IAFP past president Javette C. Orgain, MD received an Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Illinois Chicago Alumni Association on May 14. Dr. Orgain received her BS, MD and MPH degrees all from UIC and has continued to contribute as a physician, educator and mentor ever since.

IAFP president-elect Santina Wheat joined the WGN Radio Lisa Snyder Show on May 11 to talk about May’s mental health awareness month.

Lisa Green, DO, MPH, Chief Executive Officer at Family Christian Health Center, was named one of Crains Notable Leaders in Health Care 2026.

IAFP member Rahmat Na’Allah, MD was voted onto the Infant and Maternal Mortality Task Force of the Illinois Department of Public Health last week, serving as a representative of the IAFP. The task force created in 2019 includes representation from different stakeholders who have shared passion in reducing infant and maternal mortality in Illinois. They are especially tasked with looking at the racial disparity in these poor outcomes and identifying strategies to not only reduce the mortality rates, but specifically narrowing this gap.  

Dr. Ruchi Fitzgerald is ISMS Physician of the Year Congratulations to an IAFP member whose advocacy and education work have had a profound impact on the community. Ruchi Fitzgerald, MD is the recipient of the 2026 ISMS Physician of the Year award. Dr. Fitzgerald is the service chief for PCC Community Wellness Center-MacNeal Hospital’s addiction medicine consult service and an associate professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at Rush Medical College. As a family physician and addiction medicine specialist, she has expanded the scope of services for pregnant women experiencing substance use disorder across diverse settings. Dr. Fitzgerald was also a presenter at the IAFP’s first ever Implicit Bias four-part workshop held online during the pandemic shutdown in 2021.

Kiran Joshi, MD, chief operating officer for the Cook County Department of Public Health, authored a commentary in the April 20 Chicago Sun-Times on the importance for everyone to pre-bunk misleading health information, especially about vaccines.

IAFP First Vice President Mustafa Alavi, MD appeared in a WBEZ-Illinois Public Radio and Chicago Sun-Times investigation of the impact of higher ACA premiums on Chicagoland patients. Dr. Alavi is chief medical officer at the FQHC clinic Erie Family Health Center Evanston/Skokie.

Paul Luning, MD and Mark Loafman, MD were mentioned in an April 20 Austin Weekly News story chronicling the history of obstetrics services at West Suburban Medical Center and the impact of the hospital’s closing on the community. 

Drs. Joseph Ross and Mary Jo Ironside who retired together April 1. PGY-3 Reilly Wojciehowski MD shared their stories through a guest article in the Rockford Register Star and Freeport Journal Standard. Dr. Ross is also the IAFP 2022 Family Physician of the Year. Together they formed a foundation for family medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and the Family Medicine Residency that continues to grow and thrive.

Our letter to the editor from IAFP President Corinne Kohler, MD, urging seasonal and vaccine use, especially the RSV vaccine, was published in the Chicago Sun-Times and the Champaign News-Gazette.       

Alyssa Vest Hart, DO, is the Senior Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine at The Chicago School, which will begin its first class this fall. Dr. Hart is the 2020 IAFP Illinois Family Physician of the Year and previously served as program director of the Ascension Saint Joseph - Chicago Family Medicine Residency Program.

Joanna Bisgrove, MD, of Chicago, did a live interview with Fox32 Chicago on Dec. 23, 2025, to discuss the rise in Syphilis cases nationwide and in Chicago. View the 12-minute segment here.

Impact of Cuts to Federal Medicaid Funding Evelyn Figueroa, MD was featured in July 1 Block Club Chicago story to illuminate the impact the cuts to Medicaid and food programs will have on health and food insecurity on the community she serves in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. 

Explaining and advocating for Illinois' Seasonal Vaccine Guidance, Dr. Kiran Joshi appeared live on the WBEZ Chicago Public Radio "In the Loop" show on Sept. 24 about the seasonal vaccines for all ages, including Covid vaccines. The state's Vaccine Advisory Committee recommendations largely mirrored the expert guidance of physician organizations such as the AAFP and ACOG.

AAFP Statement to ACIP, September 12. IAFP Board members also submitted similar supporting comments via the Federal Register for the ACIP meeting on September 18-19.

Board member Rebecca Maddrell, MD, was included in a Chicago Sun-Times September 11 story about the COVID vaccine availability and confusion created by policies announced by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. That same story was also posted on WBEZ, Chicago public radio. IAFP past president Michael Hanak, MD, appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Decatur Herald & Review, and the Bloomington Pantagraph on the topic of COVID vaccines and confusion over access and eligibility.

AAFP Responds to Removal of Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Members (Statement issued June 10, 2025)

Outreach to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kennedy to protest the dismissal of Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) members and to raise concerns about the transparency and process for developing vaccine recommendations.
Direct advocacy with members of Congress to urge increased oversight of HHS.

IAFP Opposes HHS decision to not recommend COVID vaccine for children and pregnant people. IAFP President Elect Corinne Kohler, MD, FAAFP was interviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times with our reaction and concerns generated by this ruling.

Federal Spending Bill Sparks Major Concern for Cook County. Mark Loafman, MD, Chair of Family and Community Medicine at Cook County Health, appears in this May 23 WBEZ story investigating the threats to County Care with the proposed federal bill that will cut billions from Medicaid funding to states and also programs in Cook County.

Celebrating the Match: Carl Lambert, Jr., MD, and past IAFP student board member Haley Bylina from the Rush Family Medicine Leadership program were featured on the WGN-TV 5 pm news on March 21 with Match Day celebrations. Watch it here. 

Our IAFP Letter to the Editor from President Kate Rowland, MD, MS, supporting the residents and urging ownership to provide the financial support needed for them to continue their training, ran in the Oak Park Weds Journal and Austin Weekly News. 

Thomas Huggett, MD, was featured by the University of Chicago on March 14 as one of their graduates making a difference through Street Medicine and health care for those experiencing homelessness.

Joyce Johnson, MD, was included in a WIFR-TV Rockford March 17 story reflecting on how the community came together back at the start of the COVID outbreak five years ago.