Elizabeth (Liz) Powers, MD, assumed her role as President of the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) at the Academy’s annual business meeting that took place on April 26 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in downtown Portland. Dr. Powers has been a member of the OAFP since 2006 and on the Board of the Academy since 2008. Her term as President will last one year.
Dr. Powers has been practicing family medicine at Winding Waters Clinic since 2006 and always has her door open to teach medical students and residents. She is a graduate of Stanford University School of Medicine and completed her family medicine residency at OHSU in 2006. Also in 2006, Dr. Powers received the Merle Pennington Award for Outstanding Resident Contribution to Family Medicine and in 2013 she was selected as a recipient of the Oregon Primary Care Association’s Leadership in Transformation Award for leading the effort to transform the broader health and health care system to the benefit of vulnerable populations.
Dr. Powers and her husband, Nic, met at a square dance in upstate New York in 1998 and have since travelled the country and the world together. Their son, Malakai Edward, is five and loves to share in his parents’ adventures. The most recent adventure for all of them is the addition of a second son, Atticus Everett, born April 27, 2014.
Powers states, "Oregon has made huge strides towards improving health care delivery. More than half of the primary care practices in the state have stepped up to meet the challenge of providing high quality, high value care to Oregonians as Patient-Centered Primary Care Homes. And this change in practice has translated into measurable improvements -- with fewer ER visits and fewer hospital re-admissions in the Medicaid population over the last two years. However, need continues to outpace capacity, and access to primary care is ironically a growing issue as insurance becomes an affordable option to more people through the state exchange. We need to continue to foster the primary care pipeline and encourage creative collaborations to ensure that all Oregonians have access to high quality primary care."
Robyn Liu, MD, MPH, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) at the Academy’s annual business meeting on April 26 held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in downtown Portland. Dr. Liu has been a member of the OAFP since 2011. Her term as Director will last three years.
Dr. Liu received her medical degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2003 and completed her residency in 2007 at the OHSU Family Medicine & Preventive Medicine Residency Program. She also received her MPH in 2007 from Portland State with an emphasis on health management and policy. From 2007-2011, Dr. Liu was a staff physician with Greeley County Health Services in Tribune, Kansas. In 2011, Dr. Liu returned to OHSU, where she is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, providing full-scope family medicine with adult medicine, maternity care, and pediatric care at the Family Medicine Clinic at the Center for Health & Healing. In addition, Dr. Liu works as a Clinical Epidemiologist with the Center for Evidence-based Policy at OHSU.
Dr. Liu is active locally and nationally in regards to health care systems leadership. While practicing in Kansas, she served on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians and led its Practice Enhancement Committee. From 2011-2012 she represented New Physicians nationally on the American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors. She also served the national organization in the Commission on Health of the Public & Science. In 2012, she took on the role of OAFP Legislative Affairs Co-director and began participating on the Legislative Committee of the Oregon Medical Association.
