ROLAND A. GOERTZ, M.D., MBA, ASSUMES ROLE OF PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS. - States News Service

DENVER -- The following information was released by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP):

Roland A. Goertz, M.D., MBA, FAAFP, a family physician in Waco, Texas, assumes the role of president of the American Academy of Family Physicians today. Previously, he served three years as a director on the AAFP Board and one year as president-elect. Goertz was elected president-elect in September 2009 by the Congress of Delegates, the AAFP's governing body. The AAFP represents 94,700 physicians and medical students nationwide.

As president of the AAFP, Goertz advocates on behalf of family physicians and patients nationwide to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system. In his 26-year medical career, he has served as a physician in rural private practice, a family medicine residency program director at two highly regarded Texas residencies, and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School - Houston.

For the past 14 years, Goertz has served as chief executive officer of the three foundations that oversee all operations of the Waco Family Health Center, which operates one of the oldest family medicine residency programs west of the Mississippi River. It provides care to more than 50,000 patients in McLennan County, Texas. Goertz also holds an appointment at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School - Dallas.

A member of the AAFP and the Texas Academy of Family Physicians since 1979 (he joined as a medical student), Goertz has served on numerous committees and commissions at the state and national level. He actively participated in and chaired the AAFP Commission on Education and Commission on Governmental Advocacy. He was a member of the AAFP Task Force to Enhance Family Medicine Research. Goertz served as president of the TAFP from 1994 to 1995, and he served as a delegate or alternate delegate to the AAFP Congress of Delegates from 2000 to 2006.

Goertz is past president of the McLennan County Medical Society. He chairs the Texas higher education coordinating board's advisory committee on family medicine residencies and is a past president of the Texas Association of Community Health Centers. Goertz represented family medicine on the Council of Academic Societies of the Association of American Medical Colleges from 2000 to 2006. He also served as a member and chair of the Texas Medical Association's Committee on Physician Workforce and Distribution, and was a member of its Council on Medical Education.

Locally, Goertz is a member, and past board chair, of the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Waco Business League, the Waco Downtown Rotary Club and serves on the board of the Cooper Foundation, a local philanthropic organization.

Both the AAFP and the TAFP have recognized Goertz for his hard work and long-term dedication. The TAFP awarded him its Presidential Award of Merit in 1989. In 2003, he won the organization's Political Action Committee Award, and in 2004 he won its Philanthropist of the Year award. He was awarded the AAFP's 2006 Robert Graham Family Physician Executive Award. He also was awarded the 'Gold-Headed Cane' by the McLennan County Medical Society and Alliance in 2010. Symbolizing respect, truth, culture, and art in the medical profession, the award honors doctors for overall excellence in the field of medicine.

Goertz graduated from medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center - San Antonio in 1981. He then completed a residency in family medicine at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. He subsequently completed a clinical teaching fellowship in family medicine in 1986 and received a master's degree in business administration from Baylor University in 2003. Goertz has the AAFP Degree of Fellow, an earned degree awarded to family physicians for distinguished service and continuing medical education.

# # #

Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents 94,700 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Approximately one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 228 million office visits each year - nearly 84 million more than the next largest medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide more care for America's underserved and rural populations than any other medical specialty. Family medicine's cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the specialty of family medicine, the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care, and for downloadable multi-media highlighting family medicine, visit www.aafp.org/media. For information about health care, health conditions and wellness, please visit the AAFP's award-winning consumer Web site, www.FamilyDoctor.org.