Joi Smith has an infectious laugh.
Its lilt is fitting, given her extensive training in piano, which has threaded through a series of milestones and moments in the Texas Medical Association Alliance (TMAA) president-elect’s life.
In her last semester of graduate school, she taught a course called Beginning Piano for Adults, which was attended by her future husband, Gary Smith, MD, then in his last semester of medical school.
“That was in February, he proposed in April, and in June we took off,” Ms. Smith said. “He was a Health Professions Scholarship Program recipient with the United States Air Force, and we left for David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base to start his medical residency.”
In the four decades that have elapsed since, “we’ve had this wonderful music-medicine marriage and relationship,” Ms. Smith said. In that time, she also came to appreciate the value of the relationship between TMAA and its members.
“The alliance helps spouses of physicians and physicians, if they join, connect with each other, and it helps them know they’re not in this medical marriage by themselves,” Ms. Smith said. “We go from medical school to retirement, and there’s just always someone there that has been in your shoes.”
Her inventiveness and ability to cajole allies into action figure into Ms. Smith’s hopes and goals for her upcoming TMAA presidency, beginning in May, and stand to serve TMA’s 1,900-member volunteer force well in its ongoing aim to support the Family of Medicine.
But “don’t let her perky attitude fool you,” said fellow alliance member Catherine Harrison. “She is determined. She’s very hard to say no to. Any time she calls, I answer.”
Casting a vision
TMAA, founded by physician spouses, has for more than a century supported the Family of Medicine through camaraderie, political advocacy, community outreach, and scholarships for future physicians, nurses, and allied health care professionals.
An alliance member since 2002, Ms. Smith joined the TMAA board in 2019 and has served on it in a bevy of capacities – on its Nominating Committee and as a resource liaison, vice president of membership, and recording secretary. She was part of the board’s effort last fall to develop the alliance’s vision, mission statement, and strategic plan for the next two years, directed under the guidance of current TMAA President Jenny Shepherd.
“It was quite extensive work, but very fun work to do together with all the board members – to finally have a real vision and mission statement,” Ms. Smith said. “I don’t think that TMA Alliance had that yet, and now we do. It’s very exciting to be able to move forward next year working on the strategic plan.”
One of the plan’s pillars, building healthy communities, holds particular promise for her.
“One of the things I’m really excited about is being able to collaborate and partner with some of the other nonprofits in our communities,” Ms. Smith said.
She’s well versed in partnerships with musical entities. Symphonies have been a musical and civic home for Ms. Smith – she’s played in them, serves as a board member for the Texas Association for Symphony Orchestras, and has been an artistic adviser for symphony boards.
Around 2005, through Ms. Smith’s work on the board of another music nonprofit, the Women’s Symphony League of Tyler, she met and befriended Ms. Harrison.
“I’ve learned a lot from Joi over the years and watching her in leadership. She just has this way of pulling people in and realizing what your particular strength is,” Ms. Harrison said. Several years ago, Ms. Harrison, “an empty nester,” and having been a member nominally for years, decided to become more active in the Smith County Medical Society Alliance (SCMSA) – one of TMAA’s 16 local chapters.
“I walked into a meeting … and there was Joi, right in the middle of it,” she said. “Seeing her gave me a lot of confidence in the organization – that it was being run correctly, that the rules were being followed, that the budget was going to be good … I knew if she had anything to do with it, it was going to be done right.”
Ms. Smith possesses a fearless creativity and facility for collaboration, according to Ms. Shepherd.
“Joi is not afraid to be innovative to better serve our alliance, especially in terms of collaborating with other organizations,” Ms. Shepherd said. “She is a leader with not only a strong work ethic but strong convictions about how to serve the Family of Medicine.”
Positivity and progress
During her time as president of SCMSA, Ms. Smith oversaw a smooth transition from the group’s 52-year-old fundraiser, a twice-annual book fair, to a new fundraiser, Heels for Healing, a fashion show and luncheon.
“She really made the event very successful and a lot of fun. And I think that’s missing a lot of times in some of our volunteerism,” Ms. Harrison said. “If it isn’t fun, nobody wants to do it. Joi brings the fun.”
Proceeds from Heels for Healing have funded a new Hospice of East Texas volunteer program in memory of D’Anna Wick, a past TMAA president from Tyler; a vending machine that provides books to children at Bethesda Pediatrics in Tyler; and contributed to scholarships for students at the University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine and those studying allied health professions at Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas at Tyler.
A spin on Texas BookShare, TMA’s program to promote literacy and good health, the installation of the book vending machine was undertaken by Ms. Smith during her tenure as president of SCMSA, in partnership with local board member Lisa Allen, DO. The machine, which provides health-related books in exchange for a token given to young patients by pediatricians at the clinic, “has just gone gangbusters,” Ms. Smith said.
That success is emblematic of the power TMAA has to effect change, for the community at large and physicians and their families.
“I am so proud of the work that the TMA Alliance does across our state,” Ms. Shepherd said. “Each social event, book put into the hands of a child without one, and each meaningful conversation with a legislator adds up to a huge difference for Texas.”
The scholarships that TMAA enables are meaningful avenues to growing the profession of medicine, Ms. Smith says.
“Scholarships are such an important investment in the community, ensuring the future of medicine for years to come. Many TMAA local chapters have great scholarship programs that can be models on how to raise funds and collaborate with local colleges and universities to encourage students to consider a career in health care,” she said.
Ms. Smith’s positivity attracts positive people in turn, Ms. Harrison says. Then a sort of synergy happens.
“She loves to put people in leadership – nurturing them, bringing them up in an organization: Put them on the board, have them be recording secretary one year, and then next year move them into membership. Move them up. And she is very thoughtful about that.”
The fruits of that generosity bear out in successes like the Smith County Medical Society Alliance’s recent 90th anniversary celebration, which Ms. Smith co-chaired with SCMSA member Anne Phillips.
Ms. Smith said having dignitaries in attendance and receiving accolades, including a Congressional Resolution, for SCMSA’s service and longevity “reminded us our alliance’s mission now reflects what it has for 90 years – helping our community and taking care of medical families.”
As she prepares to take the helm at TMAA, Ms. Smith said she is “honored to serve TMAA next year to carry on the great work that has gone before, as our vision statement says – to empower physician families to build healthy communities across Texas.”