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Vol. 66, No. 2 2015
Northeast Florida Medicine
From the President’s Desk
This has been a busy year for the Duval County Medical
Society (DCMS). After guidance from many of you, we
have embarked on new initiatives that support our mem-
bers and the health
of the community. I
would like to provide
anupdate on twomajor
projects, the DCMS
Leadership through
Me n t o r s h i p p r o -
gram and the DCMS
stroke initiative.
As you are probably
aware from previous
communications, the
Leadership through
Mentorship initiative
is designed to help our
medical community develop leaders and to support our
members through challenges they face in their careers in
medicine. Dr. Steven Cuffe, Professor of Psychiatry at UF,
and Dr. Uday Deshmukh, Senior Medical Director from
Florida Blue, graciously agreed to lead a task force to develop
a mentoring program that will also enhance the talent in
our medical community.
The Mentoring Task Force included Drs. Cynthia An-
derson, Tra’Chella Johnson-Foy, William Palmer and Ana
Alvarez. The task force members met numerous times and
decided to pursue two approaches. There will be a curricu-
lum-based program in association with a major university
to develop a group of DCMS physicians who would like
to undergo leadership training. Additionally, there will be
social events designed to introduce our talented physicians
and improve the social and professional communication,
sharing of ideas, trust and commitment among ourmembers.
The first event of the Leadership through Mentorship
program took place on April 25. More than a dozen DCMS
members gathered together for an afternoon of family fun
at Latitude 360. Physicians and their spouses heard talks
from Dr. Ashley Booth Norse and Dr. Alan Harmon on
the role of leadership in their careers and the mentors that
helped them along the way. Additionally, they shared how
they became leaders within the Medical Society, the Florida
Medical Association and at their workplaces. Attendees also
heard an informative presentation by The Health Law Firm
on some of the often overlooked aspects of managing a prac-
tice, including how to handle social media and email with
patients. The talks were followed by an afternoon of family
bowling, allowing everyone to get to know each other on a
more personal level! Please stay tuned for announcements
regarding our future events!
The DCMS stroke initiative was proposed in the first
quarter of 2015 and preliminarily accepted by the DCMS
Board of Directors and Public Health Committee. This
became possible with the recent development of advanced
interventional techniques in the management of stroke and
the advent of comprehensive and primary stroke centers.
DCMS found an opportunity to enhance and lead stroke
management by improving coordination and developing
consensus among local physicians, hospital systems, and
emergency medical response providers inNortheast Florida.
I am happy to report that there is significant initial
support to proceed with further discussions and planning
for a Consensus Conference for later in 2015 to develop
a proposed program for the Northeast Florida area. This
proposed program would include physicians who lead
stroke management, the area hospitals, and emergency
response system organizations. Via its physicians, DCMS
can lead such a project that has the potential of improving
stroke management for an estimated 2,400 stroke victims
in Northeast Florida, annually.
These initiatives naturally support the mission of DCMS
to “help physicians care for the health of our community”
because stronger leaders create a stronger, more impactful
medical society. Additionally, the stroke initiative would be a
great venue to improve the management of stroke victims by
bringing awareness to available services and new guidelines.
If you are interested in participating in either initiative,
please email our Communications Coordinator, Kristy
Wolski, at
and she will follow up. I
encourage you to participate. I truly believe that you receive
most when you invest time and effort into strengthening
your own community. Please do not hesitate to share your
suggestions and thank you for your support!
v
Raed Assar, MD, MBA
2015 DCMS President
Important Updates on DCMS Initiatives
Dr. Assar is Aetna’s Medical Director for North Florida. Articles or opinions provided by Dr. Assar do not necessarily reflect the views of Aetna.
