VCU news

By Jack Carmichael
School of Medicine

Alexandra “Lex” Tee is part of the inaugural class of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation’s Family Medicine Leads Emerging Leader Institute. She was one of 30 students selected for the program, which is designed to give leadership opportunities to family medicine-minded medical students and residents who demonstrate leadership potential.

As a second-year medical student, Tee is still exploring what the different fields of medicine have to offer and is eager for any experience or mentorship she can get along the way. “I decided to apply because I would get to attend AAFP’s national conference and work with a mentor and a project of my choice,” Tee said. “I always enjoy learning from physicians and older students and residents, and this opportunity seemed like the perfect environment for growing and learning.”

I hope the program will foster my commitment to lifelong learning and teach me more about growing and excelling in the practice of family medicine.

The institute offers three tracks that participants can choose from: policy and public health leadership, personal and practice leadership, and philanthropic and mission-driven leadership.

Tee is pursuing personal and practice leadership and hopes she will learn how to handle increased levels of responsibility as she continues her education and career. Both the national conference in Kansas City, Missouri, and the institute offer exceptional opportunities for her to network and continue learning about the field.

“I think it will be helpful for me because I am so early in my medical training and this track emphasizes remaining effective and focused as I transition to greater levels of responsibility, autonomy, power and expectations,” Tee said. “I hope the program will foster my commitment to lifelong learning and teach me more about growing and excelling in the practice of family medicine.”

As Tee looks for mentors who can counsel her through choosing a specialty and applying to residency, she is quick to acknowledge the people who have guided her thus far. Tee completed her undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied public health. Her favorite professor also worked as a physician, and he encouraged her to pursue medicine, so she began shadowing physicians in the San Francisco community.

The more she learned about family medicine, the more she liked it.

“My interest in family medicine grew because the physicians that I shadowed worked in schools and in areas of the community that they cared deeply about, and they were willing to give me some valuable mentorship,” Tee said. Now on the MCV Campus, she’s part of the fmSTAT program that nurtures students in their pursuit of a family medicine career. Tee lists the relationship she has developed with her fmSTAT mentor, Phil Sherrod, M.D., a School of Medicine alumnus, as one of the highlights of medical school.

Subscribe for free to the weekly VCU News email newsletter at http://newsletter.news.vcu.edu/ and receive a selection of stories, videos, photos, news clips and event listings in your inbox every Thursday.