@[attachment](181952) Good evening, everyone- It is truly an honor and a pleasure to have the opportunity to serve as the 156^th^ President of the Mississippi State Medical Association. I could have never envisioned in my wildest dreams, as a youth or even as a young man, that I would be standing here before you tonight. My life's story is long and non-glamorous, and, unlike many of our previous Presidents, I have no family pedigree in healthcare. I grew up in rural Mississippi, the only child of working-class parents. I had no aspiring dreams of medicine or leadership as a youth. My family would have certainly been considered poor by today's standards. But all that mattered to me was that I was in a loving and nurturing home. I have promised my wife not to go too deep into my past or our past, so, suffice it to say, I stand here before you as a physician and as a leader, but only by the grace of God. I recognize that not all share my beliefs, but I have no doubt, if God had not had his hands on my life and I had not had my faith to carry me through the trying times, I can assure you that I would not be a physician nor would I be standing before you tonight. It is my prayer that God continues to have his hands on my life, my family's life, our profession, our association, and on the people of our great state and nation. Again, it is tremendously humbling to have this opportunity and to have such a great honor to serve our profession and our medical family. Thank you, collectively, the House of Delegates, the Board, and all our membership, for the trust that you have placed in me. Thank you, Dr. Fryhofer, for your presence and the AMA's support of the family of medicine. It is certainly clear to me that no one achieves any significant degree of success, let alone a position of this magnitude, without the support of many. The list of those who have encouraged and supported me over the years is long. But for most of us, without a doubt, that list starts with our parents. I have to say that my mom was definitely my earliest encourager and supporter. I am grateful for parents who instilled in me a solid Christian foundation and work ethic at an early age. Dr. J. Edward Hill, a mentor of mine, whom I had the great pleasure to work alongside at the Tupelo residency, stressed to all our residents - and you have heard it mentioned even today - the importance of the early childhood formative years. That strong early childhood foundation has certainly been important in my life. Next, my most important lifelong encourager and supporter is my wife Elaine. Life has carried us near and far, but, in spite of it all, she has stood with me, loved me and supported me. Words can't begin to express the gratitude and love that I have for her. Overall, life has been good to us, but we have had our share of life's ups and downs as many have. We have experienced some of life's major tragedies, and, without our faith and each other, we certainly could not have succeeded in life. One of those tragedies was the loss of a teenage child. One of a parent's greatest of nightmares. However, God blessed us with the privilege of rearing our second son, who, along with his wife and family, is here with us tonight. Thank you, Jeff, for all your support and love over the years. Seated with Jeff is his lovely wife Ashley and their children, Henry (13), Celia (10), Nena (8), and Abe (5). Family is truly what makes life worth living, and grands are the icing on the cake. I enjoy every minute that I have with them, and it's my hope that, at least, one of them will consider carrying on the physician legacy. Thank you, Jeff and Ashley, for your love and support and for instilling a strong foundation in your children. Elaine, you stood by me through an underachieving college career, through pharmacy school and on to be a practicing pharmacist. But our journey didn't end there. After multiple venues as a pharmacist, I made a major life change, jumping off that boat and into a future in medicine. I know that I have not always shown outwardly how much I appreciate and love those around me. No one knows that better than you, Elaine. A simple "thank you" feels so insufficient, but I am eternally grateful for all the love and support you have shown me over the years. In January, Elaine and I will have been married 55 years. There are many others, friends and colleagues, who have supported and encouraged me along the way. Thank you all. And a very special thank you to those members of my class of 1986 for being here tonight. During my nearly forty years of medicine, I have had the pleasure of practicing as a small-town solo family physician to later becoming a member of a large employed group practice. I also had the privilege to have served our country as a pharmacist and as a military physician. However, being a member of an academic faculty and mentoring and nurturing young physicians are among the highlights of my career. Over these many years, I have served in multiple leadership roles including my current role as your Director of the Office of Mississippi Physician Workforce. These many roles and experiences have prepared me well for the challenges that may lie ahead for our association and our profession. Change never comes without its challenges. But, having lived through many of life's challenges, I believe we are our strongest when we place God, family, and togetherness as our priorities and that I will do. Now, what do I see as goals and challenges for the coming year? As we all know, this is an election year, and that makes the coming legislative session more unpredictable. At this point, it is still unclear who all the elected officials and committee leaders will be, which adds to the unpredictability. As President, I will work with our team to closely monitor events coming out of the Legislature. I look forward to receiving additional guidance as our House of Delegates concludes tomorrow. My theme for this year will be, and you will likely hear it often, "Together we can!" I believe together we can be wiser, stronger, more efficient, and more effective. Together we can accomplish much. Family is very important to me. I see the medical community, professionals and patients, as one extended family. And, like our own family, we should love and nurture every last one. I think MSMA's vision statement, and, you heard it mentioned often today, says it well. MSMA desires: "to be an essential part of every Mississippi physician's professional life." And that is exactly what our MSMA should be about. We care for our physicians so they can care for our patients. Views will often vary among family members as they do within my family. Our medical family members are no different. But, as in our own family, we strive to find a way to work out those differences to come out supportive and stronger. With all that is going on in the world, we will certainly see a variety of challenges in the coming days, and there most definitely will be differing views and opinions, but, staying true to the family, our goal should always be to openly discuss and strive to find common ground so that our association and our profession can ultimately be stronger. While there is no guarantee for success in life, there are three processes often touted as critical for success. Our challenge is to apply these principles, so that our association and profession will be positioned for great success. I shall refer to them as the three C's for success: collaboration, coordination, and communication. Collaboration, simply stated, is working with someone else to produce or create something. Sounds simple enough. We hear the word tossed around a lot and in a variety of contexts. I am here to tell you that it can work when there is true collaboration. I have seen it and experienced it as I have worked across our state. It requires both a collaborative and cooperative spirit to accomplish a successful goal. Finding agreement on a like-minded end goal is the key to this process. It takes many individuals or groups working together to achieve success. Coordination is the second ingredient in our journey to success. We can envision this process like an orchestra. There are many components that need to work together in harmony. They all must be finely coordinated in order to attain that perfect sound or, in our case, the desired end goal. Coordination is critically important for all the parts to function efficiently and effectively. Now, for the third process, which is communication. Simply put, it is the process of sharing information from one entity to another. That too sounds so simple, yet it is so critically important and possibly the most important of the processes. Many of our failures are because we take this simple process too lightly. Communication must be clear, concise, understandable, and timely. Timeliness is often the missing component. At one of my career stops, I chaired a hospital-wide PEER review committee. I can tell you that, during my two years of chairing that committee, by far, the number one issue in most of the reviewed cases revolved around poor communication, poorly-timed communication, or the entire lack of communication. It still astounds me how much we struggle with adequate communication. I pledge to work diligently to incorporate these components in all that we do. Advocacy, as we heard about often today, is vital to our association and to our profession. Mr. David Roberts along with Mrs. Sara Hartzog lead our state advocacy team and do a great job. Thank you, David and Sara, for your hard work, and I look forward to working with you both. Our AMA delegation, led by Dr. Jennifer Bryan, does a wonderful job at the national level. Thank you, Jennifer and delegation. And thank you, again, Dr. Fryhofer, for your support of Mississippi at the national level in this process. I believe we all see the importance of incorporating these processes in all of our projects including our advocacy efforts. It is imperative that we remain a strong association, and I know that "we are stronger together." So, how do we bring the family of medicine together, make it larger, and make it stronger? As we look around the healthcare landscape, there is no question that there is much work to be done. We hear almost daily of threats in healthcare, its economic crisis, insufficient payments, hospital closures, staff shortages, staff layoffs, lack of access, increased administrative burden, reorganization, and countless other challenges. Many of these topics were brought forward in reference committees today. And dare we bring up COVID-19? Because, as with it, there could be other major unforeseen challenges ahead. As an association, are we up to the task? I believe so. I know so. But we cannot create the future of healthcare in Mississippi by clinging to the past. To achieve the future we desire, i) we have to know where we have been- try to understand it and embrace it, ii) we have to know where we are today- know the facts, analyze them, learn from them, and iii) then most importantly, develop a sound strategic plan for our future so that we know where we are going and how we are going to get there. To borrow a William Faulkner quote from Dr. Cross's speech, "To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi." Well, he probably wasn't thinking about healthcare in Mississippi when he made that statement, but, then, if he wasn't, maybe he should have been! I am an optimist by nature, so I believe that all things are possible when they are rooted in sound principles, pursued with grit and determination, and there is a fundamental faith in the process. Shortly after I assumed the duties as Director of the Office of Mississippi Physician Workforce in 2014, I began working in the Mississippi Delta. During that time, I authored an article, ***Mississippi Delta-Mission Possible***. There were certainly naysayers that didn't feel it possible to develop GME training in the Delta. Way too many challenges, I would hear. We all know the history of the Delta, but I believed it possible. I believed that working together, we could make it happen, and I believed it could have a major impact in the region's future. A quote that I shared with the group at that time was: "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase," by Martin Luther King, Jr. That quote summed up my message to those leaders at the time quite well, and maybe even for us today. For, I assure you, they didn't see even a partial staircase; they couldn't even see the next step. We must have that kind of faith in everything that we do. In June of this year, nine years later, the first class of seven family medicine residents graduated, fully trained and now all board-certified. Think about that: they were trained in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Greenville, Mississippi, and four of the graduates have committed to stay to practice in Mississippi, three in the immediate Delta area. I believe this demonstrates the effectiveness of "Together we can." So, again, I ask how do we make our association stronger? There are many recognizable pressures on associations today. I want us to look at two of the more obvious pressures that impact attracting and maintaining membership: 1. Time famine. It's no secret: we live in a busy world, and time is scarce. However, there remain the same 24 hours in a day. So the questions that come to mind when asking for a commitment are: How much time is it going to take? Where do I find or make the time? What has to be squeezed or eliminated? 2. ROI (return on investment). This pertains to both time and finances. We heard it discussed today. So, to the question, what do I get in return for the time or finances that I commit to this or that endeavor? There are many entities bidding for our time and money. How does one prioritize? As an association, we must be clear in our messaging of these benefits. We know they are real. How do we market these benefits? Physicians are great complainers. So my first message to them is, "Get involved and make a difference". MSMA is your conduit, and it is full of resources. So is the AMA. Sign up for Doctor of the Day at the Capitol. You might be surprised the impact you may make. Join your component society; sign up for the member section that best fits you and learn and share. Visit the website often to learn more. Join MMPAC. Organizations of all types draw strength in the numbers that they represent, and MSMA is no different. *Ecclesiastes* 4:9-10 tells us: "Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble." Don't try to go it alone. Join our MSMA. Every membership adds power. The potential for growth is real. My OMPW office works closely with the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure, and, in 2023, there were over 11,000 physicians who held an active Mississippi medical license and over 6,000 of those claim a primary practice in Mississippi. Within the next two years, there will be over 1,400 medical students training in our two medical schools, and there are over 1,000 residents and fellows training in our state. So, that gives us over 8000 in state potential members. How do we get the message out to them, and how do we get them involved? With the help of every one of us in this room. This is a perfect time to recognize the MSMA Alliance for its importance to the association and also join in congratulating it on its 100^th^-year anniversary. Thank you all for what you do. Increasing our numbers is important, but it is not just the numbers that we need. In Thomas Paine's 1776 *Common Sense Pamphlet*, he wrote, "It is not just in the numbers, but in unity that our great strength lies." The challenges to our profession and healthcare are collectively increasing by the day. We need our association, MSMA, to be the strong and unified voice for the family of medicine and for our patients. We must work to expand our numbers and also to unify the voice of medicine. I believe by following the aforementioned keys for success that we can be that strong, unified voice. One last quote. Angela Duckworth, author of *GRIT*: *The Power of Passion and Perseverance* stated, "Grit isn't talent, Grit isn't luck, Grit isn't how intensely, for the moment, you want something. Instead, grit is about having what some researchers call an 'ultimate concern'- a goal you care about so much that it organizes and gives meaning to almost everything you do." Over my life's journey, it is obvious that I did not always have the most talent or resources, but what I feel that I did have and do have is GRIT. Over the next year I hope you, too, develop that grit so that we can get the job done. We need every one of us working together in unity because, "We are stronger together." In closing, I have had the good fortune to have known and worked with many of MSMA's previous presidents. I am happy to call them friends, and I will not hesitate to draw from them. I hope and pray that I can measure up to the standards set before me by these previous leaders. I look forward to working with Dr. Claude Brunson and all the staff at MSMA. There are a few others that I would like to thank. I would like to thank the leadership of our two medical schools Dr. LouAnn Woodward and Dr. Italo Subbarao for producing excellent trained physicians for our state. And a huge "Thank you" goes to the leaders of the many ACGME training programs across the state for accepting the challenge to train these medical school graduates in our state in hopes of keeping them here. Our state needs these graduates to stay, care for our people, and be involved in shaping our future. We must continue to be a strong supporter and advocate for public health. Thank you, Drs. Currier, Dobbs, and Edney for your strong leadership of our health department. And I have to say a special thanks to Becky Wells for her work in organizing this event and putting up with me throughout the process. Lastly, we don't live in a perfect world; we are not perfect individuals - my wife and son can certainly attest to that as it relates to me. However, the striving for perfection can, at times, be the enemy of good. We can achieve greatness in an imperfect world by simply doing good. At the end of the day, my motto has always been, "Try to do the right thing, for the right reason, and let the chips fall where they may". I'm sure that I will make mistakes along the way, and I'm sure some of you will point them out to me, but what I commit to you is: I promise to listen, learn, and do my best to advance the profession and to seek the best healthcare for all. I thank my Lord and Savior for watching over me. May God bless this association, its members, our patients, our political leaders, our state, and our nation. I challenge each of us to find a way to get involved, stay involved, bring others to the table and get them involved. Thank you.

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