We gathered June 17, 2018, to celebrate the achievements of six amazing people who are now alumni of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program. The past three years were special for all who were involved in their training. We started with five who joined us in June of 2015 — Brian Blank, Sam Fam, Jonathan Hedrick, Jonathan Jimenez, and Everlyn Perez — and then Kenetra Hix joined us the following year.
I remember learning who our new trainees were on Match Day 2015. Coming from UNC, ECU, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the University of Washington School of Medicine, these students matched with Duke Family Medicine from different parts of the country and I wondered if there was a common denominator. As I went back to review their applications, I learned all had a history of travel; some had spent significant amount of time in foreign lands, and several were children born to immigrant parents. As I learned about their families, I wondered with a smile if perhaps a few had chosen to train with me as their program director because my accent was similar to that of their own mothers’. From first generation Americans to an established and rooted Southerner, all have walked the walk of leadership, of inquiry, of hard work, of making a difference. This graduating class brought us leaders with diverse political and social views, all uniquely invested in making this world a better place through caring for people with the art of family medicine.
Sam Fam, DO, graduated with two additional abilities: dancing salsa and speaking Spanish as a new, fourth language. Sam used vacation time to start learning Spanish in Costa Rica, and then elective time at CACHAMSI in Ecuador. I watched him in awe when he lectured about leadership and procedures in Spanish in Peru at the World Organization of Family Doctors WONCA Iberoamericana region meeting. As chief resident, Sam excelled in scheduling and coordination of the activities of all his peers, communicating with multiple departments, chief residents and faculty throughout Duke University Health System, UNC, and beyond. In addition, Sam presented for Family Medicine for America’s Health- Health Equity Team to the ACOFP about health equity this past year.
Everlyn Perez, M.D., was Sam’s amazing salsa instructor; I enjoyed dancing salsa in her company myself, at my home, and Kansas City during the AAFP National Conference of Students and Residents. Everlyn was selected during her intern year to become an AAFP Foundation Emerging Leader Scholar. She made a difference in our population health curriculum, organizing a series of new Population Health Symposiums, and suggesting the creation of a new Population Chief Resident position. A world traveler, she brought her family medicine and Spanish-speaking skills to Bolivia where she worked with Kevin Broyles, a graduate of our program.
Jonathan Jimenez, M.D., MPH, a Pisacano scholar, and social justice activist who spoke at the People’s Moral March on Raleigh, and acted with professionalism in civil disobedience. He taught us all about the power of narrative with presentations at the AAFP National Conference of Students and Residents, Primary Care Progress, and the Starfield Health Equity Summit, he first-authored a paper on Population Health for Residents for Academic Medicine, and rocked it doing procedures in family medicine.
Brian Blank, M.D., the family man, dad to Lillian and Eleanor, co-chaired the AAFP National Conference of Students and Residents in 2015. He served the veterans at the VA, and logged the largest number of hours of moonlighting in urgent care this residency has ever seen, with an extra 1,000 patients seen in preparation for his own direct primary care practice in South Carolina.
Kenetra Hix, M.D., MPH, who joined us in her second year, rocked it with what she calls “Black Woman Magic” in medicine. She earned accolades for her research on “The Growing Role of Non-Physician Providers in Community Health Centers” (link: http://www.stfm.org/Conferences/AnnualSpringConference/PastConferences/2... ) as a visiting scholar with the Robert Graham Center for Health Policy of the AAFP in DC. She engaged with our local health department in her population health improvement project.
And Jonathan Hedrick, M.D., our southern gentleman and second generation family doctor who almost changed paths to psychiatry but returned as the prodigal son. Our philosopher in chief, committed to making health equity in rural North Carolina a reality. He blazed the trail for what promises to be a wonderful future Duke Family Medicine rural expansion to Vance and Granville counties.
We’ve got your back, as you are members of the Duke Family Medicine “family.” It is my hope that through family medicine you will continue to always make a difference. Thanks for your time and for having spent these years of your lives with us. We wish you the greatest success and to the people you will care for, the best in health.
Viviana Martinez-Bianchi is program director of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program. Email viviana.martinezbianchi@dm.duke.edu with questions.
Editor’s note: A member of the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program leadership team guest blogs every month. Blogs represent the opinion of the author, not the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program, the Department of Community and Family Medicine or Duke University.