ROBERTS, Prof Richard : WONCA President 2010-2013
WONCA President 2010-2013
Richard G Roberts, MD, JD, FAAFP, FCLM, is a professor and past chair
in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin
School of Medicine & Public Health in Madison. Since 1987, Prof
Roberts has practiced as a family doctor, in Belleville, a rural
community of 1900 people. Also an attorney, Professor Roberts continues
to be a busy family doctor caring for patients of all ages.
At the international level, Prof Roberts was President of World
Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) from 2010-2013. For ten years, he served on and
chaired the WONCA Working Party on Quality in Family Medicine. He serves
on the Steering Committee of the global Dialogue on Diabetes and
Depression. He has consulted on primary care redesign for Brazil, Oman,
Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. He has supervised exchanges
involving students and residents from Brazil, China, Nigeria, Portugal,
and Spain. Professor Roberts has lectured and taught in more than three
dozen countries. He led US physician delegations to Brazil, Uzbekistan,
and Vietnam. He has been a member of six US delegations to WHO
International Consultations on urinary health. He served as the Founder
and Chair of the SOAR (Six Organizations to Advance the Renewal of
Family Medicine) International Colloquium, which was funded by Health
Canada, convened in Toronto in 2006, and involved representatives from
Australia, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, andUnited States to discuss and redesign the future of family medicine.
In the United States, Prof Roberts is Past President of the American
Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and its Foundation. He is a member
of the Board of Governors of the National Patient Safety Foundation and
the National Advisory Council of the California Health Benefits Review
Program. He is a member of the Guidelines Leadership Group of the
National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute (NHLBI). He is Chair of the
Interstate Postgraduate Medical Association. Prof Roberts chairs the
Scientific Advisory Board on primary care and emergency medicine for
United Health Group.
Prof Roberts has been a member of more than two dozen guidelines
panels of groups such as the AAFP, American College of Cardiology,
American Pain Society, American Urological Association, Joint Commission
(JCAHO), Maternitywise, US Agency for Health Care Policy and Research,
US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the World Health
Organization. He has been a consultant to the US Food and Drug
Administration Anesthetic and Life Support Drug Advisory Committee and
the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board. He has been a consultant to
EyeTel, Google, QuantiaMD, RAND, and Symphony Corporations.
Prof RichRoberts’s scholarship has focused on practice redesign,
patient safety, quality improvement, and the development of decision
support tools such as guidelines to improve clinical care. He has
authored more than 150 publications, been an investigator on a dozen
grants, and given more than 600 presentations. After receiving a B.A. in
philosophy and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin, Professor
Roberts matriculated to George Washington University for his medical
degree. He completed a family medicine residency at UCLA-Santa Monica.
Professor Roberts is a Fellow of the AAFP and the American College of
Legal Medicine. He was a Fellow in the Kellogg Foundation national
leadership development program. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal
Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Royal
College of General Practitioners (RCGP).
Rich and his wife Laura, an exercise physiologist and fitness consultant, live in Verona, Wisconsin; they have four children.
Rich Roberts' Presidents columns for WONCA news 2010-2013