Welcome to the STFM Messenger Online
The STFM Messenger is the official news publication of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.
Each month, members with e-mail addresses on file with STFM will receive an e-mail with links to the Messenger's online stories. Members will be also be able to access the Messenger's current issue as well as its archives on the STFM Web site at www.stfm.org/Messenger.
We welcome your feedback on our member newsletter; send your ideas and comments to Traci Nolte, tnolte@stfm.org.
Three New Resources for Teaching Research in Family Medicine
Supporting STFM members who teach residents about research is a high priority for the STFM Research Committee. As a step toward fulfilling that mission, we have created three new resources to help those involved in family medicine research and specifically for those who are teaching about research: (1) a Group on Teaching Research in Family Medicine, (2) a discussion list for the group on FMDRL, and (3) The Family Medicine Research Wiki.
(1) Group on Teaching Research in Residency
The goal of the new Group on Teaching Research in Residency is to support the teaching of research in family medicine residency programs. We hope the group will develop into a community of residency-based investigators and research teachers who can share knowledge, resources, and ideas. Current group chairs are Sandra Burge, PhD and Sally Pyle Weaver, PhD, MD.
There are two steps to joining the STFM Group on Teaching Research in Residency. Make sure you complete both steps to officially join the STFM group, be part of the group discussion forum, and participate in wiki discussion. First, sign up for the STFM group by going to www.STFM.org and clicking on Member Information and then Join a Group. You can sign up for the discussion list and wiki by going to www.fmdrl.org and creating an FMDRL account. During the account creation process you will be asked which groups you want to join. If you already have an FMDRL account, log in and click on “edit groups” from your “My FMDRL” page, then choose Teaching Research in Residency.
(2) The Discussion List for Teaching Research in Family Medicine
The Group on Teaching Research in Residency hosts a discussion list on FMDRL. This is a discussion list for family medicine faculty who conduct research projects or who teach about research. Once you sign up as a group member on FMDRL, post a message to the group through the discussion list introducing yourself. That will help us get the discussion going.
(3) Family Medicine Research Wiki
In addition to the new group, we have created a Family Medicine Research wiki. You might not recognize the term wiki. A wiki is a Web document that is easily editable by a community of users. If you have ever used the Internet encyclopedia at www.wikipedia.org, you have used a wiki. Wikipedia contains a wealth of information on many obscure topics, free to anyone who uses the Internet. All of the content in Wikipedia was contributed by everyday Internet users. You might think that much of the content on Wikipedia would be garbage, but it is surprisingly accurate and remarkably detailed, primarily because the entire Internet user world is keeping it up to date and accurate.
The Family Medicine Research wiki is a shared document and a repository of community wisdom created by and for the users. It is a dynamic document that can be easily edited by anyone who is a member of the Group on Teaching Research in Residency on FMDRL, and the content is available publicly. Because our wiki is new, much of the content is merely an outline, but we already have some useful content contributed by a small group of users. Follow these three steps to use the wiki.
Step 1. Explore the Family Medicine Research Wiki. To find it, go to www.fmdrl.org and search on “research wiki.” For those new to wikis, you might want to start by reading the page called Wiki Info, Help, and FAQ.
Step 2. Contribute to the wiki. Do you have a great resource that you are always handing out or e-mailing to residents about research methods or quality improvement? Put a link to your resource on the appropriate page in the wiki. The Wiki Info, Help, and FAQ page tells you how to do it. Make sure you are logged in to FMDRL so you can see the edit and new buttons at the top of every wiki page. Even if you don’t know much about research, you can contribute. There is a page just for ideas of what you think would be useful additions to the wiki, or you can add a new page describing what your residency does for resident scholarly projects.
Step 3. Put a link to the Family Medicine Research Wiki up on your residency program’s Web site so it is easy for your residents and faculty to find it when they need it. Adding links on your Web site to the wiki also helps search engines like Google find the wiki.
For more information about the STFM Family Medicine Research Wiki, contact Caroline Richardson, PhD, MD, at caroli@umich.edu or Traci Nolte at tnolte@stfm.org.
The STFM Board of Directors met January 26 and 27 in Portland, Ore, in conjunction with the Predoctoral Education Conference, and took the following actions:
• Approved the following as the STFM Core Purpose: “Advancing family medicine to improve health through a community of teachers and scholars.”
• Developed a response to the AAFP Commission on Education outlining suggestions for improving the Expectations of Residency Graduates document.
• Decided to join others from the family in discontinuing our membership to the Primary Care Organizations Consortium.
• Approved the Clerkship Medical Home Initiative proposed by the STFM Research Committee.
• Agreed to have the Executive Committee do an analysis of the STFM Conference on Families and Health and the Behavioral Science Forum, considering financial viability and indirect costs.
• Agreed to develop a general Board member expectations document and job descriptions for individual positions.
• Agreed to explore providing a 1-year membership to non-member fellows who attend conferences.
The meaning of STFM to its many members is embodied in our name, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. The Membership Committee recently surveyed new members of our organization. Our purpose was to understand what it is that draws them to us, so we can be certain to maintain and strengthen those areas in the Society. Our purpose as a committee is to be sure that the work of the Society is meeting the needs of each of you. We learned that the social interaction occurring between people from different departments, residency programs, disciplines, countries, and states is highly valued by everyone. For it is the “Society” in STFM that helps shape ideas, create innovations, develop programs and courses, and advance the work we do in family medicine.
We thrive through our personal connections with each other, connections that are fostered at our meetings, through our communications, and through shared resources and tools. Our Society serves its members as a forum for idea exchange, and in that exchange of ideas we create new and better approaches to teaching and clinical care in family medicine. Thomas Jefferson stated: “The fact is, that one new idea leads to another, that to a third, and so on through the course of time until someone, with whom no one of these ideas was original, combines all together, and produces what is justly called a new invention.” (Thomas Jefferson quoted by Robert Llewellyn, Jefferson's Legacy to Health [University of Virginia School of Medicine, 1992]:37).
The true meaning of our Society, STFM, lies in the people and the sharing of our interests in family medicine. Our Society is a community, and our value lies in our sharing of ideas through our connections with each other. Our collaboration and willingness to work together toward excellence in family medicine education is at the heart of our Society. As a major proponent of education and learning, Mr Jefferson would approve of our Society, and I suspect would join us in our work together to make our world a better and healthier place through our ideas, our teaching, and our clinical care.
Registration to Open March 20 for IMG Entering Resident Academy
STFM’s program to help international medical graduates (IMGs) prepare for their first year of residency has created quite a buzz among IMGs and the family medicine community.
Developed for IMGs who have recently matched with a family medicine residency program, this workshop orients participants to the principles of family medicine and other critical communications skills. This program is an initiative of STFM in response to the Future of Family Medicine (FFM) recommendation related to workforce.
STFM will offer the 2008 Entering Resident Academy May 8–10 in Philadelphia and June 6–8 in Chicago.
STFM will open registration for the workshop on Match Day, March 20. Eligible participants for the May 2008 program include IMGs who have matched with a family medicine residency program and will enter that program in 2008. The class size at each site will be limited to 32 participants. Due to class size limitations, individuals are not eligible for this program if they have not been accepted into a family medicine residency program as a first-year resident beginning July 2008. Registrants will be required to have their residency program director confirm their acceptance into the residency before they are guaranteed a slot in the Academy.
Click here for more details. Contact Stacy Brungardt, CAE, with questions, or call 800-274-2237, ext. 5400.
Congratulations to STFM Ipod Winner!
Harald Lausen, DO, MA, was the winner of our 8G Ipod Nano Giveaway at the Predoctoral Education Conference. To qualify, conference attendees had to upload a resource to STFM’s Family Medicine Digital Resources Library sometime between January 24–31, 2008. Dr Lausen is assistant professor, predoctoral clerkship director, and director of osteopathic medical education at Southern Illinois University.
If you would like to see the resources that have been uploaded from the Predoctoral Education Conference click here or search FMDRL for your topic of interest today. Also, if you have a great resource to show, go to www.fmdrl.org and click on “upload” to start showing it today.
Response to “Fourth-year Rotations: What Do They Add to the Educational Curriculum?”
In his article “Fourth-year Rotations: What Do They Add to the Educational Curriculum?” in the November 2007 STFM Messenger, John Delzell Jr, MD, MSPH, is correct in pointing out that the fourth year of medical school is an opportunity lost for most students. His proposed solutions are valid when one seeks to resolve the issue “inside the box” of a 4-year medical school curriculum. However, the very notion of a 4-year curriculum is worth challenging. Academic leaders like Michael Whitcomb have called for 3-year undergraduate curricula.1 The University of Calgary has experienced success with its 3-year “clinical presentation” curriculum. Our own specialty had led the way this past decade with integrated undergraduate/postgraduate curricula where the fourth year of medical school was combined with the first year of residency, leading to a 6-year pathway to practice.2 Outcomes data suggested success and the moratorium on these programs may be more political than evidence based.
On April 30, 2006, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) was approved to begin offering the 3-year accelerated Primary Care Scholars Pathway, designed to encourage and facilitate careers in primary care. The pathway was modeled after strategies articulated by Schwartz and colleagues to increase medical student choice of generalist careers: (1) improving satisfaction and enthusiasm among generalist physician role models, (2) redoubling medical schools efforts to produce primary care physicians, and (3) facilitating the pathway from medical school to generalist residency.3 By thinking “outside the box,” a 3-year comprehensive curriculum was created. First, by eliminating 2 months of summer vacation, students complete the pre-clinical curriculum in 20 calendar months. Second, by eliminating the elective rotations in the fourth year that Dr Delzell correctly calls into question, and then by refocusing the remaining 16 months of clinical rotations on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed by generalist physicians, the requirements for a full undergraduate education are completed in 36 months. As one example of how clinical rotations have been refocused on primary care, a second month of general surgery has been replaced by a month of ENT)/ophthalmology.
Central to the design of the curriculum is proper student selection (proven academic maturity and a demonstrated commitment to primary care are essential), primary care mentoring by members of LECOM’s Primary Care Education Unit from the first day of the pathway, reduction of tuition and expenses by 25% through provision of a primary care scholarship, and addition of clinical enrichment experiences that reinforce the meaningfulness of a career in primary care throughout the 3 years of the curriculum. The combination of providing ongoing exposure to excellent primary care role models, early and frequent clinical exposure, and a lessening of the debt burden experienced by students are all responsive to published barriers to choosing primary care careers. A full description of the pathway has been published elsewhere.4
To date, six students have enrolled in the first year of the pathway. Approximately two thirds through this year’s recruitment season, almost 30 students have indicated interest in the eight positions to be offered in the coming year. Family medicine can lead the effort toward solving the impending shortage of primary care physicians by continuing to think “outside the box” and challenging the status quo of medical education.
References
1. Whitcomb ME. Who will study medicine in the future? Acad Med 2006;81:205–6.
2. Petrany SM, Crespo R. The accelerated residency program: the Marshall University family practice 9-year experience. Fam Med 2002;34:669–72.
3. Schwartz MD, Basco WT, Grey MR, Elmore JG, Rubenstein A. Rekindling student interest in generalist careers. Ann Intern Med 2005;142:715–24.
4. Bell HS, Ferretti SM, Ortoski RA. A three-year accelerated medical school curriculum designed to encourage and facilitate primary care careers. Acad Med 2007;82:895-9.
Encourage the Next Generation of Family Physicians
The Future of Family Medicine Taskforce would like to help you promote the profession in your offices, institutions, and communities.
Colorful legal-size posters are available for quick, free download (www.fmdrl.org/1572). Available in both vertical and horizontal formats, you can print them off and display them in your high-traffic areas.
STFM is also offering colorful 2”x3” pin-on buttons for you to wear or to give away to the “future family docs” you meet every day. These buttons can be purchased in quantities of 20 buttons for $25. If you are interested in ordering a supply of these buttons, e-mail Mary Ruhl.
New Technology Available—Google Reader
Many of us struggle to keep up with all the information we are interested in that is available on the Internet. We jump from Web site to Web site trying to find what’s new and important to us. Thanks to two technologies, we can now visit one Web page and quickly scan the newest information from all our favorite Web sites.
The first technology is RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication. An RSS feed is just a file created by a Web site producer that includes the latest information published on the Web site. Most Web sites, especially those where content changes often, publish an RSS feed. When the Web site producers add new content, the RSS feed is updated. STFM publishes an RSS feed to alert members to important updates, such as the opening of registration for a conference or the publication of the latest issue of the STFM Messenger.
To take advantage of RSS feeds, you need an RSS feed reader. Google provides a free, easy-to-use tool that can read all the RSS feeds produced by your favorite Web sites. It’s called Google Reader, and you can learn more about it by visiting http://www.google.com/reader.
After you’ve signed into Google Reader, you can add RSS feeds. To add a feed, you’ll need to know the Web address (URL) of the RSS feed. For example, STFM’s RSS feed is at http://www.stfm.org/whatsnew.xml and the AAFP’s News Now RSS feed is at http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now.rss.xml. To add an RSS feed to Google Reader, just click on the Add Subscription link and then paste in or type in the RSS feed’s address.
To find addresses of other RSS feeds that you can add to Google Reader, look for this icon 
or this one 
on the Web page you’re viewing. When you click on that icon, your browser will open a new Web page and display the information contained in the RSS feed. To subscribe to that feed, open Google Reader, click on Add Subscription, and copy the RSS feed’s address (for example http://www.stfm.org/whatsnew.xml) into the text box.
One of Google Reader’s best features is that it will automatically track when your subscribed RSS feeds are updated with new content and show you just the new content items. When you open Google Reader, you can quickly see which RSS feeds have been updated since your last visit, and you can easily read just the updated items. By visiting one Web page, Google Reader, you can find out the latest information from all your favorite Web sites.
Here are some RSS feeds you may want to subscribe to:
Web site and RSS Feed Address |
AAFP News Now |
Family Medicine Digital Resources Library |
American Medical News |
Medical News Today |
Medscape Medical News Headlines |
Medical News Feeds |
Family Medicine Notes—A Blog by STFM member Dr Jacob Reider |
Kevin, MD - Medical Weblog—A Blog by Dr Kevin Pho |
The Healthcare IT Guy |
Medical Education Blog |
Wall Street Journal Health Blog |
Former STFM Leaders Brief Capitol Hill
Earlier this month, the Health Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC) held a briefing on Capitol Hill to showcase the effectiveness of and continued need for funding of Title VII and VIII programs. Speaking to more than 50 Hill staff were STFM Past President Denise Rodgers, MD, and former US Surgeon General and former STFM Board member David Satcher, MD, PhD. Two other speakers were present, one representing nursing programs (Title VIII), and the other was a DO geriatrician.
Drs Satcher and Rodgers made eloquent pleas for more funding for Title VII programs. Dr Satcher discussed how these programs have helped address the needs of the underserved and minority communities. He emphasized that increased support for Title VII programs is critically needed—that continued cuts and reduced funding were hurting our nation’s most vulnerable populations.
Dr Rodgers gave a personal story of how Title VII dollars were meaningful to her through every step in her career. Describing one of her programs developed with Title VII money, and the leverage the Title VII money brought to bear, Dr Rodgers stated, “With a relatively small amount of federal money, we were able to lay the foundation for programs that were subsequently funded by the state and foundations.”
Summing up concerns about Congress’s willingness to increase funding for Title VII, Dr Rodgers stated, “There is an enormous amount of data that states that access to primary care improves health outcomes. It is interesting that we always seem to say that we are evidence based but then we act in stark opposition to the evidence.”
Denise Rodgers, MD, STFM past president, speaks with representatives of the American Dental Education Association and the Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. Also pictured is an intern at the American Association of Osteopathic Colleges of Medicine who just matched with the family medicine residency at Maine-Dartmouth.
Denise Rodgers, MD, and David Satcher, MD, prior to speaking
in support of health professions funding to more than 50 staffers from Capitol Hill.
2008 STFM Annual Spring Conference—Join Us in Baltimore This Spring
The STFM Program and Research committees have developed a program that is sure to motivate you to new levels of achievement as we strive to "Strengthen Core and Stimulate Progress: Assembling Patient-centered Medical Homes." The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) has gained prominence and momentum this past year as a solution for a health system that is recognized as unsustainable in its current form. The PCMH is being advanced by physician and patient organizations, community health systems, health care corporations, health insurance companies, and many business groups, who all support federal legislation to make the PCMH part of the law of the land. Our ship is coming in, we just need to be ready!
The Annual Spring Conference will be held April 30–May 4 in Baltimore. Click here (http://www.stfm.org/annualconf/an08/index.htm) to search for presentations, download a PDF of a brochure or a registration form, and make hotel reservations.
Hotel Accommodations
Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, 700 Aliceanna Street, Baltimore, MD 21202. Reservations: 888-511-7809. Online Reservations: http://marriott.com/bwiwf?groupCode=stfstfa&app=resvlink. Conference hotel rates are $185 single/double (plus tax). Reservation deadline is April 9, 2008. Be sure to request the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine group rate when making your reservations.
Are you a first-time attendee or a new STFM member?
The New Member/Attendee Orientation will be held Wednesday, April 30 from 6–7 pm. During this informative session, you will learn about STFM as an organization and also get introduced to the ins and outs of the Annual Spring Conference. You will interact in small groups with seasoned members and other new members.
Exhibits
The Exhibitor Prospectus for the Annual Spring Conference is now online (www.stfm.org/calendar/annualconferencecalendar.cfm). For more information about exhibiting your program at the conference, contact Priscilla Noland at 800-274-2237, ext. 5410, or pnoland@stfm.org.
For complete information on the Annual Spring Conference, go to http://www.stfm.org/annualconf/an08/index.htm.
Plan on Attending Your Group Meeting at the Annual Spring Conference
Listed below are the group meetings and Common Interest Breakfasts scheduled to date at the 2008 Annual Spring Conference. Join your colleagues who share your common interests!
Common Interest Breakfasts—Thursday, May 1, 7–8:15 am
Abortion Access and Training
Adolescent Health Care
Behavioral Science
Community Medicine
Disabilities
Faculty Development
Family-centered Perinatal Care
Family in Family Medicine
Genetics
Health Policy and Access
Hispanic Faculty/Latino Faculty
Hospital Medicine and Procedural Training
Integrative Medicine
Learner Portfolios
Oral Health
Osteopathic Family Medicine
Physician-Patient Interaction
Rural Health
Spirituality
Violence Education and Prevention
Women in Family Medicine
Group Meetings—Friday, May 2, 5:45–6:45 pm
Abortion Access and Training
Adolescent Health Care
Behavioral Science
Community Medicine
Ethics and Humanities
Evidence-based Medicine
Faculty Development
Family-centered Perinatal Care
Family in Family Medicine
Geriatrics
Health Policy and Access
Hispanic Faculty/Latino Faculty
Integrative Medicine
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Health
New Faculty in Family Medicine
Online Cases
Pharmacotherapy
Primary Care Sports Medicine
Rural Health
Spirituality
Teaching Research in Residency
Women in Family Medicine
Group Meetings—Saturday, May 3, 12:30–1:30 pm
Abortion Access and Training
Adolescent Health Care
Community Medicine
Education Professionals in Family Medicine
Evidence-based Medicine
Faculty Development
Family-centered Perinatal Care
Hispanic Faculty/Latino Faculty
Hospital Medicine and Procedural Training
Integrative Medicine
Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Health
Osteopathic Family Medicine
Patient Education
Rural Health
Violence Education and Prevention
Women in Family Medicine
Absentee Ballots for Upcoming STFM Officer Elections
STFM members who will not be attending the Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore may request absentee ballots to vote for the following Board positions: president-elect, secretary-treasurer, and member-at-large. Eligible voters include all active full-time faculty physicians and active full-time nonphysician members whose dues are current. To be counted in this year’s election, absentee ballots must reach the STFM office no later than April 23. Requests for absentee ballots must be made in writing and sent to STFM, 11400 Tomahawk Creek Parkway, Leawood, KS 66211. Requests may be faxed to 913-906-6096 or e-mailed to mruhl@stfm.org. Completed ballots must be signed by the eligible member and can be returned to STFM via fax. Click here to view a PDF of all candidates’ biosketches and position statements.
The following conferences are now accepting submissions. Consider submitting today.
Conference on Practice Improvement
Submissions can now be entered online for the Conference on Practice Improvement, to be held December 4–7, 2008, in Savannah, Ga. The conference theme is “Blueprint for the Medical Home.” The submission deadline is March 10, 2008. The direct Web URL is http://www.stfm.org/stfmpresenter/submission/start.cfm?confid=152.
Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine
Online submissions are requested for the Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine, to be held September 25–28, 2008, in Chicago. The theme for 2008 is “Integrating and Expanding Behavioral Science in the New Medical Home.” We invite proposals that will show how behavioral science concepts and skills are essential to building the medical home and proposals that expand the role of the behavioral sciences and behavioral scientists in the medical home. To submit, go to http://www.stfm.org/stfmpresenter/submission/start.cfm?confid=153. Submission deadline is March 21, 2008.
Annual Spring Conference—April 30–May 4, 2008, Baltimore
Faculty Development Series—April 30, 2008. Workshop I: Teaching and Learning Skills (in conjunction with the Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore)
Faculty Development Series—April 30, 2008. Workshop VIII: Making the Case for Cultural Proficiency: A Workshop for Medical Educators (in conjunction with the Annual Spring Conference in Baltimore)
Entering Resident Academy—May 8–10, Philadelphia
Family Medicine Congressional Conference—May 19–20, 2008, Washington, DC.
Entering Resident Academy—June 6–8, Chicago
Forum for Behavioral Science in Family Medicine—September 24-28, 2008, Chicago
Faculty Development Series—Training for the Patient-centered Medical Home: Integrating Practice Redesign Into the Residency Curriculum. October 25, 2008, Columbia, SC.
Conference on Practice Improvement—December 4–7, 2008, Savannah, Ga
Do You Have an Open Position to Fill? Consider STFM’s Positions and Opportunities Book
STFM will publish its annual Positions and Opportunities Book for distribution with conference materials at the Annual Spring Conference April 30–May 4, 2008, in Baltimore. This publication will be a valuable, organized reference to current opportunities in family medicine education.
Programs and institutions with positions available should submit copy to Family Medicine Classifieds, c/o Russell Johns Associates, PO Box 1510, Clearwater, FL 33757-1510. E-mail: familymedicine@medical-admart.com. 800-237-7027. Fax: 727-445-9380. When you send in your ad, be sure to note that the ad is being submitted for the STFM Positions and Opportunities Book.
Increase your ad exposure and take advantage of our special combination pricing. For more information on placing your ad, contact Susan Deakins, Russell Johns Associates, at 800-237-7027. Overnight delivery: 1001 S. Myrtle Avenue, Suite 7, Clearwater, FL 33756-3930.
Click here to see full pricing information for the Spring 2008 Positions and Opportunities Book.
Kudos
After the recent Association of Departments of Family Medicine elections, Jeff Borkan, MD, PhD, Brown University, was elected as president-elect and Carlos Jaen, MD, PhD, University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio, was elected as member at large.
New Members
| Alaska | North Dakota |
| Jill Gaskill, MD | Richard Vari, PhD |
| California | Oregon |
| Julie Rayhanabad, MA | Kenneth Dudley, PhD |
| Amanda Rissen, MD | |
| District of Columbia | |
| Ranit Mishori, MD, MHS | Pennsylvania |
| Beth Careyva | |
| Florida | Richa Goyal, MD |
| Elizabeth Lawrence, MD | |
| Izabela Riffe | South Carolina |
| Robert Post II, MD | |
| Georgia | |
| Paula Gregory, DO | Texas |
| Owen Capocyan, MD | |
| Idaho | Ranjitha Gampala, MD |
| Rob Rutherford, MD | Jerry Kirkland, MD |
| Illinois | Utah |
| Elham Yousef, MD | Theodore Paisley, MD |
| Indiana | Virginia |
| Sagi Mathew, MD | Uma Jayaraman, MD |
| Stacie Otey-Scott, PsyD | |
| Louisiana | |
| Coleman Pratt, MD | Washington |
| Sarat Raman, MD | Robert Keys, MA |
| Bradley Touchet | |
| Wisconsin | |
| Michigan | Linda Cohn |
| Jared Skillings, PhD | Mark Robinson, DO |
| New York | |
| Elizabeth Natal, MD | |
| North Carolina | |
| Hayam Skaker, MD | |
| Nancy Weigle, MD |
Dana Greco Passes CAE Certification
The Society is pleased to share the news that Dana Greco, CAE, STFM chief financial officer, is now a Certified Association Executive. The American Society of Association Executives CAE program designates those who have completed the higher education, work experience, and professional development studies identified as essential to the chief staff executive role. Every CAE has passed a rigorous examination on the tasks necessary for competent association management and has committed to ongoing studies to remain abreast of current practices in association management.
Dana is among an elite group of 3,607 association executives who have obtained this status. The ASAE membership has 22,000 members and is the membership organization and voice of the association profession. ASAE serves approximately 10,000 associations that represent more than 287 million people and organizations worldwide.
Congratulations, Dana. We are proud of you!
New Faculty Scholars and Group Project Fund Winners Announced
The STFM Foundation Trustees have selected six New Faculty Scholars for 2008, representing both medical schools and residency programs. This brings the number of STFM members funded to attend the STFM Annual Spring Conference under this program to 90.
The 2008 New Faculty Scholars are:
Rolf Montalvo Chen, MD, University of Texas-Houston
Corey Lyon, DO, Research Family Medicine Residency, Kansas City, Mo
Michael Park, MD, University of Colorado Rose Family Medicine Residency, Denver
Mari Ricker, MD, Providence Milwaukie Family Medicine Residency, Milwaukie, Ore
Joseph Gibes, MD, Northwestern University, Chicago
Michelle Roett, MD, MPH, Georgetown University-Providence Hospital Residency, Washington, DC
As I have previously reported, in 2007 the STFM Foundation Trustees committed 50% of the net undesignated revenue from the Annual Giving Campaign to the new Group Project Fund. That amounted to $30,000 from the 2007 campaign. The STFM Executive Committee administers the fund, and in late January they selected four STFM groups to receive the first awards. The total amount funded was $29,780 and will be distributed to the following groups for the projects they proposed:
PROJECT: Adolescent Health for Primary Care: Development of a Web-based, Comprehensive, Competency-based Curriculum
The project will: (1) develop, implement, and evaluate a curricular instruction plan, (2) develop, implement, and maintain a peer-reviewed database of adolescent-related teaching resources through a link to STFM’s Family Medicine Digital Resources Library, and (3) house the curriculum on the Web to maximize access.
STFM Group: Adolescent Health—Francesco Leanza, MD, Beth Israel Residency Program in Urban Family Health, New York, NY, principal investigator
Award: $10,000 over 2 years
PROJECT: Overcoming Obstacles to Writing for Family Medicine Educators
This project will conduct four writing workshops, which are open to STFM members, but will have a particular emphasis on recruiting junior, women, Hispanic, and minority faculty participants. These workshops are designed to support minority faculty, enhance their ability to recruit others to the field, and build capacity for research through strengthening writing ability.
STFM Group: Minority and Multicultural Health—Lucy Candib, MD, Family Health Center of Worcester, Worcester, Mass, principal investigator
Award: $10,000 over 2 years
PROJECT: Teaching E-mail Communication in a Residency Program
This project will develop a curriculum to teach residents how best to communicate via e-mail with patients while guarding patient confidentiality, safety, and imparting appropriate information in a suitable time to the correct recipient.
STFM Group: Information Technology—Heather Paladine, MD, University of Southern California Family Medicine Residency, principal investigator
Award: $4,780 over 2 years
PROJECT: Outgoing Third-year Family Medicine Resident Satisfaction
This project will create and offer to all US and Canadian family medicine residency programs a confidential, objective, self-report questionnaire that will be administered online to graduating third-year residents as a part of the exit interview process.
STFM Group: Behavioral Science—Timothy Spruill, EdD, Florida Hospital East Orlando, Orlando, Fla, principal investigator
Award: $5,000 over 2 years
Progress reports are due August 1 and will be highlighted in the September STFM Messenger. Thanks again to all of you whose support in 2007 made this new program to support STFM groups possible.