Bruce Williams, DO, completes term as ACOFP president

More than 1,000 members of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP) will meet in Orlando this week for the 60th Annual Meeting and Conferences.

On Wednesday, Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine Associate Dean of Clinical Education and Associate Professor of Primary Care Bruce Williams, DO, completed his one-year term as president of the 20,000-member organization.

Under his leadership, the ACOFP embarked on a year of advocacy designed to change public policy, aligning with recommendations from the 2021 report, Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care, published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM).

Williams characterizes the ongoing campaign as an effort to raise awareness for the crucial role family physicians play in keeping communities healthy and reducing health care costs for all.

“During the pandemic, many families were not able to make regularly scheduled visits to their pediatricians or primary care physicians. As a result, a lot of kids didn’t receive immunizations and many adults didn’t get their yearly check-ups or get screened for high blood pressure or cholesterol. As a result, health problems that would otherwise have been detected and addressed were left untreated,” said Williams. “Preventive health care not only saves lives, but also controls costs and makes health care more affordable for all.”

Williams served as a family practice physician for 30 years before joining the faculty at KCU, whose College of Osteopathic Medicine, and earned his DO from KCU in 1987. He is the 15th Kansas City University alumnus to serve as president of the ACOFP, demonstrating the University’s commitment to family medicine and primary care.

KCU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine ranked ninth nationally for its impact on primary care, according to a scientific analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Health Forum.

This year, KCU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine placed a total of 218 student doctors in primary care residencies. “KCU is proud to prepare the next generation of primary care physicians to address patients’ needs and we are committed to improving the well-being of the communities we serve,” said Williams.