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Voters' Guide: Meet the candidates for District IV offices :

July 29, 2016
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The 2016 national AAP election for president-elect and district officers will begin on Oct. 21 and conclude on Nov. 21. Look for an  email message from the AAP election coordinator in October with your  personalized link to the ballot. No other login information will be  required.

Members will be asked to choose their next  president-elect: Michael T. Brady, M.D., FAAP, or Colleen A. Kraft,  M.D., FAAP. The winner will serve as the 2018 AAP president.

Voters  also will elect district officers in six out of 10 districts: district  chairpersons (who serve as AAP Board members), district vice  chairpersons and National Nominating Committee representatives. Visit  coverage of the candidates in District IDistrict IIDistrict IVDistrict VDistrict VII and District IX. The new president-elect and newly elected district officers will take office on Jan. 1, 2017.

AAP News election coverage continues at http://www.aappublications.org/collection/voters-guide and at the AAP Election Center, www.aap.org/election (login required). Read profiles of the president-elect candidates at http://bit.ly/295ddV2 and http://bit.ly/28XxCIa.

If you have any questions on the election procedures, contact Katie Friedman at 800-433-9016, ext. 4296, or [email protected].

All members are urged to vote.

Editor’s note: Biographies and personal statements were submitted by the candidates.

District IV

Jane Meschan Foy, M.D., FAAP (re-election)

District Chairperson candidate

Dr. Foy, an academic generalist, is professor of pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. She has practiced general pediatrics and served as medical director in a variety of primary care settings. She also has worked with local and state governments, school systems, nonprofit organizations, and Community Care of N.C. (the state’s homegrown Medicaid managed care program) on initiatives to improve the health of North Carolina’s children.

Her special interests include access to health care for underserved populations; mental health services in pediatric primary care and school settings; care of children with complex health care needs; and residency training in mental health, community pediatrics and advocacy.

Dr. Foy has served as District IV chair and a member of the AAP Board of Directors since 2014. Her previous national leadership roles in the AAP have included chair of the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, member of the Subcommittee on Access of the Committee on Federal Government Affairs, chair of the Task Force on Mental Health, member of the Mental Health Leadership Work Group and District IV vice chair. She is an associate editor of the AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care, 2nd edition, Pediatric Care Online (PCO) and PCO-UKShe served as president of the North Carolina Chapter from 1998-2000 and founded the N.C. Pediatric Society (NCPS) Foundation. In September 2015, she received the David T. Tayloe Sr. Award from the NCPS for outstanding community service.

Position statement

It is a privilege to serve as District IV chair and to have the opportunity for a second term, beginning in 2017. My primary goals are to represent the AAP members of my five chapters — Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky — on the AAP Board of Directors (BOD) to assure that AAP resources are used to represent pediatricians and children effectively and to address their needs, and to foster communication and mutual understanding among all members of our Academy.

During my first term on the BOD, I have frequently drawn from my experiences in various chapter and AAP leadership positions and in community practice, academic practice and teaching, clinic administration, and Medicaid population health. However, my most valuable source of wisdom has invariably been the leaders in my district: district officers, chapter officers, chapter executive directors, and committee, council and section chairs. Before each BOD meeting and whenever a contentious issue arises, I have asked for their input and have conveyed their opinions to the full BOD. In every instance, they have enriched my understanding of the issues and given me greater confidence in representing our members’ interests.

I will continue this collaborative process and persist in my efforts to involve additional participants — particularly early career pediatricians, minority members and subspecialists — and to open their channels to AAP leadership.

The years ahead will present the AAP with many challenges. Among the greatest of these will be to organize, prioritize and disseminate the exponentially growing body of evidence and expert opinion that will (or should) guide pediatric practice and child advocacy. The top priority of my second term on the BOD will be working with AAP staff and leadership — including that of committees, councils, sections and chapters — to streamline and improve our policy development process. I look forward to participating in this work.

Robert C. Gunther, M.D., M.P.H., FAAP

District Vice Chairperson candidate (re-election)

Dr. Gunther lives and works in the central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where he has been practicing general pediatrics and enjoying his family since 1987. His group, Augusta Pediatrics, has grown into an eight-physician, two-mid-level practice now part of the University of Virginia Physicians Group.

He completed his medical school training at Pennsylvania State University, residency training at University of Kentucky and in 2005 completed his M.P.H. at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He has clinical faculty appointments in pediatrics at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Gunther has served as chair of the local school board and currently serves on the school health advisory boards for several local school systems. He served as chair for the Virginia Healthy Youth Foundation Board, which works to reduce tobacco use and obesity rates in youths. He participates in short-term medical overseas mission projects.

He has served the AAP Virginia Chapter in a number of capacities and is the school health chair and past president. While president, the chapter increased board participation and created increased educational opportunities for the state’s pediatricians. He joined the AAP Council on School Health Executive Committee in 2010 and chaired the education committee. He participates on the AAP

Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, Section on Telehealth Care, Section on Obesity, and Council on Early Childhood. In 2012, he began his first term as vice chair for District IV.

Dr. Gunther and his wife, Kathy, have three grown children and reside in Waynesboro, Va. He enjoys the great pediatricians and executive directors in District IV.

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