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STFM 37th Annual Conference 2004
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Dear Colleagues,
The theme of this conference, "New Times, New Solutions: Reflecting, Redefining, Reemerging," is meant to capture the need for creatively designing new approaches to our future that are based upon a clear understanding of how we got to our current position and how we’ll transition to a new course. Knowing how to change and when to change is difficult for a large organization. We need to explore new directions if we are to thrive in the coming decades.
These are difficult times for family medicine. On an individual basis, our patients value our work, but there has been a continued lack of recognition of the value of our work by the government, insurance companies, industry, medical schools, and academic health centers. Federal funding for the training of family physicians continues to be threatened. Student interest in family medicine has continued to drop.
If we are to recruit the best and the brightest into our specialty, we need to develop exciting and financially viable practice models that utilize the latest technology and evidence-based approaches for improving the health of our patients, their families, and our communities. Students must see models of excellence in our teaching, in our patient care, and in our research. We must build upon student interests in social well being and in social justice.
Our academic departments and training programs need to develop new alliances and develop new sources of financial support. Only if we can model excellence in our work will we attract students to our discipline. Our students will follow us only if they are sure we know where we are going.
I believe academic family medicine is poised to take on the challenges of the current times. We need to work together and share ideas that work and together create our new environment.
I am glad that we are finally meeting in this wonderful city of Toronto for our Annual Spring Conference. The Program Committee has done a great job in organizing a fabulous meeting with excellent plenary speakers, theme days, special sessions, workshops, and presentations.
The annual STFM meeting is known to recharge us personally with new ideas, new colleagues and new directions. I hope that collectively, we recharge academic family medicine as we move into a future full of hope and promise for our discipline and for the practice of medicine in this country.
Carlos Moreno, MD, MSPH
STFM President