Simpkins selected as AAFP Emerging Leader Institute Scholar

Natalie Simpkins, bottom row, far left, attended the American Academy of Family Physicians National Conference along with fellow representatives from the Whiddon College of Medicine. 

Natalie Simpkins, a third-year medical student at the Whiddon College of Medicine, was selected as an American Academy of Family Physicians’ (AAFP) Emerging Leader Institute (ELI) Scholar. The yearlong program focuses on ensuring the future of family medicine by increasing the number of leaders in the specialty and provides training for this important role.

Natalie Simpkins

A native of Opelika, Alabama, Simpkins said she is honored to be selected as one of 30 scholars out of all the medical students and family medicine residents who applied from across the United States. “The AAFP really saw the value of the ideas that I put forth to improve healthcare and the lives of our patients,” she said. “In essence, they said, ‘You've got all the qualities that make a leader in healthcare and in family medicine. Now let's make you one by developing a project that really means something.’” 

Simpkins is in the institute’s Personal and Practice Leadership track. Her project focuses on improving health literacy in the most underserved populations in Mobile with the hope of integrating assessment and education tools into the software of our clinics at USA Health. 

“This will hopefully make the process of determining a patient’s unique health literacy needs and educating the patient on those needs more seamless,” she said. “As I work through the process throughout the year, I'll be working with some amazing people from not only in USA Health system, but across the country as well, so it means a great deal to me that we can all come together to address something so vital.” 

Along with several representatives from the Whiddon College of Medicine and USA Health, Simpkins attended the AAFP National Conference in July. As an ELI Scholar, she had an additional two days of intensive training to develop her skills in project management and leadership at the start of the program. To complete her experience, she will present her project at the AAFP National Conference next summer in Kansas City, Missouri. 

“Throughout this process, the AAFP provides individualized leadership development and mentorship, which already has made me a more competent leader,” she said. “I'm extremely grateful for the privilege it has been so far, and I'm so excited to see where this not only takes me in my leadership, but also where it takes us in terms of health literacy for our patients.”  

Simpkins said she is grateful to everyone at USA who believed in her and helped her to apply for the institute. She is part of the Primary Care Pathway at the Whiddon College of Medicine, which enhances a student’s medical school experience to prepare them to practice primary care in rural and underserved areas. She is also a vice president of the Family Medicine Interest Group and a PEER (Peer Emotional and Educational Resilience) Supporter. 

Family medicine is a perfect fit for Simpkins. As she has progressed through medical school, she has realized she likes caring for every patient population, from newborn to geriatric, and she has enjoyed broad-scope training. 

“Practicing medicine to me has never only been about medicine; it has been about the relationships and the ‘whole’ patient: their relationships, home life, what they love to do and their struggles, along with their health,” she said. “In family medicine, I can have profound continuity of care, talk about the ‘whole’ patient, practice a true full scope, and make a difference in healthcare using what I've learned in the Primary Care Pathway and the Emerging Leaders Institute.”