The Family Medicine Interest Group at KU School of Medicine-Wichita has earned a national award for the seventh consecutive year, while a medical student and a resident physician have both received recognition in Kansas.

The 2026 Program of Excellence Award by the American Academy of Family Physicians was given to Family Medicine Interest Groups at 21 medical schools, including KU School of Medicine-Wichita. The award recognizes the meaningful impact these student-led groups have on their community through innovative efforts to inspire and recruit more students to pursue a career in family medicine.

At KU School of Medicine-Wichita, the Family Medicine Interest Group hosts Doc for a Day, which started in 2001 and is now a biannual event with a goal of inspiring local middle school, high school and premedical students to pursue a career in medicine. Current medical students lead Doc for a Day participants through hands-on procedural and simulation training, giving many Kansas teens the opportunity to step inside of a medical school for the first time.

The Family Medicine Interest Group in Wichita also leads a Dark Vapor program during which medical students give presentations on the effects and dangers of vaping. During the 2025-2026 academic year, 26 KU medical students volunteered their time to give 48 presentations to 2,096 elementary and middle school students in the Wichita area.

“Family Medicine Interest Groups play a crucial role in developing the next generation of family physicians. So much of what family physicians do is in relationship building, and that same spirit of community is what brings more students to the specialty,” said Sarah C. Nosal, M.D., FAAFP, president, AAFP. “I am grateful for the work they do in mentoring the next generation. Molding the future of primary care is a big role, but these FMIGs not only make it look easy, but also show the rest of us what is possible when we commit to our communities.”

Taylor Adwell, fourth-year medical student at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, and Rebekah McAdam, M.D., a resident physician in the KU School of Medicine-Wichita Family Medicine Residency Program at Ascension Via Christi, were both announced as recipients of 2026 Kansas Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Awards. The awards honor students and residents who have shown exemplary leadership in family medicine.

Adwell, who received the Student Leader in Family Medicine award, has played key roles in the Family Medicine Interest Group, including serving as co-president, and was noted for her leadership, service and commitment to rural family medicine. She has served as a KU Wichita student ambassador and a leader in the Wound Care and Suture Training group, where she teaches suturing skills to first- and second-year medical students. She’s also served as the National Rural Health Association liaison for the Rural Medicine Interest Group.

After completing medical training, Adwell plans to serve rural Kansas as a full-scope family physician, aiming to practice in northeast Kansas near the communities that shaped her interest in medicine. She is especially interested in reducing the need for rural patients to travel long distances for care and in building strong, trusting relationships with patients of all ages.

McAdam, who received the Carol A. Johnson, M.D., Family Medicine International Mission Scholarship, has been dedicated to international mission work since 2013, when she spent two months at a mission hospital in Zambia, according to the KAFP Foundation.

“While there, I saw firsthand the vast need for medical care and began to realize how many people in the world have needs which are not being met currently due to lack of physicians, nurses, other staff and resources,” McAdam said.

Since then, she has also volunteered in Panama, Mexico, Colombia, Greece, India and Arizona, earning the Institute for International Medicine Professional Certificate in International Medicine and Public Health. She plans to use her scholarship to support a one-month residency rotation at Mukinge Mission Hospital in Kasempa, Zambia. She will collaborate with Zambian and expatriate physicians and nurses, focusing on maternity and women's health, during her rotation in the rural hospital, which serves as a referral center for over 100,000 people.

After residency, McAdam plans to serve full-time at a Christian mission hospital in eastern Africa through Samaritan’s Purse.

Above, left: Taylor Adwell, fourth-year medical student

Above, right: Rebekah McAdam, M.D., family medicine resident physician