am truly grateful for the honor and privilege to be serving alongside all of you as the President of the Greater Louisville Medical Society .

As we are beginning the end of the COVID-19 pandemic that has greatly affected the world , we must continue to work together in a collective effort to bring this pandemic to a stop . One immediate need we have before us is to effectively and convincingly encourage our patients to get their COVID-19 vaccines . Research clearly shows that patients trust their doctors for information about COVID-19 and the highly successful vaccinations that are combating it . I personally ask each of my patients if they have received the vaccine . And for those who have not , I ask them to share their reasons and then look for opportunities to share with them why getting the vaccine is the right thing to do . We must speak to our patients and encourage them to get vaccinated and we must not let up now . Let ’ s double down , to help us finish this race strong , GLMS will soon be sharing some excellent resources to assist you in communicating with your patients about the COVID-19 vaccine .

We will be sending out great resources to help us all encourage our patients to get vaccinated , one of which is titled “ From Concern to Confidence : How Physicians Can Build Trust in COVID-19 Vaccines .” It explains some valuable things you can do to improve vaccine acceptance among your patient families and even has some excellent research-based talking points that give suggestions for clear and productive conversations about COVID-19 vaccines .

Because of the numerous challenging and complex issues physicians face today , one of the most foundational and critical items we need to address , both as individual physicians and collectively as a profession , is leadership development . To develop as leaders , we must grow , both professionally and personally . Personal growth is a prerequisite for professional growth . Over this next year , a major theme will be physician leadership development as we will seek to provide opportunities to help all of our physician members grow personally and professionally , from each one ’ s starting point .

We have had many great Kentucky physician leaders show us the way . Our very own Dr . Bruce Scott was re-elected last year as Speaker of the American Medical Association , after serving a previous year as Speaker and four years prior as Vice Speaker . Dr . Steven Stack , our Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health , and a recent past president of the AMA , is highly regarded nationally . Dr . Ralph Alvarado serves as a Kentucky Senator for the 28th District after being first elected in 2014 . He is the first Hispanic person elected to the Kentucky General Assembly . Dr . Frank Burns , who is a past President of GLMS and our outgoing GLMS Board Chair , has truly led by example and blazed a trail through Frankfort engaging more physicians in the legislative process to fight and win important issues in medicine for our patients , our communities and our noble profession .

Dr . Monalisa Tailor , our outgoing GLMS President , led our medical society through one of its toughest years in history with the COVID-19 pandemic . During this challenging year , Dr . Tailor also helped create and navigate pathways forward in response to racism by creating an important series on the racial inequalities in medicine . If you haven ’ t watched it yet , I highly recommend it . Dr . Wayne Tuckson played a major role in helping us break through racial barriers , becoming the first African American GLMS President in 2018 . Dr . Tuckson also has his own TV show on KET where he takes on numerous health issues in Kentucky as the host of Kentucky Health .

Another example is Dr . Sarah Moyer who , just a few years ago , developed the new gold standard for how to fight a hepatitis A outbreak and win . Her model is now standard throughout

4 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE