Profiling AFP’s 2025 Resident and Student Representatives

Kenny Lin, MD, MPH
Posted on June 16, 2025

Our resident and student representatives each serve one-year terms and bring fresh perspectives and energy to American Family Physician. This year’s representatives are Spencer Dempsey, MD, a second-year resident at the Gadsden (Alabama) Regional Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program; and Ashley Lai, a second-year student at California University of Science and Medicine—School of Medicine, Colton. They regularly create material for AFP’s social media channels and helped organize and select the winners of our 75th Anniversary Sweepstakes for free registration to the AAFP FUTURE Conference in Kansas City, MO.

Spencer studied public policy analysis and economic development in college and witnessed “stark inequities in health care access” during medical missions to the Philippines. He felt called to a career in family medicine “because of the whole person approach to care” that promotes a person’s “overall well-being” rather than “treatment of isolated pathology.” He was excited to have this opportunity to hone his medical writing and editing skills because “the ability to impart knowledge to my patients and the community at large is essential to the practice of medicine.”

Ashley became interested in writing and editing after recognizing that among an “overwhelming” array of educational resources available to medical students, AFP “explains and organizes information in a more digestible way.” She applied for the student representative position because AFP “has and will continue to be a helpful educational tool for me,” and she wanted to be able to share everything the journal has to offer with other students.

Both of our representatives anticipate applying skills from their AFP experiences to future projects supporting the specialty of family medicine after 2025. Spencer plans to “start a blog that is accessible to patients and clinicians alike, with discussions of relevant subjects and actionable advice.” Ashley hopes to apply her talents in design and video editing (which will soon be shared with followers of the AFP Podcast) to medical and family medicine-specific education initiatives.

Finally, Spencer would like to share his “sincere and perpetual gratitude” for the commitment and efforts of current and past AFP editors, reviewers, and authors over the past 75 years. Ashley would like to thank her “awesome” parents for “supporting me through this journey.”