Acceptance Address APMA House of Delegates, Washington, DC: A Family of Podiatric Physicians

Thirty years ago, in this city, I attended my first House of Delegates; however, I was not attending the House alone. I had my family with me. You see, I was born into the profession of podiatric medicine. My first home was two blocks from the Ohio College of Chiropody, where my father was a third-year student. I witnessed firsthand the growth of our profession from chiropody to podiatric medicine and surgery by observing Dad and his work as a practitioner and advocate for his profession. This was my inspiration—to continue the tradition of serving the public and being an activist for our profession.

I had finished my first year as a student at OCPM when I brought my bride of two months to Washington to attend the annual meeting of the American Podiatric Medical Students’ Association (APMSA). Six months earlier, the APMSA met in New York City. There I met two members of one of the first families of podiatry, the Gastwirths. I became a close friend of Craig, a first-year student at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine. It would be much later that I would get to know the senior Gastwirth, Glenn. Some of the other students attending from the five colleges were Jon Scarlet, Tony Halinski, Gary Lepow, Jeff Glidear, Barry Scurran, Ron Kahn, and others who would one day become delegates from their states to the APMA House.

At that 1973 APMA House of Delegates, I watched as my father ran a successful campaign to elect a delegate from Ohio to the APMA Board of Trustees, William Munsey, who stands behind me today as a mentor, past APMA president, and current Speaker of the House. However, my reason for attending that House was to work with my podiatric student family to achieve a great goal, for it was 30 years ago at this House, in this city that the APMSA was seated as a delegation with a vote.

As a student, and later as a practicing podiatrist, I had the opportunity to expand my family as a member of the Council on Podiatric Medical Education (CPME). Off and on for 11 years, I had the privilege to serve this profession with leaders like Mo Hass, Jerry Brant, Charles Bradley, Alan Shaw, Richard Hecker, Chuck Jones, Ed Stamm, Bill Todd, Gene Spector, Abe Rubin, Phil Brachman, and a professor from the Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine—and former member of the Temple University Marching Band—Arthur Helfand. It was during my time as a member of the CPME that I discovered who I believe are the real heroes of our profession, the residency program directors. All of these individuals have been an inspiration for me to take the next step in my journey to the present.

In 1992, I decided, with the approval of my wife, to be a candidate for the APMA Board of Trustees. I was accepted into a new family of podiatric leaders such as Jack George, Bunny Brown, Walter Clark, Shelly Willens, Marc Lenet, Terry Albright, Ron Lepow, Doug Sowell, and Rich Viehe. It is my belief that our profession will be well served by the officers and trustees of my current podiatric family.

The only way we are going to take the next steps in the maturation of our profession is to stick together as a family of podiatrists. We certainly may agree to disagree among ourselves, as a family does. We may have our disputes, as a family does. But we must come together as a family does to express its strength and unity. There may be challenges to our well-being as an association and a profession from time to time. It is the responsibility of this House, through its elected representatives on the APMA Board of Trustees, to face those challenges squarely as a family. As your president I am committed to leading our profession through all its challenges to attain our rightful position as physicians.

I pledge to you that we will continue the high level of effective communication that has been the APMA standard for years. We will embrace new technologies that are available to us. We are committed to making the APMA Web site the number one resource for our podiatric family. I also pledge to direct our Board to do everything it can to raise our already high standards for consumer and professional education.

Podiatric education has always been an integral part of my professional career, and we must continue to increase the applicant pool to the point at which only the finest students will matriculate at our colleges of podiatric medicine.

We have many legislative challenges before us. As your president, I expect every member of this House to participate actively in enacting state and federal legislation favorable to our profession. Active participation can take many forms, the least of which is contributing to our component and national political action committees. Our Board will continue to do all it can to provide us with all the tools our podiatric family needs to succeed.

United as an association, as a profession, and as a family we will achieve the goals we all want. It is time we are defined as physicians and surgeons in all federal health-care programs, including the ability to perform our own admitting histories and physical examinations. It is time to abolish the terms “routine foot care” and “podiatric services.” There is nothing routine about foot care, and there is no difference between podiatric and foot-care services. We will no longer tolerate less-than-equal pay for equal work. Reaching these goals will not be easy. But we can do it—together. United as a family, we will succeed.

Permit me to conclude with this statement: Let no one question our family’s position that we are the physicians and surgeons of the foot and ankle.