APMA News - January/February 2022 - 12

Finally, I was awarded the Alumnus of the Year
Award in 2015 by the Dr. William Scholl College
of Podiatric Medicine.
APMA News: How did you become involved with
your state association?
Dr. Pickard: I am fortunate to come from a very
active Illinois Podiatric Medical Association [IPMA].
After I fi nished my residency, our association had
three diff erent state zones, and I became involved
with Zone 1 thanks to Marc Feder, DPM, and [APMA
Past President] Matthew Garoufalis, DPM. From
there, I was elected to the association's board and
eventually ascended to the association presidency.
I would be remiss, however, if I didn't mention our
outstanding executive director at the time, Mary
Feeley, who was constantly grooming new young
members and encouraging them to become
involved. Along the way, I also enjoyed serving on
the state insurance committee with Jondelle
Jenkins, DPM. We developed an outreach to Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois that was instrumental
in creating a direct line of communication
between the two organizations, resulting in better
policy development and implementation.
APMA News: Once you had seen the value of
being involved at the state level, how did you
become involved in the national organization?
Dr. Pickard: All the leadership positions including
my state insurance committee work and my IPMA
presidency apparently caught the eye of APMA. I
was asked if I would be interested in serving on the
Health Systems Committee, now known as the
Health Policy and Practice Committee. I served on
the committee for several years and then became
the chair. As chair, I initiated the APMA Insurance
Outreach program in hopes of better educating
insurance companies about our education and
training and how important our services are both
conservatively and surgically.
APMA News: You started with the Health Systems
Committee, but since then, you've served on many
APMA committees. Which ones have made a
particular impact on you?
Dr. Pickard: The Health Policy and Practice
Committee is most dear to my heart due to my
heavy involvement in the committee over the
years; however, the Center for Professional
Advocacy (CPA) Advisory Group is also a very
important committee doing fantastic work. I look
at that committee as a liaison between APMA and
the state components. The CPA off ers important
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apmanews
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
grants that help state components reach their
legislative, legal, and regulatory goals. It also
connects state components to each other so that
they can share ideas, successes, and-yes-failures.
Most of the states that recently gained ankle
privileges have benefi ted from this committee and
its grants. That being said, I will say that I received
the most requests from members to serve on the
Public Health and Preventive Podiatric Medicine
Committee this year. We have so many members
with amazing public health backgrounds, and we
will utilize their leadership and talents this year.
APMA News: What qualities do you think make a
great leader?
Dr. Pickard: I believe that listening is the most
important quality of a leader. It sounds like a
passive eff ort, but in reality, to be eff ective, listening
must be an active and persistent priority. Our
profession is at its best when we listen and
understand each other in a respectful manner.
Because of our members' unique, diverse, and
ever-expanding podiatric settings and priorities,
listening can be a challenge. We must work
together and understand that we all want what is
best for this profession. Our future depends on it.
Other than listening, I believe that a great leader
has to do their homework and be prepared to address
multiple issues that our profession is dealing
with at any given moment. This can be diffi cult
given the tremendous amount of information that
is constantly updated at the national and state level
while we continue to work in our practices. So,
APMA News - January/February 2022

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