2017 AAFP National Conference

This year’s American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students was held on July 27 through July 29 in Kansas City, Missouri. The conference gives medical students an opportunity to attend workshops, network, and gain insights into family medicine.


Representatives speaking with medical students

Our faculty, residents, and staff went as exhibitors to promote our residency programs. We also sponsored scholarships for medical students to attend and learn more about family medicine.

Over 4,000 people from across the nation attended this year’s conference and over 500 medical students visited U of M Family Medicine in the Expo Hall. Below is a list of all U of M Family Medicine Residency Program representatives.

DULUTH

• Jamie Conniff, MD, faculty
• Elizabeth (Libby) Feist, MD, second-year resident
• Joshua Kropko, DO, second-year resident
• Jesse Susa, MD, second-year resident

Third-year St. Cloud resident
Jamie Finke, MD

MANKATO

• Ryan Brower, MD, second-year resident
• Bob Jeske, MD, faculty

METHODIST

• Seun Acquah, MD, second-year resident
• Allyson Hayward, MSW, faculty
• Chris Leonard, MD, second-year resident
• Josh Scheck, MD, third-year resident
• Jeremy Springer, MD, program director
• Mary Wagner, MD, associate program director

NORTH MEMORIAL

• Renée Crichlow, MD, associate program director and MAFP representative
• Mark Nelson, MD, second-year resident
• Melissa Pavek, MD, third-year resident
• Lauren Williams, MD, third-year resident and MAFP representative

UMMC faculty Nicole Chaisson, MD, MPH (left),
and administrative coordinator
Raquel Van Norman (right)

ST. CLOUD

• Jamie Finke, MD, third-year resident
• Leesa Larson, MD, second-year resident
• Dennis Peterson, MD, faculty

ST. JOHN'S

• Kathryn Brown, MD, MS, faculty
• Tom Haroldson, MD, third-year resident
• Tony Nguyen, MD, second-year resident

ST. JOSEPH'S

• Paige Holmgren, MD, third-year resident
• Manuel Idrogo, MD, faculty
• Thuy Nguyen-Tran, MD, third-year resident

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MEDICAL CENTER

Second-year Methodist resident
Suen Acquah, MD, presenting her poster

• Nicole Chaisson, MD, MPH, associate program director
• Kriti Choudhary, MBBS, MPH, third-year resident
• Anna Larson, DO, third-year resident
• Sharon Toor, MD, second-year resident
• Raquel Van Norman, administrative staff

DEPARTMENT FACULTY & STAFF

• Karen Borchert, MD, Twin Cities campus FMIG advisor and UMN Medical Center faculty
• Laura Pham, residency programs admissions and recruitment coordinator
• Heidi Cerdas Monge, MBA, graduate medical education curriculum coordinator

St. Cloud faculty Dennis Peterson, MD,
demonstrating a procedure

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

• Second-year Methodist resident Oluwaseun (Seun) Acquah, MD, was selected to present her residency program's poster titled “Food Insecurity: Identification of an Effective Screening Process.”

• St. Cloud faculty Dennis Peterson, MD, assisted in the hands-on, skills-based point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) workshop. He demonstrated ultrasound scans on conference attendee volunteers, then assisted them as they performed scans on the volunteers.

• Third-year University of Minnesota Medical Center resident Andrea Larson, DO, presented a poster titled "A Toolbox for Trans Care," co-authored by University of Minnesota Medical Center faculty Carrie Link, MD.

• Third-year North Memorial resident Lauren Williams, MD, presented a poster titled "Advocacy 101," with Peter Meyers from United Family Medicine. 

View photos from the conference

SOCIAL MEDIA

The traveling Loon trophy

For the fourth year in a row, we held a friendly social media challenge between our eight residency programs. For the challenge, we specifically tracked Twitter usage using #aafpnc. The residency program and individual who tweeted the most using #aafpnc received prizes. 


This year’s winning team was our North Memorial program, with a grand total of 121 tweets. They will receive the traveling Loon trophy (our version of the Twitter bird.) This year's individual winner was third-year Methodist resident Josh Scheck, MD, with a total of 71 tweets. He wins a gift from the University of Minnesota Bookstore.

Past winners

2016: Program winner: Methodist; Individual winner: Jesse Klingelhoets, MD, Methodist
2015: Program winner: North Memorial; Individual winner: Carrie Link, MD, University of Minnesota Medical Center
2014: Program winner: North Memorial; Individual winner: Renée Crichlow, MD, North Memorial

We look forward to next year’s conference, which will be held on Thursday, August 2 through Saturday, August 4, 2018 in Kansas City, MO.