Julie Ngoc Thai, MD, is a first-generation Vietnamese-American and is the first in her family to earn a college degree in pursuit of medicine. She has accomplished more than her parents could ever have envisioned when they arrived in the US as refugees.

Julie's Story: As our patient population continues to become more diverse, medicine should reflect this diversity. By virtue of who I am, I can make a difference in the future of family medicine. 

In family medicine, it is important to not only be a good clinician, but also an advocate. Contributions made during residency speak to my abilities to make a difference. One of those contributions was in developing an advocacy and health policy curriculum. The advocacy and health policy curriculum serves to raise awareness about state advocacy work and to connect residents to resources that would help them advocate for patients and for our profession.

When serving as the resident delegate for Michigan at the AAFP National Conference for Residents and Students, I authored 2 resolutions that were adopted by the Resident Congress: one on raising awareness for advocacy activities for medical trainees and another on providing guidelines for addressing patients' concerns about exposure to poor water quality in underserved communities.

Prior to medical school, I conducted research on a variety of topics, including rapidly progressive dementias, end-of-life care, and endourology. To date, I have 17 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 3 of which I first authored through my work at nationally recognized academic medical institutions, such as the University of California-San Francisco and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Since beginning residency, I have presented multiple cases at local, regional, and national research conferences. I also designed an IRB-approved survey study to explore behaviors and attitudes about breastfeeding in Flint, Michigan. Further, I collaborated with behavioral medicine leaders on a project to screen for health behaviors and social needs in the clinic setting. As a future faculty member, I want to advance our specialty through research and quality improvement projects and make a difference in the future of family medicine.

Faculty for Tomorrow Resident Scholarships: The STFM Foundation supports multiple scholarships to help cover travel expenses for residents like Julie to attend the Faculty for Tomorrow Preconference Workshop at the STFM Annual Spring Conference. With support from donors to the Underrepresented in Medicine Campaign, the STFM Foundation provides additional scholarships for underrepresented in medicine applicants.

At the 2019 Annual Spring Conference, your generous donations funded an unprecedented 25 Faculty for Tomorrow resident scholarships.