A ‘Family’ Physician First female president of the American Medical Association shares life’s accomplishments STORY BY DR. SHIRLEY LUNA ’85, ’06 & ’14 / PHOTOS BY SAM CRAFT ’04
P
HYSICIAN NANCY W. Dickey ’72 was the first female president of the American Medical Association and helped write the Patient Bill of Rights. While she was president of the Texas A&M Health Science
Center, three campuses were added and enrollment increased from 880 students to more than 2,000. Dickey now serves as executive director of the A&M Rural and Community Health Institute, which serves in a consultative role with personnel from hundreds of hospitals and communities across the United States to help improve access to quality health care. Despite these incredible accomplishments, she still says some of her best memories are based on the relationships she developed as a family medicine physician.
SAWDUST / FALL 2020
5