February 21, 2025
Dr. Johnson works as a family physician at Novant Health University Physicians. In addition, she serves as chair of the NCAFP Practice Environment and Professional Development Committee.
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Since she was a kid, Dr. Johnson had wanted to be a physician. But she had always thought she would be a pediatrician. After she began attending Johnson C. Smith University, Dr. Johnson considered becoming an OB-GYN. “I really didn’t know what Family Medicine was until my senior year of college,” she says. “When I started researching it, I realized that the specialty incorporates everything that I wanted. It was really cool: family physicians do everything. They were the physician I wanted to be.”
Dr. Johnson had first wanted to become a physician because her favorite doctors were the ones doing house calls on television. “They were the ones who knew their patients and knew what to do to help them. And when I learned that family physicians could treat any patients at any age, that really appealed to me.”
To learn more, Dr. Johnson shadowed Dr. Nneka Hendrix at Atrium Health Biddle Point. “She was great,” Dr. Johnson said. “Working with her was my first taste of Family Medicine. Thanks to her, I really started pursuing it.” Dr. Johnson eventually attended the Atrium Health Family Medicine Residency in Charlotte, where Dr. Hendrix taught. “It was a full-circle moment,” Dr. Johnson says.
Her responsibilities as a family physician there sound pretty similar to her interests as a curious undergraduate. “The work is a pretty fair mix of everything,” Dr. Johnson says. “I still get to do procedures, pediatrics, women’s health, preventive care, and chronic disease management.”
But her work today also includes mentorship very much like what she received from Dr. Hendrix. Dr. Johnson now opens her workdays to students and residents who want to learn more about Family Medicine by shadowing her. “I’ve had medical students, undergraduates, and high school students come here,” she says. “I actually have someone shadowing me right now who isn’t in school. She’s planning to go back to school and is getting a taste for what Family Medicine is.”
Her precepting is personally important to Dr. Johnson. “I’m trying to pay forward what was done for me,” she says. “It helps pass on that love of Family Medicine to people. They can see that medicine isn’t just specialties, because there’s this foundation of getting to care for patients who you really know well.”
But precepting is professionally important to her too. “Precepting is a great way to re-energize yourself when you’re feeling tired or burned out,” Dr. Johnson says. “It helps me remember the excitement of just starting out in Family Medicine, which can get lost in the shuffle. And it keeps me on my toes!”
She first joined the chapter during medical school. After Dr. Johnson had attended the Winter Family Physicians Weekend a few times and seen what the community of family physicians offered, she wanted to do more. “I wanted to do more than just the clinical day-to-day stuff as a family physician,” Dr. Johnson says. “Friends of mine got me in touch with Greg [Griggs, NCAFP Exec. VP and CEO]. He got me involved.”
This new involvement included the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) National Conference of Constituency Leaders (NCCL). “NCCL is one of my favorite conferences,” Dr. Johnson says. “You get to meet so many people who are passionate about the bigger picture of why we practice and how we care for people. You get to work with them on solving real problems. It’s something else that gives me new energy and reignites my passion for doing this work.” Today, Dr. Johnson works on solving some of these problems through her role as chair of the NCAFP Practice Environment and Professional Development Committee.
Dr. Johnson also found a good group of fellow NC family physicians who became her fast friends. “My first year at NCCL, Dr. Tamieka Howell, Dr. Jess Triche, and Dr. Frankie Simmons were there,” she says. “Dr. Jewell Carr might’ve been there too. There was always a good group.”
Through the work that this group does at the state national level, Dr. Johnson says there’s good reason for family physicians to be hopeful, not apprehensive. “It can feel like things aren’t great for medicine in general,” she says. “But what keeps me grounded is remembering that we’re helping to really take care of people. I’m hopeful for the future of our specialty: there’s a lot of change happening, but you can’t ever replace the relationship between patients and family doctors. There will be a lot of benefit for Family Medicine in the future.”