New Board Members Installation

(October 27, 2023– CHICAGO, Illinois) The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians (IAFP) members and leaders gathered near McCormick Place to install the new board of directors and present four IAFP Awards. This event was held in conjunction with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Family Medicine Experience (FMX) to capitalize on the attendance at the nation’s largest gathering of family physicians. AAFP Board Chair Dr. Tochi Iroku-Malize provided the official installation for the 2023-23 newly elected IAFP board members:

• President-elect Dr. Kate Rowland of Naperville who practices at Rush Family Medicine in Chicago
• First Vice president Dr. Corinne Kohler of Champaign who practices at Promise Healthcare
• Second Vice President is Dr. Santina Wheat of Chicago, program director of Northwestern Family Medicine Residency program at Erie Family Health Center in Humboldt Park in Chicago.
• Class of 2026 Board members: Dr. Rebecca Maddrell of Chicago, who practices at Loyola family medicine in Maywood, Dr. Avinash Mantha of Des Plaines who practices at Hines Veterans Affairs clinic in Maywood and Dr. Safiya McNeese-Ruffin of Alton who is faculty at the SIU- Alton Family Medicine Residency Program
• New Physician Board member class of 2025 Dr. Stefani Beard of Chicago who practices at Rush Family Medicine.
• Resident board member Dr. Christopher Veal is training at Carle Foundation Hospital Family Medicine Residency and
• Student Board Member Haley Bylina is at Rush University School of Medicine.
• Delegate to the American Academy of Family Physicians, Dr. Michael Hanak of Rush Family Medicine in Chicago. 

You can link to the full board of directors list with their photos. 
At their first board meeting that afternoon, Christina Wells, MD of Burr Ridge was elected Treasurer and Tabatha Wells, MD of Springfield was elected to fill a vacancy in the Alternate Delegate to the AAFP Congress of Delegates and Romero Santiago, MD of Urbana was elected to serve as the AAFP Congress Observer for the 2024 AAFP Congress of Delegates. 

Dr. Emma Daisy was installed as President of the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians. She is a family physician at Tapestry360 Health (formerly Heartland Health Center) where she cares for patients at the Rogers Park neighborhood site on the North side of Chicago. She has served in various capacities for the IAFP since she joined as a first year resident in 2011. Her interests lie in health equity and primary care access, and she is committed to providing high-quality primary care to patients of all ages, throughout their lives.  Dr. Daisy is Board Certified in Family Medicine and Geriatrics. She graduated from Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and completed her family medicine residency at Northwestern, training at a federally qualified health center in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. She completed a fellowship in geriatrics at the University of Chicago. 

In her inauguration speech she said, “Our work is the backbone of primary care, and the scaffolding for helping our patients build healthier lives. While I can’t claim to do it all, I am proud of what I do.”

In addition to caring for patients, Dr. Daisy has made advocacy a central component of her work in her community and with IAFP.  "I want to increase the profile of our specialty and magnify the quality work that we do so that more young doctors will choose this path.  I also want it to flourish as a joyful and sustainable path and we all win when family doctors are supported," she said in her speech.  Earlier this week she testified before the Evanston City Council in support of a comprehensive ordinance to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products and also co-authored a letter to the editor in the Chicago Sun Times along with AAFP president-elect Steven Furr, MD calling on our nation's leaders to support family medicine and avert the predicted primary care physician shortage  

She lives in Evanston with her husband, Tim, and their two children.

You can read her full speech here. 

For more information or to set up an interview with any of our board members, contact Ginnie Flynn or call 773/754-1185

Founded in 1947, The Illinois Academy of Family Physicians (IAFP) is a professional medical society dedicated to maintaining high standards of family medicine representing over 4,800 family physicians, residents and medical students. IAFP provides continuing medical education (CME) programming, advocacy through all levels of government and opportunities for member engagement and interaction. We are a constituent chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)