Two TAFP members appointed to AAFP commissions

Two TAFP members have recently been appointed by the AAFP. Melissa Gerdes, M.D., was appointed as chair to the AAFP Commission on Quality and Practice and Samuel Mathis was appointed as the AAFP Student Representative to the American Medical Association’s Medical Student Section.

Gerdes is a TAFP past president and has previously chaired TAFP’s Commission on Membership and Member Services, the TAFP Finance Committee, and the TAFP Section on Special Constituencies. She also served as new physician delegate to the AAFP Congress of Delegates in 2005-06 and has been on the AAFP Commission on Practice Enhancement since 2010. Gerdes is currently the AVP and CMO of Outpatient Services and Accountable Care Organization Strategy for Methodist Health System in Dallas.

Mathis is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. His volunteer experiences include being a founding member of Students Together for Galveston, an organization that coordinates service opportunities for UTMB students, and assisting at a free community clinic run by medical students. He is also a Gold Medal of Achievement recipient and is a scout leader for a local Boy Scout troop.