Griffin Cupstid, MD

The 2025 AAFP Congress of Delegates is over. I want to offer my sincere congratulations to our new President-Elect, Dr. Kisha Davis, and to the three new At-Large Directors, Dr. Tracy Hendershot, Dr. Robin Liu, and Dr. Douglas Spotts. I look forward to supporting you and our Academy's mission as Chair of the Commission on Finance and Insurance. While the election didn't go my way, my commitment to the AAFP remains absolute. I have tremendous faith in this organization, and I know we will survive and thrive, no matter what the current political climate throws our way.  I want to express my deepest gratitude to the AAFP staff and the Nominating Committee, who made this campaign a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. Special thanks go to my friends at the South Carolina Academy of Family Physicians for your moral support and invaluable advice throughout the process.  There is a well-known poem by Robert Fulghum, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." It...

Good morning delegates, friends, and honored guests. I am Griffin Cupstid, and I have proudly called myself a family physician for 40 years. Family medicine is a specialty defined by its breadth and its resilience, and the arc of my career has reflected these qualities. From starting out in a small town practice to navigating the waves of corporate acquisitions, I’ve experienced the full spectrum of change in our profession.  I’ve witnessed the shift in our business priorities from volume to value. I’ve celebrated the growing consensus that healthcare is a fundamental human right, and I’ve practiced medicine long enough to glimpse the arc of the moral universe as it bends—ever so slightly—toward justice.  Through the years, this Academy has played an important role in bending the arc. And while progress can be frustratingly slow, the incremental achievements of our Academy are both tangible and consequential.  At times, the expectation of continued progress has tempted m...

I'm looking forward to the Congress of Delegates meeting in Anaheim. It's hard to believe it is only 1 week away. Meanwhile, I'm spending the weekend studying the issues with my campaign steering committee. 

I am Griffin Cupstid, and I am pleased to announce my candidacy for the AAFP Board of Directors. Our profession and its institutions stand at a critical juncture. We are witnessing an unprecedented assault on our nation’s health care system. Not only do these attacks challenge the stability of the health care system, they strike at the very foundations of a free and open society. Organizations like the AAFP are essential in upholding the principles that enable our diverse health care system to equitably serve the public good with compassion and inclusivity. As physicians, we are responsible for ensuring these institutions remain beacons of integrity amid a sea of pseudoscience and duplicity. If elected to the Board, I will be a strong voice for evidenced-based policymaking. I will advocate for initiatives that bolster our Academy's dedication to scientific rigor, empower physicians to address misinformation effectively, and promote policies that ensure our Academy remains resilient...

A recent editorial in The Journal of Graduate Medical Education reminded me of a classic Mark Twain quote. When confronted by reporters about rumors of his untimely demise, Twain, both irritated and amused, famously remarked, “The report of my death has been greatly exaggerated.” In “A Eulogy for the Primary Care Physician,” Forrest Bohler and David Blumenthal offer a tongue-in-cheek requiem for primary care medicine. In this satirical piece, the authors enumerate the systemic forces that have led to our specialty’s purported demise. While their “eulogy” contains elements of truth, it is greatly exaggerated, and more importantly, we’re not dead yet! Bohler and Blumenthal begin by lauding the noble idea that everyone deserves a trusted primary care physician to navigate the complexities of our healthcare system. They then explain the various threats to primary care, including physician shortages in rural and underserved areas, as well as the fee-for-service system's preference f...