One of my lifelong professional dreams came true tonight. When I was a medical student, many, many years ago, I didn’t know what kind of doctor I wanted to be. My father is a surgeon. So, naturally, I leaned in that direction, just because of familiarity.
But, then I found my calling as a Family Physician. I loved seeing children, and younger adults, and older adults. I enjoyed seeing patients in my office, at the hospital, at the nursing home, and other places. I enjoyed geriatrics, sports medicine, acute care, chronic care, and I knew that was pointing me in the direction of being a Primary Care physician.
Then, I started meeting a lot of great people through an organization called the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians. And for those of you involved in your professional organization at a state and national level, if you find the right group, you feel at home. You feel like you found your tribe. And, that happened to me more than 20 years ago when I was a medical student.
One of the things I envisioned an dreamed about was taking that oath of office, as the organization’s president. And, that happened tonight, being sworn in as the 73rd President of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians. The video is above. In addition, I just came up with a 10 minute speech earlier today with the theme, “Be The Change,” which is a phrase that really changed my life, and I think about during transitions like this.
It’s been really a reflective day and night. And, I might write more about it some day (like what’s it’s like being sworn in as president on video conference during a pandemic). But for now, I’m thankful. I’m thankful that I have been given the opportunity to live out my dreams. Let’s see what tomorrow brings….