Delaware Academy of Family Physicians

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Delaware Academy of Family Physicians

Officers, Awards, & Family Physicians of the Year

The Delaware Academy of Family Physicians Installs New Officers, Presents Awards, Names Family Physicians of the Year

Hugh Bonner III, M.D., has been installed as president of the Delaware Academy of Family Physicians for 2009-10.  A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Christiana Care Family Medicine Residency Program, Dr. Bonner sees patients at St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington and the St. Francis Center of Hope in Newark.

Other officers installed at the Academy’s Annual Dinner on Saturday, April 18, at the Arsht Hall Conference Center in Wilmington include:  Heather Zinzella Cox, M.D., president-elect; Omar A. Khan, M.D., vice president; James M. Gill, M.D., M.P.H., secretary; Karen L. McGhee, D.O., assistant secretary; M. Diana Metzger, M.D., treasurer; and William B. Funk, M.D., assistant treasurer.  Also installed were Julio E. Navarro, M.D., delegate to the Congress of Delegates of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and Soma Padmalingam, M.D., alternate delegate.  Lori Heim, M.D., president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), installed the new officers.

David M. Bercaw, M.D., and James M. Gill, M.D., M.P.H., were named Family Physicians of the Year for 2009 by the members of the Delaware Academy of Family Physicians.  Dr. Bercaw and Dr. Gill were recognized for their leadership, for their skills as teachers of medicine, and for providing their patients with compassionate, comprehensive and caring family medicine.  Dr. Bercaw currently serves as Interim Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Christiana Care Health System.  Dr. Gill sees patients at his office at Family Medicine at Greenhill in Wilmington and also serves as president of Delaware Valley Research Outcomes.

Awards were presented to Cedric T. Barnes, D.O., for his time, service and outstanding achievements as past president of the Delaware Academy of Family Physicians for 2008-09 and to Erin Kavanaugh, M.D., in recognition of her meritorious service as chair of the Tar Wars Program in Delaware.  The Delaware Tar Wars Program is part of a national program sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians designed to deliver a pro-health, anti-tobacco message to fourth- and fifth-grade students throughout the country.

The following physicians were honored in recognition of 25 years as members of the Academy and for dedicated service to the citizens of Delaware:  Gary Beste, M.D., Michael Burkhart, M.D., Barbara Hamming, M.D., A. M. Mamunul Islam, M.D., Rebecca Jaffe, M.D., Stephanie Malleus, M.D., M. Diana Metzger, M.D., Shashikala Patel, M.D., and Eileen Schmitt, M.D.

Recipients of Residents’ Awards in recognition of presentations at the Academy’s Scientific Assembly earlier in the day were:  St. Francis Hospital Family Medicine Residents Nelson J. Chen, M.D., Neasha Merritt, M.D., and Chukwudi E. Nowodo, M.D., for their presentation on “Management of Dyslipidemia”; and Christiana Care Family Medicine Residents Erin Kavanaugh, M.D., and Linsey O’Donnell, D.O., for their presentation on “Primary Pulmonary Hypertension.”

The Delaware Academy of Family Physicians is a constituent chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians, which represents nearly 94,000 family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students nationwide.