ROLAND A. GOERTZ, MD, MBA, ASSUMES ROLE OF BOARD CHAIR OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS. - States News Service

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The following information was released by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP):

Roland A. Goertz, MD, MBA, FAAFP, a family physician in Waco, Texas, assumes the role of board chair of the American Academy of Family Physicians today. Previously, he served one-year terms as president and president-elect, and three years as a member of the AAFP Board of Directors. Goertz was elected to these positions by the Congress of Delegates, the AAFP's governing body. The AAFP represents 100,300 physicians and medical students nationwide.

As board chair of the AAFP, Goertz will advocate on behalf of family physicians and patients nationwide to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system. In his 27-year medical career, he has served as a physician in rural private practice, a family medicine residency program director at two Texas residencies, and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School - Houston.

For the past 15 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. In 2010 it provided care to 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, Goertz has served on numerous committees and commissions at the state and national level. 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.

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.

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'[yen] by the McLennan County Medical Society and Alliance in 2010. The award symbolizes respect, truth, culture and art in the medical profession, and honors doctors for overall excellence in the field of medicine. The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio School of Medicine Alumni Association recently selected Dr. Goertz for their 2011 distinguished Alumni Award.

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.