It is my honor to have the opportunity to represent the Los Angeles Academy of Family Physicians for the upcoming year as your president in 2026. After graduating from medical school at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, I completed residency at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Family Medicine Residency Program. I now practice full time as an urgentologist for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group at the Los Angeles Medical Center based in east Hollywood. At my medical center, I serve on the Physician Wellness Council with a focus and interest in practice sustainability and preventing physician burnout.
In Los Angeles County, we all serve one of the most diverse populations in the country. Our ability to best serve the varying needs of our patients relies on physicians being adequately resourced in their practice while maintaining autonomy. It also relies on achieving a healthcare system that works for all patients of all socioeconomic status so that our patients can access and afford the care and medications we recommend. At the end of our workday, we deserve to have a feasible workload that also allows us to be present with those we love. It is this ideal that I, and so many of you, work towards through our involvement in organized medicine.
Los Angeles County is currently seeing unprecedented challenges affecting our patients, our profession, and affecting many of us personally. We have growing inequity within our society and a high cost of living in Los Angeles County which makes it difficult for our patients to afford the health care they need. We have reimbursement rates not keeping up with inflation, putting strain on our practices. In Los Angeles, 10% of our population is undocumented and around 1 in 5 residents live with an undocumented family member. These families live in fear of family separation and deportation. Our undocumented patients are afraid to keep their medical appointments, causing unnecessary uncontrolled chronic disease that puts greater strain on the health care system. We see the effects of all this with increased rates of anxiety and depression in our patients.
With all that is going on both nationally and locally, I have myself reflected on where I can best help. And it is here, here in Los Angeles County, doing grassroots work to support my patients, my profession, and my community. We have the greatest impact on shaping culture within our own backyard. We can act with kindness and compassion daily and advocate for the disadvantaged and disenfranchised within our communities. We can stay connected and be present with our friends and our neighbors to build and to reinforce the strength of our communities. No single one of us will solve the core issues of the day, but if each one of us did just one or two small actions and inspired others to join, we become a coalition for the good we want to see in the world.
It is with this lens that I approach my year as your president. This year, I hope to reinforce a sense of community and connection within our organization to help renew us for the challenges we face daily. I plan to organize community service opportunities for our members to give back and contribute to making LA County stronger and healthier. I make myself available to you all as advocacy needs may arise. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your LAAFP if you have community service or advocacy needs. As trusted family physicians, the power of our collective voice to advocate on behalf of our patients and our profession should not be underestimated. To face head-on the seemingly insurmountable challenges of this moment takes connection, coalition, and action… Let’s go!
Stacey Ludwig, MD, MPH
Los Angeles Academy of Family Physicians
2026 LAAFP President
Contact us at admin@laafp.org
