if they’ve identified something that needs to be changed and have a desire to fix it. If you have a passion and an interest in promoting change, this is an excellent platform to learn how to do that. You’re assuming the role of leader and are taught how to thrive in that role, which only creates more opportunities down the line.
The 2022 Family Medicine Leads Emerging Leader Institute leadership project award recipients are:
Policy and Public Health Leadership
Personal and Practice Leadership
Philanthropic and Mission-driven Leadership
* Participants are listed with their current academic status rather than their year in medical school/residency when they joined the ELI program.