President’s Message
Kevin Rossi, MD
Welcome to the fall season from the LA Chapter of the California Academy of Family Physicians. For Los Angeles County, I believe the only way to tell it is fall is that you might consider wearing a coat or sweater after the sun goes down. My son, who lives in Vermont, told me it was 31 degrees last night!
Your chapter has been very active recently in our support of trainees in family medicine. This includes grants for conference travel to medical students interested in a career in family medicine as well as current residents in the field. We just held our fall Member Appreciation Dinner in Pasadena where we nominated new officers, directors and delegates.
All of these activities and events would not be possible without one person. That person is Roxanne Kuns, our administrative leader. Roxanne has worked for us since September 1984 (32 years). We all know of companies that are successful over many years because of one person establishing the vision, support and continuity that are necessary to thrive.
Think of Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and, not to leave the east coast out of this, Jack Welch of General Electric. These leaders become synonymous with their firms and carry the vision forward, support the history and provide stability that is necessary for success.
The Los Angeles Chapter may have a parade of members, leaders and associations over the years, yet Roxanne has been the rock solid foundation that is unique; I believe, in chapter history.
In fact, one of the things that brought me back to active membership in the county chapter was my work with Roxanne many years ago as a resident and young physician. It was so easy to re-engage after speaking to someone whom I knew so many years ago. She didn’t even make fun of how old I looked after 25 -30 years. Many of you may not know that Roxanne just retired from a 20-year career at Biola University and is now able to devote more time to her work with the Academy, in between her grand parenting duties, which, I know she is so fond of. She is a wonderful family person with a warm positive attitude and I have been honored to work with her over the years.
For these reasons I would like to award Roxanne the singular title of Honorary Family Physician for the LA Chapter. Of course, she won’t have a license to practice medicine, but I believe she really stands for and promotes the basic tenants of family medicine: to provide personal, comprehensive, and continuing care for the individual in the context of the family and the community. Her work has advanced this core value in the largest chapter in California.
If you get a chance, send a message to the Academy to thank Roxanne for her work.
Don’t forget to join us for our last member appreciation dinner to occur on Thursday, December 1.
