MD/MPH Student Assumes Key Leadership Role at National Conference

Master of Public Health student in East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health Margaret Miller served as Student Conference Chair for the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Students, one of the conference’s most prominent leadership roles. She was also elected as the student member of the AAFP Board of Directors for 2019-2020.  Margaret Miller is a fourth-year student in ETSU’s Quillen College of Medicine.

The Doctor of Medicine and Master of Public Health (MD/MPH) is an articulated degree course of study that complements medical training of clinician-practitioners with addition in-depth training in public health.  Miller’s MPH concentration, Public Health Administration, prepares graduates for leadership positions in health services management and policy analysis.

“From first-hand experience, I know that having an MPH expands a physician’s understanding of the complex factors that impact their patients’ health,” said Dr. Randy Wykoff, Dean of the College of Public Health at East Tennessee State University.  “Ms Miller is further expanding her understanding of healthcare by serving as a member of the AAFP Board of directors.”

Miller already has extensive leadership experience on her resume. She has been a regional coordinator for the AAFP’s Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) network and has served on the Academy’s Commission on Education and Commission on Membership and Member Services. She recently was an alternate delegate to the American Medical Association’s Medical Student Section during that organization’s annual House of Delegates meeting.

“I’ve always been interested in working for what students want and need,” said Miller, who helped plan the event with resident chair Dr. Anna Askari, of Eisenhower Medical Center Family Medicine Residency in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and AAFP staff. “This was the logical next-step position. We want to provide students with the type of sessions they need and an opportunity to be engaged in organizational medicine through the congress and have the opportunity to make change.”