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 I, District II, District IV, District V, District 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 VII
Anthony D. Johnson, M.D., FAAP
District Chairperson candidate (re-election)
Dr. Johnson has provided general pediatric care for children in central Arkansas for the past 33 years and is the senior partner at Arkansas Pediatric Clinic. He also has served as an advocate for children on a one-by-one basis in his practice, but also in his community, state and nationally. He has served as president of the AAP Arkansas Chapter, chaired the AAP Annual Chapter Forum Committee and the National Nominating Committee. Also, he has served on the AAP Committee on Child Health Financing and as District VII’s vice chairperson.
He lives in Little Rock with his wife, Denise, and they have three daughters, Piper, 19, Parker, 17, and Phoebe, 12. Having a daughter in middle school, high school and now away at college, he is reminded on a daily basis of the value of the AAP and its chapters, as volunteer pediatric leaders across this country work to improve the lives of children throughout the country and the world.
Dr. Johnson recognizes the important role physician organizations play in the environment of change and transformation of our health care system. He looks forward to the opportunity to serve as District VII chair, for a second term, representing the pediatricians practicing in District VII on the AAP Board of Directors.
Position statement
To quote Dr. Abt, the first AAP president, “It is our desire to build an association so that every qualified pediatrician could seek membership. It will be necessary for the Academy to interest itself in undergraduate and postgraduate instruction and exert a regulatory influence over hospitals. As an organization, we should assist and lead in public health measurers, in social reform and in hospital and educational administration, as they affect the welfare of children.”
These words, ideals and goals continue to ring true, especially in this time of dramatic change. Politicians are legislating health care reform, and they along with business leaders, health insurance and hospital executives are discussing payment reform, patient-centered medical homes, team-based care, health homes, accountable care organizations, clinically integrated networks and vertically integrated health systems.
As individual physicians, each of us is in our practices and hospitals providing care for our patients, advocating for them one by one. Together, through our physician organizations like the AAP and our state chapters, we have the opportunity to participate in these local, regional and national discussions.
The first section of the Affordable Care Act is titled “Quality, Affordable Health Care for All Americans.” Physicians are being tasked with the responsibility of maintaining and increasing the quality of medical care, while overall, less dollars are spent on medical care. Pediatricians have led the physician community, developing the idea of the medical home and implementing its philosophies in how we provide medical care for children. We have to continue to lead, defining what quality medical care for children is and developing the ability to document how we provide it. We will need to continue to highlight the cost-effectiveness, but also the importance of improving the health of all children, because today’s children are tomorrow’s adults. Also, we have to advocate for the well-being of pediatricians, pediatric and surgical subspecialists, in all different types of practice settings.
All of this translates into value, the value that each of us brings to our patients, our communities and our country. Combining our voices, through the AAP and its chapters, will provide us with the best mechanism to highlight the important role we must play in determining how health care is provided in the future.
Gary W. Floyd, M.D., FAAP
District Vice Chairperson candidate (re-election)
Dr. Floyd grew up in Midland, Texas, attended the University of Texas, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and completed a pediatric residency at Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma, where he also served as chief resident.
During his practice career, Dr. Floyd has served as a general pediatrician in Oklahoma City for five years; as academic faculty at Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma for five years, part of which he served as residency program director; as medical director for pediatric emergency services at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth for 15 years; as medical director of urgent care services and public policy at Cook Children’s for five years; and as executive vice president, medical affairs/chief medical officer, then executive vice president, government affairs at John Peter Smith Health Network in Fort Worth for seven years.
Dr. Floyd is active in organized medicine. He served the Texas Pediatric Society (TPS)/AAP Texas Chapter on several committees, was chair of the North Region, TPS past president, and past president of the Texas Chapter. He currently is AAP District VII vice chair. He is a past president of the Tarrant County Medical Society, a delegate to the Texas Medical Association where he has served on the Council on Constitution and Bylaws and past chair of the Council on Legislation. He currently is a delegate to the American Medical Association (AMA) and vice chair of the Texas delegation to the AMA. He testifies before committees for both the Texas House and Senate, in Washington, D.C., and is a staunch advocate for patients and physicians.
Dr. Floyd has been married to Karen for 41 years. They have two married daughters and two grandsons.
