STFM Member Vince WinklerPrins, MD, is the assistant vice president for Student Health at Georgetown University. Dr WinklerPrins has been an active member of STFM for 18 years. 

Honoring the Counter-Cultural Roots of Our Discipline

by Vince WinklerPrins, MD

It took me a while to find my professional home as a family doctor. Like Goldilocks, I tried a number of meetings prior to attending STFM’s Annual Spring Conference and the Conference on Medical Student Education to find the right mix of people and ideas. When I found STFM I knew that it was 'just right' for me.

I have always felt like a bit of an outsider in medicine, feeling that I didn’t quite fit in. What I found in STFM was not just an intellectual home, but a place where I was wanted and needed. With STFM, I found an organization that valued the counter-cultural roots of our discipline. I liked that we were scrappy and disruptive, but also warm, friendly, and determined! Most of all, I found colleagues and friends who shared my love for our discipline and the crazy, hard work of moving the needle in health care and medical education. These are the reasons I show up. These are the reasons that I am thankful. And, these are the reasons I give back.

I have benefitted from STFM’s investment in me. I was supported as a visiting scholar at the University of Kansas, then again as chair of the Group on Medical Education (now the Medical Student Education Collaborative), and during my 3 years of service on the STFM Board of Directors. I am thrilled about the new directions STFM is taking to better support student and resident attendance at our meetings, including extensive efforts supporting underrepresented minorities in medicine. It is my duty and honor to support these opportunities for others.   

Paying it Forward

Transforming the future of family medicine would not be possible without the generosity of people like Vince, as well as countless STFM members and supporters. Through both member and departmental donations, the STFM Foundation is able to support STFM's priority to develop the pipeline for academic family medicine. 

To transform the future of academic family medicine by donating to the STFM Foundation, contact Mindy Householder at 800.274.7928 or mhouseholder@stfm.org.