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Vol. 66, No. 2 2015
Northeast Florida Medicine
From the Editor’s Desk
Jacksonville is a great place to live for many reasons
including its wonderful weather, beaches, golf and, of
course, its people. While attending the recent One Spark
Festival in downtown
this spring, I was not
only struck by the
friendly nature of those
in attendance but also
by the overwhelming
diversity of the spec-
tators, vendors and the
talented participants.
We are a truly diverse
city with a great deal of
positive energy.
In many ways, our
local medical com-
munity mirrors the
city with its diversity in gender, race and religion. Many
different segments of the Jacksonville medical family have
formed social organizations/groups that help provide con-
tinuing medical education and/or other local volunteering
opportunities. Some of these efforts are successful while
others are not. Though each group has terrific ideas, a
more effective manner in which to promote the health
of our patients and to help physicians practice medicine
would be for these diverse and talented groups to bridge
their efforts together with the assistance of a larger medical
society. The Duval County Medical Society, the largest
medical society in the state, would fit this role perfectly.
Instead of each individual group promotingCME, offering
health fairs, asthma screening or even school physicals, why
don’t we work together to promote the health of the com-
munity at-large? The DCMS and its members have a very
successful track record of volunteering for the less fortunate
(We Care), writing resolutions and/or legislation to improve
our patient’s health (through the FMA), promoting high
level CME and even organizing well-received social events.
As our community grows and prospers, the DCMS will
continue to reach out to the individual medical associa-
tions in Northeast Florida so that we can accomplish great
things together.
Leadership Through Mentorship:
The DCMS has started a wonderful mentorship pro-
gram entitled “Leadership Through Mentorship.” This is a
fantastic way for young physicians to be engaged in some
of the activities that make our Medical Society successful.
Physicians have varied interests in organized medicine but,
unfortunately, many of the youngest ones fail to pursue
these interests. One of the reasons this occurs is a lack
of mentors. As the largest and oldest Medical Society in
Florida, DCMS has members with unique experiences that
can make this initiative work. The DCMS has provided
leaders to the AmericanMedical Association and the Florida
Medical Association. It has physicians that lead efforts to
improve the care of the impoverished through volunteering
opportunities. Members regularly author resolutions for the
FMA. It also has a very strong DCMS Foundation which
can excite physicians to develop fundraising activities that
better engage not only the medical community but the
public at-large.
There are many opportunities to get involved and the
Leadership Through Mentorship program is the perfect
way to provide appropriate guidance to the physician
leaders of tomorrow.
Journal and Communications Committee update:
The physicians of the DCMS have shown overwhelming
support of the “Doctors On Call” feature in the Florida
Times-Union. Kristy Wolski, DCMS Communications
Director and Editor of Northeast Florida Medicine, has
been very efficient in reviewing and submitting these public
education pieces for publication.We are also participating in
theTimes-Union feature entitled “PrimeTime.”This feature
discusses medical topics of particular concern to seniors.
Please let Kristy know if you are interested in writing about
a particular medical topic. She can be reached at Kristy@
dcmsonline.org.
We have also recently emailed the membership a brief
survey regarding this journal, Northeast Florida Medicine.
Please take a few minutes to answer the questions as this
will be valuable for the committee regarding the direction
and focus of the publication in the future. DCMS is the
only county medical society in Florida that publishes a
peer-reviewed medical journal.
Please feel free to contact me directly at any time if
you are interested in contributing to the communications
of the DCMS or if you have any questions/concerns as
we continue to “help physicians care for the health of
our community.”
v
Sunil Joshi, MD
Editor-in-Chief
Northeast Florida Medicine
