Meet the FMEC Board
Check back throughout the spring of 2026 as more Board member profiles are added.

Dr. Heather Paladine has served on the FMEC Board since 2017 and is currently President-elect. She will serve as FMEC President from 2026-2028. For her day job, Dr. Paladine is a family physician who lives and practices in Manhattan, New York, where she is the residency program director at the New York Presbyterian - Columbia Family Medicine Residency Program. She supervises residents and medical students and treats a predominantly Latinx, low-income patient population. She focuses on women's health, including maternity care and reproductive health.  For many years, Dr. Paladine has served on the FMEC Planning Committee Coordinators group. This is the group that convenes in the spring to review reviewer comments and ratings on the 400+ submissions for the FMEC Annual Meeting. It’s a time consuming but rewarding task, and a great opportunity to learn from the other committee members and build skills related to developing and reviewing conference proposals. Also, Dr. Paladine has made connections between the FMEC and the other societies she volunteers for. She is past Board member and Past President of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians and has served on the Board of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. “Each year, the NYSAFP helps support FMEC student scholarships, and we hold a reception for New York attendees at the FMEC Annual Meeting,” says Dr. Paladine. "It's a win-win for both organizations to support medical student interest in Family Medicine in our area."

Dr. Vnenchak is a family physician who lives and practices in Lancaster, PA, where she is the Residency Program Director at the Lancaster General Health Family Medicine Residency Program.  "I chose to become a Family Physician because I love the opportunity to develop ongoing relationships with patients and families. I provide maternity care because I enjoy working with women during pregnancy, delivery and afterwards with their babies. I believe that each of our life stories, born from our life experiences, shape who we are as individuals. These experiences affect our health and how we respond to events in life. I believe that individuals are in charge of their own health. I see my role as an advisor to assist patients in making their own healthcare and lifestyle choices. I enjoy teaching in family medicine.  I am inspired by the next generation of family physicians who are dedicated to partnering with patients and communities to make them healthy.”   

Dr. Vnenchak has been on the FMEC Executive Committee since 2020, serving as Secretary-Treasurer, President-Elect and now President, and she will be Immediate Past President from 2026-2028. You can reach Dr. Vnenchak at [email protected]. 

Dr. Bass currently works as an Assistant Professor and Program Director in the department of family medicine at Cooper University and Regional Clinical Leader for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region for the Reproductive Health Access Project. She earned a master’s degree in Stem Cell and Developmental Biology from Wesleyan University, Connecticut. She earned her medical degree from Jefferson Medical College (now Sidney Kimmel Medical College) at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. She completed her family and community medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia. She completed her fellowship in the Leadership Training Academy through Physicians for Reproductive Health learning to be a physician advocate for Reproductive Rights and Justice. She is a certified trainer through Providers Clinical Support System and the Health Federation of Philadelphia to run training required to prescribe medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder as well as through the IMPACT program of ACOG to run training on management of early pregnancy loss. She is dedicated to providing compassionate care to stigmatized populations and to improving the overall wellness of her patients and communities.   Dr. Bass has been on the FMEC Board since October 2022.

Molly joined the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) in 2003.  She is the lead staff liaison to residents and students.  A non-physician, Molly brings a professional background in behavioral health, marketing and association management. With PAFP, Molly helped build a network of Pennsylvania's Family Medicine residency programs and medical schools to collaborate on the effort to strengthen student interest in Family Medicine and build initiatives to support the professional development of residents. Throughout her tenure, Molly has presented at medical schools and residency programs, regional and national conferences on topics related to Family Medicine, leadership and advocacy, and strengthening the workforce pipeline. She values collaboration with like-minded organizations like FMEC, AAFP, Primary Care Progress, and other primary care advocacy organizations to build coalitions and amplify our message. Together we are stronger.

Just as family physicians rely on a large and diverse team of people to provide care, FMEC values the input and involvement of non-clinicians like Molly, who bring important expertise and perspectives to our work. If you are a program coordinator, other GME professional, or state AAFP chapter staff, please consider getting involved in FMEC.

Leon McCrea II, MD, MPH, FAAFP, serves as the Deborah J. Tuttle, MD, and John P. Piper, MD Vice Dean for Educational Affairs at Drexel University College of Medicine. A dedicated leader in medical education, Dr. McCrea is recognized for his efforts to advance inclusive excellence in academic medicine. He works collaboratively to implement best practices for promoting educational innovation workforce development within the College of Medicine and its biomedical sciences programs. Dr. McCrea’s mission is to create an environment where learners and faculty are prepared to lead healthcare innovation across all educational domains.

Dr. McCrea is an associate professor in the Department of Family, Community & Preventive Medicine and has served as the Program Director for the Family Medicine Residency and the Drexel Pathway to Medical School (DPMS) programs. He focused on developing competency-based curricula, supporting learners who been personally impacted by health care disparities, socioeconomic or educational barriers, and fostering mentorship to advance the next generation of healthcare leaders.

Dr. McCrea earned his degree in Human Biology from Brown University and, his MD and Master of Public Health degrees at the University of Pittsburgh. He trained in Family Medicine at Crozer-Keystone Health System. His clinical interests span women’s health, adolescent medicine, contraception, men’s health, and office-based procedures. He currently serves on the Review Committee for Family Medicine for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Outside of his professional achievements, Dr. McCrea and his wife Nikki recently celebrated 18 years of marriage. He is a proud "girl dad" to their two daughters, ages 14 and 16.

Dr. McCrea has served on the FMEC Board since 2018 and is completing his term as Immediate Past President in 2026. He helped lead the CEO transition in 2021, oversaw FMEC’s post-COVID growth in meeting attendance and grant projects, and is currently helping FMEC launch its new journal. If you are interested in editing, reviewing, or mentoring for the journal, or helping with any other FMEC project, visit Get Involved with the FMEC! and complete the volunteer sign-up form.

Dr. Emeche is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, OH and traveled south for residency at Lancaster General Hospital in PA.  There, she developed an interest in caring for people frequently hospitalized and later integrated a biopsychosocial lens to providing holistic health care while in fellowship.  During her Healthcare Hot-spotting and Super-Utilizer aka population health fellowship, she studied and successfully implemented data to both identify opportunities for health care improvement and innovation and to track programmatic progress (and pivot accordingly).  After fellowship, she took on the role of Associate Medical Director at the Medstar Franklin Square Family Health Center where she led their Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) initiatives. There, she also established the resident PDSA/quality improvement projects, group visits to reduce pediatric obesity rates, and the interdisciplinary team caring for medically complex, high-risk patients.  Her work centered around primary care redesign, population health, process improvement, care of the complex patient, cross sector partnership, and women's health/obstetrics.  She recently left full-time medicine to create a company that designs healthy neighborhoods through real estate and economic development.  She uses her population health skillset to create healthy mixed-use and mixed-income neighborhoods where "people and business thrive".  Dr. Emeche joined the FMEC Board in 2022.

Britt Gayle MD/MPH, AAHIVS is a physician at OnTime Medical Group in Maryland and is part time faculty at MedStar Franklin Square Family Medicine Residency Program. He was previously employed at MedStar Family Medicine Residency Program as a full time residency faculty physician, faculty for Georgetown University School of Medicine’s medical student Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship, Clinical Assistant Professor, and Director of HIV services. Dr. Gayle was also an Assistant Professor at University of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology as part of a community based research team primarily focused on the integration of opioid use disorder and viral hepatitis care, and co-developed a curriculum focusing on evidence based Opioid Use Disorder care for first year Family Medicine and Internal Medicine residents. Dr. Gayle is also the former Medical Director of Carroll County Detention Center. Dr. Gayle first became engaged in FMEC activities as a resident physician and has since presented at multiple Annual Meetings, helped resident physicians prepare their presentations, served as a proposal/abstract reviewer and poster judge, and has also served as a member of the host committee. Dr. Gayle joined the FMEC Board in 2023.

Dr. George serves as the Associate Dean of Clinical Education at the Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine. He received his medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa., and completed his residency in family medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Dr. George was an Andlinger fellow in health policy with the Center for Public Health in Vienna, Austria where he worked on primary care workforce and academic development. In addition to his  interests in academic medicine, Dr. George also teaches graduate coursework on the history of medicine. He is currently conducting research on the history of family medicine as a discipline in the United States. He was awarded the FMEC Emerging Leaders award, the Bristol-Myers Squibb award for excellence in graduate medical education. His areas of interest include advancement of community and population health as well as health policy and economics.  He resides in Gettysburg, PA. 

Dr. Gingrich’s introduction to FMEC was at its very first formative conference in Lancaster, Pa. in 1992, and he has attended most of the meetings since that time!  He retired in 2020 after 35 years on faculty at Penn State, teaching, advising, and in community practice in his hometown of Hershey.  He has served on the boards of the AAFP, the AAFP Foundation, the Center for the History of Family Medicine, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, and as president and board chair of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians.  In addition to FMEC, he currently serves on the boards of a local CCRC, his church, and the Southcentral Pennsylvania AHEC.  He is still engaged with Penn State on the Admissions committee, in working with affiliated pre-medical students interested in primary care, and in teaching a course for medical students on the history of medicine. He is active in community and church service, writing, promoting the relevance and importance of family medicine, and enjoying the friendships of inspiring people.

Martha is a Professor at the UVM Larner College of Medicine and serves as Director of Medical Student Programs in Family Medicine. She has presented regionally and nationally on topics from novel approaches to curricula, care of challenged populations and more recently on AI in Medical Education. She remains steadfastly committed to rural primary care and increasing the family medicine workforce.  She has been an active member of FMEC for many years, bringing many students to the Annual Meeting where she has seen their passion for Family Medicine grow.  It is her greatest sense of pride when her students comment that attendance at FMEC was a pivotal moment in their career development.  She has served as a reviewer on the Planning Committee since 2010 and has served on the Host Committee and joined the Board of Trustees in 2022. As a health educator, Physician Assistant and Registered Nurse, she appreciates the opportunity to work with such a collaborative and motivated organization.   Her clinical site is in Student Health where she provides comprehensive health care to students and enjoys working with students to optimize their physical and mental health and self-confidence.