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AAFP Conference In Chicago: Old Friends/New Friends

Well, I had a great time at the Revolution Health booth at the AAFP meeting today. Hundreds of people stopped by for a chat and to get to know what Revolution Health is about. I handed out golf towels (well, they were little white hand towels that I used to give out as gym towels, but with the doctor audience I changed the pitch to golf. How cliche of me. Ha!) Some of the notable guests included:

Bob Rakel, MD – author of my most favorite medical textbook in the world: Saunders Manual of Medical Practice

David Rakel, MD – Bob’s son, and the author of my second most favorite medical textbook: Integrative Medicine

Len Fromer, MD – past president of the California Academy of Family Physicians. His wife is an actor – and we had a great chat about how we both miss New York City.

John Pfenninger, MD – author of the coolest book for outpatient medical procedures

Todd Dicus, JD – deputy executive VP of the AAFP and a really friendly lawyer.

Marianne Walters, MD – an urgent care physician in California who taught me that surfers’ wet suits are like Petri dishes for MRSA (a really nasty bacterium). Ew.

Allan Harmer, ThM – from the Christian Medical Association, who told me that the story of how he accidentally attended a medical conference about HIV and ended up involved in medical groups for the rest of his career (even with no previous medical training).

Joe Scherger, MDthe hardest working man on the Revolution Health expert team. He gave a lecture about how to use email and online help as an integral part of one’s medical practice – and the audience was riveted.

Tomorrow’s going to be fun, I can just tell. And the best part is that I can wear sneakers with my business suits – all the family physicians are doing it themselves!  I’ve never seen more Birkenstocks in one place before… I think Michelle Au might have been right about family docs – see her cartoon.

See you tomorrow at Revolution Rounds.This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.


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