“They are all your patients”. These words echo as mantra and guide for all I do as a family physician. I recall clearly, as an intern staring at the family medicine service board, carefully counting patients I would see. With a lucky 13 listed, I counted 6 for me, 4 to the sub-intern, 2 in labor, 1 for discharge. The fateful words that followed from my Chief, “they are all your patients” was both call to action and an eye-opening alignment to the relationships and responsibilities of family medicine. This has become my true north - and as family physicians, and for the AAFP – “They are all our patients”.
The intersection of poverty and health hit home during my time at a federally qualified health center (FQHC) where many of my patients’ health problems stemmed not from their own failings or lack of desire to be healthy, but rather from healthcare barriers and living in communities not built for health. I also realized that the system of healthcare was failing patients as well as physicians, leaving them deep in debt, burned out, and fleeing medicine. This motivated me to better understand how to advocate for all my patients and the physicians that serve them.
A White House Fellowship and my time as Vice Chair of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) were deeply insightful into the governmental levers to improve our broken system. After the Fellowship, I helped to open a health center focused on whole-person health and physician well-being. As medical director, I sought to ensure all patients walking through our doors had excellent care and no one would fall through the cracks. Our center made community connections improve the health of our patients and the surrounding community, because they are all my patients. And as VP of Health Equity at Aledade, an accountable care organization, I am responsible and accountable for ensuring that our nearly 2 million patients receive high quality equitable care. They are all my patients.
As a AAFP Board of Director I will use my experience as a practicing family physician, health system leader, governmental advocate, and influencer to further AAFP’s goals for a better healthcare system that ensures no patients fall through the cracks. Because all of your patients are my patients, and your concerns are mine too.
Dear Fellow AAFP Chapter Leaders:
It is with great pride, pleasure, and enthusiasm, that the leaders of the Maryland Academy of Family Physicians wholeheartedly endorse the candidacy of Kisha Davis, MD, MPH, FAAFP as a board member on the American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors.
From her start at a Federally Qualified Health Center to Medical Director of a practice focused on whole-person health to her current role as Vice President of Health Equity at an Accountable Care Organization (ACO), Dr. Davis has seen and influenced the practice of family medicine at all levels. From serving as a White House Fellow, to project manager for Family Medicine for America’s Health, to Vice Chair of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, she is a fierce advocate for a healthcare system that better serves physicians and our patients. Dr. Davis’s diverse background and experience are the perfect foundation for her role to serve family medicine at the national level.
Dr. Davis is keenly aware that the key to the preservation of family medicine is the need to mentor and sponsor students and residents in family medicine. She regularly teaches medical students from Johns Hopkins and Howard University and serves as faculty for the AAFP-Foundation Emerging Leader Institute Policy Track aimed at developing future leaders in family medicine. She continues to “pay it forward,” expressing gratitude for the mentorship she has received by regularly making herself available for career conversations to anyone who asks.
Dr. Davis has been dedicated to the Maryland AFP since her time as a resident, rising to serve as President and Board Chair, and now as Delegate. Our chapter has been proud to share her with the AAFP as she has also served in several AAFP Leadership roles including New Physician board member and Convener for the National Conference of Constituency Leaders. She has served on several commissions and tasks force, currently the Commission on Federal and State Policy. She was a speaker for the AAFP on Physician Health and Wellness, Implicit Bias and has been called upon to testify before the US Congress on several issues.
Kisha is a humble leader, an empathetic listener, an effective teacher, and most of all a doer who knows how to get things done. She is a physician leader while also being a wife, mother, and community advocate. She is the epitome of a family physician keeping the needs of the patient at the forefront. Kisha comes to this position prepared, purposeful, and passionate, ready to represent your voice to the AAFP Board of Directors.
If you have met Dr. Davis you already realize the depth of her knowledge, energy, and total commitment to preserving and growing family medicine for decades to come. If you haven’t met her, you can learn about her experience and vision for family medicine through her website at www.kishadavis.com or reach out to her directly- kdavis4aafp@gmail.com. We who know her, know you will be well represented with a vote for Kisha Davis, MD, MPH, FAAFP for the AAFP Board of Directors.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
a passionate family physician and community health advocate
Dr. Kisha Davis, is a passionate family physician and community health advocate. She is a Vice President of Health Equity at Aledade, working to eliminate health disparities in physician-led ACOs across multiple states. Prior to joining Aledade, she served as medical director at CHI Health Care in Maryland. While there she provided comprehensive primary care alongside behavioral health, and integrative modalities to patients of all payers including Medicaid and the uninsured.
Dr. Davis is Vice-Chair of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), advising Congress, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and States on Medicaid policy. She served as a project manager on the Family Medicine for America’s Health project focusing on payment reform, practice transformation, technology, and health equity. Prior to joining CHI, she served as a White House Fellow at the US Department of Agriculture. While taking a front row seat at the inner workings of government she worked at the intersection of the food and health safety net, breaking down barriers to help everyone have their best chance at health. Dr. Davis started her career at Chase Brexton, a FQHC with a deep commitment to the LGBTQ+ community. She served a largely Latinx population and the hidden poor in the nation’s third richest county.
Dr. Davis holds a B.S. from Duke University and her M.D. from University of Connecticut where she received the Lyman Stowe Award for humanitarianism in medicine. She completed her residency from the University of Maryland where she served as Chief Resident, and later earned a MPH from Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Davis has served numerous roles within the American Academy of Family Physicians notably as New Physician Director, and later Convener of the National Conference of Constituency Leaders. She is a past president of the Maryland Academy of Family Physicians. She continues to teach medical students from Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, and Howard University. She has traveled on medical missions to Zimbabwe, Honduras, and New Orleans. She was recognized as one of the 40 Under 40 Leaders in Healthcare by the National Minority Quality Forum. She is Co-Producer of Finding Fellowship, a documentary to preserve the diverse history of a community in northwestern Montgomery, County, MD. Together with her sister, also a family physician, she co-hosts The Sisters Will See You Now podcast. She resides in Maryland along with her husband and 3 sons.
“As a family physician, Dr. Davis truly has such a tremendous depth of experience – she has cared for underserved populations as well as fought for them as an advocate and leader. She is on the forefront of developing innovative and advanced models for primary care delivery. She has truly done it all, and is in a great position to serve the Academy on the Board of Directors.”
My purpose is to build a better healthcare system that better serves our patients in a diverse and equitable manner. I am driven to reimagine healthcare so that we, Family Physicians, are supported, valued, and compensated to care for all our patients.
From the White House to my local community, from the AAFP to the Maryland AFP, I bring to the Board a career of servant leadership. I have been at the table and am ready to lead both inside the Academy and in government.
As the daughter of a preacher and educator I was raised to be of service to my community. I am passionate about faith, family, improving communities, physician well-being, mentoring, and and most of all making sure that whatever I touch was better because I was there.
