The Voice of Family Medicine
ACADEMY
Dr. James W. Griffin Jr. Elected MAFP President James W. Griffin, MD, of Hattiesburg was elected MAFP President at the Annual Meeting in July 2020. He is employed at Hattiesburg Family Health Center and previously served as president-elect, vice president, secretary and board member. Dr. Griffin is the first African-American to serve in this role with the Academy. “I love family medicine, and I consider it a calling rather than job,” Dr. Griffin said. “I am honored and humbled to be not only elected but inducted as the next president of the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians and the first African-American to enjoy this role. I have loved this organization from the first meeting I attended as a resident years ago.” Dr. Griffin is a board-certified family physician who practices at Hattiesburg Family Health Center, part of the Southeast Mis-
sissippi Rural Health Initiative (SeMRHI). He served as chief medical officer for SeMRHI from 2012- April 2020, and he has worked for the organization for ten years. During his time as an officer and as president of MAFP, the Academy has taken advantage of Dr. Griffin’s natural, easy-on-the ear voice to promote family medicine. His distinctive tone has provided the words for three MAFP public service announcements produced during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also allowed MAFP to use his age and health conditions to promote COVID vaccine acceptance in a print ad on social media. Dr. Griffin graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, with a degree in biology and then went on to receive his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed a 4-year internship and residency where he
Above: Dr. James Griffin, left, accepts the MAFP leadership gavel from Dr. Bill Grantham at the MAFP Annual Meeting in July 2020.
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THE MISSISSIPPI FAMILY PHYSICIAN
