This special edition of Inside AFP is dedicated to family medicine residents and students: the future of our specialty. We are drawn to family medicine in our shared aspiration to provide holistic, person- and community-focused care in a fragmented health care environment where we must courageously stand in counterculture.¹ The mission of American Family Physician (AFP) is to empower family physicians in these endeavors as the leading source of evidence-based medical information, while advancing science and health equity. We value the contributions from residents and students that enable AFP to continue meeting their educational needs.

My own interest in journal editing began in my fourth year of medical school when I joined the editorial board as the student representative. Together with the resident representative Dr. Amy Crawford-Faucher, we created a quarterly feature called Resident and Student Voice, which included clinical essays written by our peers.² The series ran for 4 years while the representative positions were active. When I became editor-in-chief of AFP, it was a top priority to revive the positions, because my involvement with the journal in the early years of my career had a profound professional and personal impact. The lessons from working with various editors and authors helped me further hone my skills and ultimately steered me to a career where I could integrate an academic path into a traditional family practice setting. My hope is for others to experience similar professional development and mentorship.

Since 2019, the following representatives have served on the editorial board and provided invaluable input to our content (and several continue to do so): Dr. Libby Wetterer, Dr. Enkhee Tuvshintogs, Dr. Priscilla Auguste, Dr. Kento Sonoda, Dr. Lilian White, Dr. Jack Kennady, Dr. Evan Starr, Dr. Kiersten Kelly, Dr. Nia Carty, Dr. Moses Syldort, and Adedayo Jobi-Odeneye. The newest members of our team are Dr. Spencer Dempsey of Gadsden Regional Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program in Alabama, and Ashley Lai, a medical student at California University of Science and Medicine.

A few of the many accomplishments of these impressive AFP ambassadors include: reviewing videos for AFP’s You-Tube channel, building our social media presence, creating AFP’s Photo Contest, and writing for the AFP Community Blog.

Now in its 75th year, AFP continues to evolve to provide evidence-based clinical medicine content in the most effective way possible. We strive to serve our colleagues and specialty in caring for individuals as a whole person, caring for all ages, caring for patients and their communities in diverse settings, and learning with agility and adaptability. In my own family medicine practice, I work with students and residents and teach them how to apply pearls from the journal directly to patient care. They teach me things too, including how they like to learn medical information and where they go to find it. We look forward to the fresh perspectives of our current and future representatives as we explore how to provide the best content in print, online, in videos and podcasts, at the point of care, on social media, and through apps, artificial intelligence, and beyond.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Sexton is the editor-in-chief of AFP. Applications for the AFP resident representative position and student representative position are available.