Welcome to WCMS!
Wake County Medical Society is an organization established in order to enable physicians and other friends of the profession to support projects vitally affecting scientific medicine and public health.
It is our hope to have a positive impact on the community and our past has shown what amazing accomplishments can come from the dedicated work of professionals with passion. Please learn more by viewing the content of this site and contacting us with questions. In learning about us perhaps you will want to join our team or donate to our cause and become a partner in a force for good in our community.
Note from the President
Dear Colleagues,
2023 marks the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Wake County Medical Society. Our society has strong traditions of serving our doctors and our community, but recent years have brought significant changes, even before the COVID pandemic.
Most physicians and surgeons entering practice today are employed by large health care organizations rather than independent practitioners. New hospitals and outpatient facilities are spread over a much wider area as Wake County’s population grows. Office-based practitioners rarely interact with hospital-based physicians and primary care doctors seldom meet their consultants in person. We have become isolated from one another. Participation in organizations of all sorts has fallen.
While several past major initiatives of WCMS such as Project Access and Community Health Foundation now function as independent entities, their need for support of physicians, surgeons, and other providers continues.
The demands of payers, regulators, and electronic medical records exact heavy burdens on physicians’ time, productivity, and personal interactions with their patients.
Many newly trained doctors carry large educational debts while at the same time the cost of living is substantially higher than in years past. Balancing the needs of family can be stressful with both spouses working.
Our medical community has expanded and is dispersed across a geographically large county.
Doctors have less control over their practices and their lives and burn-out is at historically high levels. All of this has been amplified by the recent COVID pandemic.
We believe that medical leadership is still vital to the well-being of our patients as well as our clinicians. We must support and encourage one another. Our way back will require time, effort, and patience. Some of our goals include:
- As the pandemic winds down, a new WCMS Executive Council is undertaking a comprehensive review of how the Society might best meet these challenges and become more relevant to our Wake County physicians, surgeons, and other practitioners.
- Since the retirement of Paul Harrison, our society’s administrative support is now provided by the NC Medical Society under the leadership of Frank Snyder and Toni Hill.
- Updated Articles of Incorporation of the WCMS have been submitted to the NC Secretary of State.
- Our Bylaws and Mission Statement are under review to be revised to reflect our current practices and needs.
- Our website www.wakedocs.org is being revamped.
- A meeting and program calendar for 2023 has been established and is available on our website.
- Online membership and dues paying procedures will be revised.
- Coordination with WCMS Alliance will expand programing options.
- Improve our communication with membership via website and email.
- Collegiality is encouraged by offering opportunities to engage in small group activities such as the WCMS Book Club.
- Provide information to about opportunities to serve those who remain without access to care.
- Offer opportunities for our members to become more involved in our community.
Your support and participation will be vital to continuation of our long and proud traditions of serving the doctors of Wake County, their families, and their patients. Thank you.
Ted Kunstling, MD, FCCP
President, Wake County Medical Society
February 2023