Dr. David Walsworth opens up about how his Christian faith impacts his work as a family physician.
GLENN M. WAGNER
Michigan Conference Communications
“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” — Sir William Osler, often cited as the father of modern medicine
David Walsworth is a great physician. The Michigan Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) recently named him the Michigan Family Physician of the Year. Walsworth does many things well, and the honor is merited.
David is valued as a husband and a father and is a respected member of the faculty at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. He is a published medical scholar and a leader in medical associations. He is a trustee at Okemos Community Church, an interdenominational church with Methodist roots, and the son of Rev. Lowell Walsworth, a long-time Michigan United Methodist pastor. David Walsworth is also a practicing family physician.
Walsworth’s academic credentials include graduating from Farmington Hills High School as co-valedictorian, a bachelor’s degree in biology from Albion College, and a medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Walsworth received the recent Michigan Family Physician of the Year honor during the MAFP annual meeting in July. A published article about his recognition by the Michigan State College of Human Medicine notes, “Walsworth joined [MSU] 19 years ago and serves as associate chair for clinical affairs and medical director at MSU Health Care – Family Medicine in East Lansing. He is a member of the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates, a board member for the Michigan State Medical Society, and a member of the Ingham County Medical Society Board of Directors.”
When asked to explain his professional responsibilities, David noted that sixty percent of his work is focused on patient care and clinical practice. Twenty-five percent is on administrative and planning. Ten percent of his workload involves teaching medical students, and five percent of his time is devoted to medical research and mentoring.
David Walsworth is grateful for this award for his contributions and hopes it will enable him to influence others to use their talents to do good things in the world. For example, Walsworth is grateful that the Michigan Conference of The United Methodist Church has sponsored successful legislative Advocacy Days in Lansing to help influence congregations and Michigan state legislators on issues of importance. In 2023, Advocacy Day focused on gun safety legislation, and in 2024, Advocacy Day highlighted important needs and legislation regarding mental health. He hopes a future Advocacy Day will focus on important health care needs. He envisions the day when medical health care is made more affordable and accessible for the 700,000 Michigan residents who still lack coverage. Walsworth also hopes his work can inspire those gifted to choose family medicine as a vocation. He is proud that his daughter is currently a medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Walsworth knows that his faith in God is also an important part of his medical practice. His faith journey includes reading an inspirational book about the life of Jesus when Walsworth was in the ninth grade. He values the inclusiveness of God’s love, which is practiced regularly at his church. He notes that the communion table at Okemos Community Church is open to all who wish to participate, in contrast to prior painful experiences in his younger years when he visited churches that practiced closed communion and felt excluded.
His faith in God has also helped Walsworth in his medical practice to learn how to be a supportive presence with patients in end-of-life situations, whatever their religious beliefs. He acknowledges that some of his patients are not Christian, and some don’t subscribe to one of the Abrahamic faiths in one God. However, with acquired cultural humility, he has learned to ask his patients questions like, “How can I help you to experience peace?” He has learned to listen to patients first, to meet and accept people where they are in their life journey, and to assist them with their decision-making. He acknowledges that end-of-life care medicine requires the presence of balanced hope. He does not want to dash hope, nor does he want to be a purveyor of false hope. He sees his role as a supportive and loving presence for his patients. He strives to be a witness to love by being a good listener.
His commitment to listening and respecting his patients informs his practice in other ways. In helping his patients, Walsworth strongly supports a patient’s right to make difficult medical decisions in consultation with their physician.
Another life lesson on the importance of listening has come to Walsworth from popular culture. David remembers a favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation titled “Tapestry.” He was impressed by the futile efforts of the protagonist to fix the dangling loose ends of the tapestry of life. The protagonist’s interventions to tidy up the loose ends only led to further unwanted unraveling of the tapestry.
Walsworth uses that illustration to gently remind himself, his medical students, and his patients to embrace their “tapestry of life,” loose ends and all. Walsworth believes that the loose ends in our lives are also essential parts of who we are.
Last Updated on September 4, 2024