Committee Highlights
Communications | Education | Legislative Affairs | Membership | Program | Research
Communications Committee
The Communications Committee oversees all publication vehicles of the Society including Family Medicine, the Messenger, the Teaching Physician, all electronic communications, including the Web site and the Family Medicine Digital Resources Library, policies
related to STFM awards and publications. This year, the committee focused it's energy on a redesigned STFM Web site and as well as oversight of the Family Medicine rejuvenation plan. The committee is led by Communications Committee Chair Elizabeth Naumburg, MD. The full committee is listed here.
Education Committee
The Education Committee oversees STFM's educational programs
and curriculum development, plans the Predoctoral Education Conference,
and focuses on the faculty development needs of members. Each year the committee organizes the STFM Academic Track at the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. This year marked the fourth and final year of leadership by Jeffrey Stearns, MD. The full committee is listed here.
Legislative Affairs Committee
The Legislative Affairs Committee works closely with STFM's Government
Relations staff in Washington, DC. The committee's main task is to
help shape STFM's legislative policies. They use these policies to
advocate for the interests of academic family medicine professionals
and their students, residents, and patients. Committee members
regularly attend the Family Medicine Congressional Conference, where
they head to Washington to refine their lobbying skills and go meet
with their elected officials and their staff. The committee also
oversees STFM's bylaws. The committee has been working to ensure that academic family medicine
has its place in the current health reform process, including the
development of policy that would modernize primary care graduate medical education. This year the legislative affairs staff added a new AFMAA Briefing Room.
It was created to keep members up to date on key issues and legislative
activities. The committee is led by Jerry Kruse, MD, MSPH. The full
committee is listed here.
Membership Committee
The Membership Committee reviews and develops membership promotions
and programs and monitors members’ needs and the Society’s ability
to respond to those needs. New membership development was the focus of the committee's efforts this year. The membership campaign included outreach to program directors as well as residents and students. The committee also organized a Full Participation Recognition Program that recognized departments and residency programs that had 100% participation of their full-time faculty as STFM members. The committee also organizes the New Member/First-time Attendee orientation and the Group Chair's Meeting at each year's Annual Spring Conference. Committee Chair Sim Galazka, MD, guides the committee's important activities. The full committee is listed here.
Program Committee
The Program Committee plans the Annual Spring Conference, which
serves as a showcase for the latest developments in family medicine
education and research. This work involves setting the education offering through a yearly Call for Papers, organized and performing submission reviews, attended to meeting logistics, serving as conference moderators, and post-conference evaluation. Committee members oversee the planning of the meeting and serve as reviewers for the nearly 600 submission received each year. Program Committee James Tysinger, PhD, ends his term this year after 4 years of dedicated service. The full committee is listed here.
Research Committee
The Research Committee organizes the research offerings at the Annual Spring Conference. Through an annual call for papers, the committee chooses high quality research forums and posters, including a special fellows/residents/students works-in-progress poster session, to showcase each year. The committee also chooses the Best Research Paper Award winner and plans the Research Plenary. The committee promotes continued development
of researchers, research activities, and research support for
family medicine. Some highlights of this year's activities include working with the Group on Teaching Research in Residency on the development of a Family Medicine Research Wiki overseeing a 2-year observational study regarding PCMH teaching
clinical experiences for family medicine clerkship students. The committee's efforts have been led by James Gill, MD, who completes his term as chair after serving 2 years. The full committee is listed here.