{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/707wm15p1w/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Dr. Mary Jo Welker"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine.  Disclaimer: The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker’s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice. \u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2020-08-03 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Oral History"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Sandy Panther (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["video file"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["family medicine","family physician","American Academy of Family Physicians","AAFP President"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Mary Jo Walker, MD (personal name)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}}],"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis item is protected by U.S. copyright and related rights. It is being made available by the Center for the History of Family Medicine as its rights-holder for noncommercial use, including sharing and adapting the work. No permission is required for noncommercial use so long as attribution is provided. All other uses require permission from the Center for the History of Family Medicine. \u0026nbsp;Disclaimer: The views presented in this broadcast are the speaker\u0026rsquo;s own and do not represent those of CHFM or the AAFP Foundation. The information presented is for general, educational, or entertainment purposes and should not be considered legal, health, financial, or other advice.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Center for the History of Family Medicine"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/246/original/CenterForHistoryFamilyMedicine_2c_RGB.png?1773344256","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/295/883/small/OralHistoryInterviewwithMaryJoWelker2020-08-03-12-01-50.mp4_1761148734.jpg?1761148734","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Oral_History_Interview_with_Mary_Jo_Welker_2020-08-03-12-01-50.mp4"]},"duration":1548.094,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/295/883/small/OralHistoryInterviewwithMaryJoWelker2020-08-03-12-01-50.mp4_1761148734.jpg?1761148734","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/295/883/original/Oral_History_Interview_with_Mary_Jo_Welker_2020-08-03-12-01-50.mp4?1761148734","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":1548.094,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/transcript/85518","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Dr. Mary Jo Welker interview transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/transcript/85518/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Crystal Bauer: All right. Good afternoon, Dr. Welker. Today is August 3rd, 2020. Please confirm for the record that you are aware that this is being recorded and that you have signed the consent form with the Center for the History of Family Medicine, and are giving your permission or have given your permission to do this interview.\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yes. All that's correct. You did get my authorization, right?\n\nCrystal Bauer: Yes, I did.\n\nMary Jo Welker: Okay.\n\nCrystal Bauer: All right. I'd like to begin by asking some background questions. When and where were you born?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I was born in Columbus, Ohio. I was born on April 5th of 1950 at St. Ann's Hospital.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Okay. Tell me a bit about your family. Your husband is an engineer, correct?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Right. My husband is an engineer. Well, he's retired now, so he was a civil engineer. But now he's enjoying his days. He's actually out playing golf this afternoon.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Wonderful.\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yeah. I have one brother who is also retired now. He was a computer programmer person, and in the end was working for IBM. Both my parents were also born here in Columbus, Ohio. So it was a nice small little family. Well, my father was from one of ten, so I guess we had a large extended family.\n\nCrystal Bauer: I see. And are you the oldest child or is your brother the elder?\n\nMary Jo Welker: No, my brother is one year younger than me.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Okay. So where did you attend college and residency?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I did my college here at Ohio State. My undergraduate major was actually sociology, so I was a nontraditional student. I was not a science major. I did my medical school actually at Ohio State University too, and then I did my residency at Riverside Methodist Hospital here in Columbus for three years in family medicine.\n\nCrystal Bauer: So it was important to you to stay in Ohio.\n\nMary Jo Welker: It sort of just worked out that way. My father made me a deal and the deal was this, \"If you go to Ohio State, I'll pay your way, and if you go someplace else, you better figure out where you're going to get the money to take care of it.\" So I said, \"Gee, Ohio State's not a bad place to go and it's going to not cost me any money.\" So it seemed like that was the thing to do.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sounds like a smart plan.\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yes. Then after I graduated from medical school we got married, and so staying in Columbus just seemed like the place to be.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. So let's talk about your decision to go into family medicine. Why did you pick family medicine? What prompted you to go into it?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I think there were probably several things. Number one, as we were growing up we always had a family physician who took care of my mom and dad and me and my brother and other members of the family too. So, that seemed very natural.\n\nMary Jo Welker: Then in medical school, I really liked everything. I enjoyed doing children. I enjoyed doing adults. I enjoyed doing some minor surgeries. I enjoyed doing deliveries. Back then that was something that was very possible and doable. So I said, \"Gee, I like everything. What profession would allow me to do that?\" Family medicine seemed to be the answer. My husband was very supportive. He always said, \"We need more good family doctors.\"\n\nCrystal Bauer: That's great. In another interview, you mentioned your experience of attending the AFP's annual meeting as a resident and how that impacted your decision to be active in family medicine. Could you elaborate on that more?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yes. When I was a resident, Steve Wolsey and I, who were both residents together, decided to go to the AFP annual meeting that was in San Francisco that year. Bob Young was running for a position, either treasurer or president elect. It was actually a great experience, not just for the educational part, but we were there for the political part and got to see a lot of the ongoing things with the house of delegates.\n\nMary Jo Welker: I think that just influenced me and Steve too. Steve was very active within the Ohio State Medical Association and the AMA, to both be active in organized medicine.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Great. What did you do after you completed your residency?\n\nMary Jo Welker: After residency, I actually went into private practice here in Columbus with John Bearhoff, who was also actually very active in politics of organized medicine and went all the way up to being a vice president at the American Academy of Family Physicians. So he was a good role model, both in terms of practice as well as organized medicine.\n\nCrystal Bauer: That's great. Dr. Welker, what is your present title?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Well my present title is Professor of Clinical Family Medicine at the Ohio State University. I just recently stepped down as chair of that department in January actually.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Great. And how long were you chair there?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I was interim chair for about 15 months, from 1998 to 1999. Then I was chair for a little over 20 years. I was an interim ... We sort of had a new person who came on and we spent some time working together for a few months before I actually stepped down completely.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Great. Great. You were very involved with the Ohio American Academy of Family Physicians. Would you mind discussing the roles you played with them?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yes. So I actually started out getting active with my local chapter, and then my local chapter elected me to be a delegate to the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians for their Congress of Delegates. Then once I was there, became more active with them through a variety of committees. Then I became the vice speaker for their house of delegates and then the speaker, and then treasurer and gradually moved up to vice presidency to become president elect of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians, then served as the president of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians.\n\nCrystal Bauer: So since you were the first female president, what motivated you to run for this position?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I think it was just a natural extension of the growth pattern that I was on. Again, starting at the local level, then moving more to the state level, and at the state level assuming a variety of responsibilities. As you move through each of those roles, you're responsible for different things.\n\nAs the treasurer, I was responsible for finance committee. As vice president you would take over legislation commission for a year, or membership for a year, or public relations for a year. So you would have experienced a variety of movement within the organization. At that point, you felt that you knew the organization well enough that you were willing and ready to take on the responsibility of the position.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Could you tell me a little bit more about that year as president?\n\nMary Jo Welker: So back then we did a lot of things as executive committee of the organization. One of the things we would do is travel around the state and meet with various local chapters, trying to do different local chapters each time. Again, so that by the time that you were done you had an opportunity to do much all over the state of Ohio and to have met a lot of different people. We did it during my year as president.\n\nMary Jo Welker: I also had some wonderful staff and some wonderful people to work with. Ross Black [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883#t=0.0,563.0"},{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/transcript/85518/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] with online was marked off. And so it was a good group of people to work through things with. We did some legislative things as well. There was a lot of work with some of the legislation on living wills, durable power of attorney during those tough [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883#t=563.0,585.0"},{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/transcript/85518/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] so it was a variety [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883#t=585.0,588.0"},{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/transcript/85518/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"]\n\nCrystal Bauer: You cut out a little bit, Dr. Welker, are you still there?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I'm still here.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Okay, great. Could you, moving forward to your time serving on the board of directors for the AFP, could you talk about how that happened and what your roles were on the board?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yeah, so as the leadership of the Ohio Academy, we elected delegates to go to the National Academy, Congress of Delegates. And I was one of those people. While I was there, I think it was part of the time that Ross black was on the board, and Ross encouraged me obviously to go ahead and move forward if that was what I wanted to do. And when Ross came off the board decided to go ahead and run for the board of directors. At that point in time, we still did the same kind of thing. As a member of the board, you were a liaison to the various commissions or committees. Now I served as liaison on the finance committee. And that was an absolutely interesting experience. When you talked about all the finances at the national level, I was a liaison to a couple of, again, learning different things about the organizations that would allow you to potentially run for president a lot we chose to do so.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Could you tell me about getting involved with the American Academy of family physicians foundation?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Sure. When I was on the board, my husband, Lloyd was trying to figure out what he was going to do. And one of the things that he became active with was the physicians with heart program with Dan and. And so at that time, we always had a liaison from the AASP to the foundation, and I decided that I would fund to be the liaison to the foundations. That was one of the programs that the foundation also ran. So when I was a second year board member, when I liaison and was on the board of directors for the foundation, I actually really enjoyed it. And when I asked the board for the Academy and family physicians, I actually started to go to the physicians with heart programs along with my husband.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Wonderful. I'd like to now kind of shift the focus to your time as the foundation president. What year were you a foundation president?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Well, I was actually a foundation president for two years because back then a foundation president served for two years. I think I might've actually last person to serve for two years in that position. And then we changed the bylaws at that time that made it only a one year position. We did that for a couple of reasons, probably most important is because we wanted to move interested individuals through the leadership organization and not make people wait and wait before they could move into a leadership position. So I think that was probably in some ways a good decision. On the other hand, when you move people through the organization more quickly, you lose a lot of institutional memory commitments. There was also some concern that in serving two year term, you pretty much had to commit two years as treasurer, two years as president elect two years as president. And so it got to be that the terms on the leadership were getting pretty long. And I think there was concern that people would get a little burnout with that life of time, plus the time that they were already members of the board to begin with. So I think it was a good decision and I hope that others think that as well.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Sure. I think the foundation has continued that. So I would assume that it has been a positive change. What were some of the high points for you for your responsibility as president?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I think there were a couple of highlights. Number one, I think we did some really good strategic planning. And as part of that strategic planning decided to sunset the Physicians with Heart program. I did four years with physicians with Heart, went to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the Republic of Georgia and Moldova. And I think that the things that we had done for some of those countries were good, but they have come a long, has come a long way in the 20 years since the program started. And so when we sunset that program, I think the highlight of my term was the humanitarian program established in Haiti. And when I was president, we did go to Haiti. So sort of to an introductory sort of thing, to get to know some people. And then we actually did our first formal program to Haiti at that time.\n\nMary Jo Welker: And then even after I was finished being president, I did continue to go to Haiti for several more years, as we really solidified the relationship in that country, both with the residency program, as well as with the deans of the colleges of medicine in that country. We also started our domestic humanitarian program and our relationship with Volunteers in America and some of the support that we started to give to the free clinics that were either starting up or eventually those who just needed some funding to do some additional work within their own free clinic. So I think that humanitarian program, both international and domestic are probably the biggest highlights of my time as president of the foundation. We were starting on some of the work for the education program, but that actually wasn't really done until after I stopped being president,\n\nCrystal Bauer: I see going back to the Physicians with Heart program, you had mentioned before that your husband, Lloyd, was interested in that program. Can you elaborate on kind of his role with that?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yeah. So there were two parts to this Physicians with Heart program. One was the medical component and one was the children's project. Lloyd actually worked more with the children's project. And so I was going to do the medical part of the program. So he started to work with the children's project even a couple of years before I was able to go because of my responsibility with the board. But he and Ruth Ostergard worked very, very closely. He did a lot of the heavy lifting, so to speak with the program, along with some of the other guys that went up, cause they had lots of materials that they needed to transport to the orphanages. So it was a combination of things where it would be the opportunity for both of us to coach [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883#t=588.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/transcript/85518/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] .\n\nCrystal Bauer: Going back to the Family Medicine Cares International Program and your trips to Haiti. Could you kind of elaborate more on your time in Haiti and the impact you saw there from that program?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yeah. We tried to do two things in Haiti. Number one, there was patient care component where one part of our delegation would actually be doing patient care in various communities. Some that was done actually in Port-Au-Prince and some of it was done in the more rural areas. Initially it was done in areas where the hurricane happened to land on. And then ultimately he also did some work in the Southeast area of Haiti. Then the second part of that was a children's program where they work with some of the orphanages and schools in some of the areas of Haiti. And then the last part was that the education component, which is the part that I led, which worked with the residency program or two residency programs in Haiti at that time. We worked with the medical school deans trying to talk about family medicine and where it fit into the educational programming in Haiti.\n\nMary Jo Welker: What could we do to increase the number of residency programs and residents and the sort of the presence of family medicine within various components of the infrastructure within Haiti. Much of Haiti was built originally on more of the specialist model. But I think with a lot of the information about how much primary care is important for the support of any kind of a medical system, their goal at that time was to try and increase the number of physicians who could be in the cities and the rural areas providing for the needs of the populus. But money is always problem with medical education. And there was a significant barrier within Haiti to make that happen.\n\nCrystal Bauer: I see. Is there anything else you'd like to add about your foundation presidency?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I think it was a wonderful experience. I mean, altogether, I spent about 10 years on the board for the foundation, including the time that I spent in leadership there. But I think it was probably the most rewarding of my experiences in part because of the humanitarian program that we started. I think that the international program is probably going to get a little bit more difficult. I don't think we ever got the involvement of some of our membership that we thought we would when we moved over to the Haiti program, because it was closer to the United States. It didn't take days to get there. It was two hours from Miami and we thought more of our membership would actually become involved in that. But I don't think it met our expectations. I think the domestic program continues to be a good venue for family physicians, to be part of the foundation and to be active with the foundation and the free clinics that we have helped to support.\n\nCrystal Bauer: Yes, they absolutely are very important. You mentioned that you were on the board for 10 years and you've been a continuing foundation donor for a long time. Why is the foundation important to you?\n\nMary Jo Welker: I think the work of the foundation is important to me. I think that again, the humanitarian programs, I think a lot of our support has gone to that. I think the pilot option that they knew at the cost of delegates and a good source of income. Originally, we used to have a big foundation event as part of the annual meeting. It took a lot of time and energy and the silent auction [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883#t=1080.0,1354.0"},{"id":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883/transcript/85518/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"]. I think that the educational activities at the foundation for students and residents, the emerging leaders program that was developed has been very significant for the younger generation and helping them to come forward and to lead in family medicine and hopefully to take the things that they learn as part of those programs out into the rest of the world, whether that be at their local level or to be at organized medicine organizations both at the family medicine level or within the American medical association. So I think that the programs, the foundation have been important to me over the course of my career.\n\nCrystal Bauer: That's really great. And I think the foundation is, is incredibly beneficial for those programs. And it sounds like you've had quite an active and rewarding career and have contributed much to the specialty of family medicine, both domestically and globally. Before we conclude the interview, is there anything that you'd like to add that I should have asked you or that you would like to share?\n\nMary Jo Welker: Yeah, I think that the work that I've done with the Ohio State University has also been helpful. I think my experience there as a department chair helped me to interface with the deans when we went into the Haiti program. I think that we've done a lot for family medicine here within the state and even within our own departments. You know, when I took over the department, we had about 10 full time faculty. And when I finished, we had about 85 faculty. So our program was really ready to grow even within Ohio State. I'm really proud of the work that we've done there. And I think that the organization went from wondering whether family medicine really belonged at an academic medical center to believing really important the family medicine program was within that academic medical center and the community. And the desire to continue to grow the program as something that was necessary for the education of our students, as well as for the care of our community here within the state of Ohio. So they're a land grant institution. And our goal is certainly to take care of the patients and the people of Ohio as well as provide positions for the state of Ohio. So I think that what we've done at Ohio State has also been a really important part of my career as well.\n\nCrystal Bauer: It sounds like it something to be very proud of based on the growth that you've mentioned. That's wonderful. Thank you so much. Well, if you have nothing else to add, this will conclude our interview and I'd like to thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview, Dr. Welker.\n\nMary Jo Welker: Hey, thank you very much. Is there anything else you need from me?\n\nCrystal Bauer: No, that's it. Thank you so much.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://centerforthehistoryoffamilymedicine.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2376/collection_resources/162453/file/295883#t=1354.0,1548.094"}]}]}]}