APMA News - March/April 2019 - 18

President Edwards' Inaugural Speech

continued from page 17

increase participation by young physicians in our leadership at
all levels-local, state, and national. I mentioned before that
our brand audit helped to deepen our understanding of challenges in the present. Many of those challenges exist in engaging our young physicians and offering resources to meet their
unique needs.
We continue to hold a Young Physicians' Institute annually
to provide leadership training. Our Young Physician Leadership Panel, comprised of the young physician liaisons who
serve on various APMA committees, has also created the new
Young Physician Transition Series, available on the APMA website. This resource is tailored to specific phases of a young physician's experience-each year of residency, the transition to
practice, and more advanced practice. Residents will find infor-

money from your practices, time with your families, and time
for your own personal interests to make things better for those
who will come after you. The extensive work that you have done
in the past two years on updating our governance documents
and structure is a perfect example.
The Utah pioneer spirit is a principle that we continue to
build upon. A pioneer is one who leads the way: a trailblazer.
You are pioneers!
The Deseret News article continued, "Because of that mindset, there was a spirit of cooperation instead of competition and
shared responsibility instead of selfishness in the companies
that crossed the plains.
"These pioneers were living the axiom of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where
there is no path and leave a trail.'
"Leaving a trail for those that follow is the hallmark of pi-

We continue to go as far as possible today
because of our education, training, and experience.
mation about coping with the stress of residency, student loan
and debt management, and board certification. Physicians in
their first four years of practice can access coding and billing
resources, and those later in practice will enjoy maintenance-ofcertification resources and information about how to get involved in leadership roles.
Last July, the editorial board of Salt Lake City's Deseret News
published an opinion piece titled "Pioneering today-how are
you leaving a well-marked trail?"1 I'll share with you a few excerpts and my final reflections on the pioneer journey and how
it applies to podiatry:
"On July 24, 1847, a group of weary pioneers began to
straggle into the Salt Lake Valley. Their leader Brigham Young
had declared it the right place ... There was no time to rest. A
city needed to be laid out, shelter established, crops planted,
and thousands of their brothers and sisters scattered across
the American plains needed to be brought in.
"This group of pioneers was vastly different in drive and
determination from others during the mid-1800s who were racing to the gold mines of California or the rich forests of Oregon.
The Utah pioneers weren't just in pursuit of their enrichment.
They felt a responsibility toward those who would come after."
This is the same mindset you, the members of our APMA
House of Delegates, possess. You willingly give up time and
1 Deseret News editorial board. "In our opinion: Pioneering today-
how are you leaving a well-marked trail?" Deseret News, July 23,
2018.
18 APMA News March/April 2019

oneers, entrepreneurs and real leaders."
We are leaving a trail with visionary leadership. Our Vision
21st Century, California's Physician and Surgeon Task Force,
New York's Population Health initiative-all of these efforts will
blaze a trail for podiatrists to follow in the future.
"Over the past decades and centuries, pioneers and leaders
from every walk of life have been recognized for their willingness and desire to not only go where no one has gone before,
but to go as far as it was possible for them to go."
I started practice in 1987, and at that time podiatrists in
Utah had no hospital privileges, and surgery centers were very
limited. With the leadership of Mark Rogers, Kim Halliday,
Glen Gold, Kenny Stoker, and others in our UPMA leadership,
those doors were unlocked. I was the benefactor of their pioneering labors, and my hospital was the third hospital in Utah
to grant podiatrists privileges. Thirty years later, I stepped down
after serving four years as chair of the department of Orthopedics in that hospital. We have come a long way!
We continue to go as far as possible today because of our
education, training, and experience.
It was my privilege four years ago to give back in that pioneering spirit and testify before a subcommittee of the Utah
State Legislature as we expanded our scope of practice to include ankle fusions and ankle arthroplasties, allowing those
with the education, training, and experience to practice to
their fullest ability.
Ankle privileges are now in place in all but three states.
"True pioneers blaze trails, break down barriers, and over-

APMA News - March/April 2019

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