Member of the Month:
Julie Graves Moy, M.D., M.P.H.

Physician explores many sides of family medicine

posted 05.17.11

Julie Graves Moy, M.D., M.P.H., of Austin, is the medical services coordinator for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services. Throughout her career she has worked in a variety of clinical and non-clinical settings including academia, private practice, emergency medicine, and in-state agencies. Fittingly, her favorite aspect of family medicine is the variety, and she likes getting to meet so many people.

Dr. Moy received her undergraduate degree from Rice University in Houston, her medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, and her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Texas School of Public Health where she is currently pursuing her doctorate in policy management and biostatistics. She completed a family medicine residency at St. Paul Medical Center in Dallas.

Though her roles as a “more-than-full-time” physician, Ph.D. candidate, and single parent keep her busy, she enjoys kayaking, paddle-surfing, hiking, traveling, and reading the newspaper in her free time.

Tell us a little about yourself and your career. I have had a varied and interesting, but non-traditional career. I’ve been able to practice in the academic setting as medical school and family medicine residency faculty, in private practice as a hospitalist, and do contract work in emergency medicine. Additional training in public health allowed me to work for the state health department in infectious diseases, Medicaid, and the Children with Special Health Care Needs program. I now work with the Department of Aging and Disability Services. I’ve traveled extensively and was privileged to care for our troops and their families at a military hospital ER in Germany. My only child is about to go away for college and I’m finishing a Ph.D. in health policy; I’m not sure what I’ll do next.

Why did you choose to work for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services? Texas settled a lawsuit filed by the federal Department of Justice about the care of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who live in the Texas State Supported Living Centers. There was a need for someone to come in and help build a quality assurance system, write guidelines, fill positions with good doctors, and work on overall improvements in health care delivery for a vulnerable population. I wanted to help, and had a chance to help 4,200 Texans who have a lot of need as well as the 15,000 people who care for them every day.

What is it like working in a department where concern for community health is a priority, but performing a job where the one-on-one patient to doctor relationship is key? How do these different sized spheres of focus compliment or contrast with one another? Every patient is part of a population, and populations are made up of individuals. One of the strengths of family medicine is our ability to see both forest and trees – to care for the individual in the context of the family, the community, and the population at large.

The most important resource I find TAFP offers me is: Advocacy. We are so lucky at TAFP to have outstanding staff who support us all, and who make it possible for our elected leadership to communicate effectively with policymakers.

If you could change one thing in your field or in health care as a whole what would it be? I wish the United States would move to a single-payer system so that we could focus on the content and quality of care and stop having to spend time dealing with for-profit health insurance companies whose interests are opposed to those of patients.

TAFP’s Member of the Month program highlights outstanding Texas family physicians in QuickInfo and on the TAFP website. We feature a biography and a Q&A with a different TAFP member each month who is doing great work to advance family medicine in his or her community. If you know an outstanding family physician colleague who you think should be featured as a Member of the Month, nominate the physician by sending his or her name, phone number, and e-mail address to kalfano@tafp.org. View past Members of the Month here.