STFM 38th Annual Conference 2005 STFM Candidates Position Statements

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President-Elect

Michael P. Rosenthal, MD
Thomas Jefferson University

Throughout my professional career, I’ve consistently dedicated my efforts to building models of medical education and clinical care that incorporate family medicine principles in the context of individuals, families, and communities, especially for those who are underserved.

My current roles and past experiences include a variety of activities that have prepared me well for the position of STFM president-elect. I am vice-chair of Academic Programs in the Department of Family Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. From 1994 to 2004, I directed our Department’s Section of Community Health, and I currently direct our Community Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) program.

I am medical school director for our regional AHEC, and I’ve been involved in several regional and national medical education projects. In addition, I was the lead cochair of a task force that successfully remodeled the Jefferson first-year curriculum and led to significant, ongoing educational reform.

My research interests have included medical student specialty choice, medical education, and the primary care of chronic disease. Current academic interests center on developing innovative community-based programs and investigating new approaches to care for those with chronic illness from diverse populations. I am cochair of Philadelphia Allies Against Asthma, a member of the national Allies evaluation group, and vice president of the Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania, a community-based organization that builds community health programs.

For the past 20 years, I’ve been an active and productive member of STFM. Since 1989, I’ve been a key contributor to the development of the STFM Northeast Regional Meeting. I am now senior advisor to the Northeast Regional Meeting.

Nationally, I’ve been a member of the Editorial Board of Family Medicine. I served 4 years as an STFM Communications Committee member and then another 4 years as Communications Committee chair and member of the Board of Directors. In those roles, I have worked to influence the academic visibility, productivity, and accomplishments of our Society and to increasingly enhance our integration, publications, and information exchange. I am now cochair of the STFM Group on Pain Management and Palliative Care.

My wife, Joanne, was formerly our Department’s home visit nurse coordinator, and she is now Jefferson’s acting university counsel. We have two children, Sam (18) and Casey (15).

Position Statement

STFM is a unique organization. We represent a spectrum of talented, energetic members who strive to build a better world and take our mission of “improving the health of all people” to heart.

We possess talent and insight, and we are well-positioned to influence family medicine and health system reform. However, we face challenges that parallel those of our specialty. How do we define ourselves? How do we communicate our message? How do we implement innovative approaches to medical education, research, and care? How do we channel our collective energy to produce effective, important, broad-based change?

The Future of Family Medicine project takes a first, giant step toward transformation. The “future” of family medicine, however, is now. Can we envision its true meaning? Can we blend perspectives, efforts, and organizations to give it life? What is STFM’s role?

My strengths include the ability to identify contributions from various sources, to negotiate differing viewpoints, and to find creative, collaborative solutions to complex problems. My passion is to see the synergistic benefit of that work.

I see two critical goals for STFM. The first, to discover the best we have to offer. Through faculty development, mentoring, recruitment of new learners, and enhancement of primary care knowledge, we will foster an academic spirit that will produce a more cohesive, supportive, and influential organization.

The second, to utilize the collective strengths, values, and vitality of our membership to serve as a collaborative force among all family medicine organizations to bring about real change. We must: (1) build on our generalist heritage to advance patient-centered, trusted, coordinated primary care, (2) lead through example, investigation, publication, and evidence; and (3) invigorate our specialty, extend our reach, and demonstrate our critically important role as a partner in redesigning the current fragmented, inequitable, and imbalanced system of care.

We can build a “New Model” of health care, and family medicine will be central to it. As a Society with diverse, dedicated, and dynamic individuals, we represent a microcosm of the health care community. This places us in an advantageous position to promote the establishment of an improved, integrated, and effective health care system, fair and accessible to all.

I look forward to using my experience, energy, and perspective to lead STFM to a stronger place in serving family medicine and society. I appreciate your support and would be honored to represent you as president-elect.

President-Elect

Caryl J. Heaton, DO
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School

In the 20 years since my first STFM meeting I have learned most about what I know of teaching, leadership, and service in family medicine from my colleagues here at the Society.

I received my medical degree from the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Michigan State University and did my residency at Ohio State University. I was junior faculty there and at the University of Michigan. In 1991, I took the position of predoctoral director at UMDNJ in Newark, NJ. In rapid succession, we developed a third-year clerkship and a first-year longitudinal preclinical course.

I joined the Membership Committee of STFM in 1994 and was appointed chair in 1997. I served on the STFM Board of Directors from that year until 2002. In that time, the Membership Committee worked to establish The Teaching Physician newsletter, for which I still serve as editor. I have been a leader for multiple groups of STFM, and I have served on the advisory committee for the Genetics in Primary Care Initiative and the Family Medicine Curriculum Resource project. My current research interests are quality improvement for chronic disease and use of the family history for improved patient care.

In 2001 I became the residency director at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and gained new insight into the demands of residency education. I am currently the vice chair of the Department of Family Medicine at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and am finishing my term as president of the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians.

I have been extremely fortunate to work at almost every medical job there can be in a family medicine department. I am partnered and centered in life with my husband, Stephen, and I am happily challenged by the energy of my two teenage sons, David and Andrew.

Position Statement

I appreciate the honor of this nomination and the fact that it comes with an opportunity to make my position public regarding the Society.

The leadership of the Society should be fiscally responsible, increase the ways that STFM groups interact, and examine our journal and meeting structure to ensure that faculty at all levels, including preceptors and residency faculty, find them compelling and useful.

STFM must be a clear and urgent voice for the New Model of Care, as described in the Future of Family Medicine (FFM) report. This model is a call that should inspire and ignite every meeting of this Society.

We must expand our research and educational focus to build a foundation on which quality becomes an inevitable characteristic of family medicine. It is crucial that we continue to promote the use of technology and evidence-based practice. But while the best care may depend on technology, our immediate goal should be the study, practice, and teaching of the New Model.

STFM must continue to commit itself to equity and access in health care. We should realize that the strength and wisdom of our members translates into enormous power. Our role as primary care doctors gives us a window on the true state of American health care. The Society must be a forum for productive discussions of how to systemically improve it.

Above all, I believe we must hold fast to the principles that inspired us to become teachers of family medicine: a commitment to healthy families and communities, a belief that patients are more than the sum of their labs and their complaints, and a reverence for the bonds we are privileged to forge with our patients. I would be honored to serve the organization in any way I can. I ask for your support as president-elect.

CAS Representative

Susan E. Skochelak, MD, MPH
University of Wisconsin

I am currently the senior associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. As the senior academic officer, I have broad responsibilities for admissions, curriculum and faculty development, student assessment, program evaluation, accreditation standards, and affiliated clinical campuses. I am a tenured professor in our Department of Family Medicine and work as a family physician in a teaching clinic, which keeps me focused on the reality of medical practice in today’s world.

Over the past 15 years, I developed new programs at all levels of training in medical education, including three major innovations in medical student curriculum: a required 8-week primary care clerkship, a preclinical Generalist Partners Program, and a core curriculum for the clinical years that teaches fundamentals of medical practice management. The University of Wisconsin was one of only two medical schools to be fully awarded both the Interdisciplinary Generalist Curriculum and the Undergraduate Medical Education for the 21st Century demonstration grants to implement these last two programs.

I have been an active member of STFM since I was elected as the national resident representative to the STFM Board of Directors in 1982. Throughout my academic career, I have presented seminars, theme days, and workshops at STFM national and regional meetings and at the national Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) meetings. Within STFM, I have served on the Education Committee, the Group on Predoctoral Education, the Preceptor Education Project, and as the AAMC representative to the Family Medicine Curriculum Resources Project. I have served on a number of regional and national AAMC committees and projects. I was pleased to receive the STFM Innovative Program Award in 1997.

My husband, Michael Fleming, and I enjoy biking, skiing, traveling, and creating stained glass projects. We are recent converts to story-telling festivals. We have three children and two grandchildren – and are still waiting for our first next-generation doctor in the family.

Position Statement

How ironic—at a time when family medicine is excelling academically in education, research, and leadership—our discipline is challenged to prove its value to the academic community, policy makers, and students preparing for careers in health care.

Why is it important for STFM to have strong leadership at the Council of Academic Societies (CAS)? The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is comprised of three governing councils: the Council of Deans, the Council of Teaching Hospitals, and the CAS. The AAMC Web site states: “The CAS is a powerful forum for discussing and exchanging information … and for recommending policy initiatives to the AAMC.” In recent years, the AAMC has shifted emphasis and moved away from policies that enhance family medicine and primary care education and research. STFM is one of six family medicine
organizations represented on the CAS, and collectively we have an opportunity to voice our common values to the AAMC at a time of significant leadership change.

As a leader in academic medicine, I have implemented multidisciplinary programs with various specialties in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, health professions, and behavioral and social sciences. I know how to bring various constituencies together and build bridges that enhance the strengths that each contributes. Always, the values of high-quality patient-centered care, excellence in education and research, and an equitable, accessible health care system remain at the core of my work. These core values are shared across the family medicine member organizations of the CAS.

As the STFM CAS representative, I will work to keep the STFM Board and membership informed of policy considerations before the CAS and the AAMC and to advocate strongly for family medicine core values within the CAS and the AAMC. I would be honored to serve the organization and discipline that has given so much to me.

CAS Representative

Charles P. Mouton, MD, MS
Howard University

I have spent my academic career dedicated to training clinicians to provide excellent care to the underserved. Solving health problems affecting the underserved community is important to me. Solutions to these health problems require a cadre of competent, compassionate family physicians. STFM is the organization positioned to ensure that competent physicians are available for the coming generations.

Growing up in New Orleans a few blocks from the Magnolia Housing Project, I saw both good health care delivery and the problems of poor health care delivery. This experience led me to pursue my medical education at Howard University. Following medical, residency, and fellowship training, I had the unique opportunity to join a new department at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. At UMDNJ, I became research director for the department and medical director for a local community development organization—New Community Corporation. While at UMDNJ, I decided to enhance my research skills and completed an MS at the Harvard School of Public Health. Afterward, I joined the faculty of University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. During my tenure, I served as associate chief of the Division of Community Geriatrics, director of Postgraduate Geriatric Education, director of Nursing Home Services, and associate director of the Research Division. In addition, I was codirector of the Center on Violence Prevention. Recently, I was returned to my alma mater to head the Department of Community Health and Family Practice.

Throughout these 15 years, I have been an active STFM member. At my first STFM meeting, I was a New Faculty Scholar Awardee. I subsequently served as cochair of the Group on Minority Health and served on both the Membership Committee and the Ad-Hoc Committee on Faculty Recruitment. I currently serve on the Editorial Board of Family Medicine.

My wife Yvette is an attorney, and we have two teenage sons, Charles and Aaron.

Position Statement

STFM’s mission is to improve “the health of all people through education, research, patient care, and advocacy.” We have been effective in addressing this goal in a variety of ways, but we now face challenges with the ever-changing landscape of academic medicine.

The Future of Family Medicine project has attempted to define a new model of family medicine. Understanding and implementing this model in the academic medical environment will build on past success. But on some fronts, establishing the value of the discipline and role of this new model will prove illusory. Perhaps, we may be looking to the wrong constituencies. Should our voice echo the health concerns of the communities we serve?

Family medicine educators need to train clinicians to function in a variety of environments. But this training must include developing a commitment to the community that they serve. In a rural community, the family doc is the focal point (or should be) of the community’s health. In an urban community, family docs provide the best hope for comprehensive, continuous care. STFM must provide the vision for how health care should be delivered in an array of settings. Moreover, STFM must continue to lead the academic medical community on the correct path to improving the health of all people.

As your CAS representative, I will express the vision of STFM to our other academic partners. I will advocate for STFM’s role in assuring that academic health centers train physicians in the core values important to the health of the community. In representing STFM, I will advocate for patient, family, and community-centered care as part of the core values of family medicine. I ask for your support to be your representative to CAS. It would be an honor to join the leadership of STFM at this time of change.

Member-at-Large

Kim Marvel, PhD
Fort Collins Family Medicine,
Fort Collins, Colo

The majority of my professional life has been involved in education. In these varied experiences, I’ve learned a great deal from those that I taught. As a VISTA volunteer, I taught indigent families hands-on house construction skills while learning about the true value of extended family systems. While teaching psychology courses at American Samoa Community College, I learned that teaching is more than simply presenting information, and I learned the importance of cultural humility. My experience as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Vienna reinforced relationship-centered teaching—students in all settings want to be active participants in their learning. Over the last 17 years in family medicine, I have learned from residents and patients that creating partnerships is the most effective way to teach about the psychosocial aspects of family medicine.

The faculty and residents at the University of Wisconsin’s Wausau Residency Program introduced me to family medicine education. I joined the Fort Collins Residency Program in 1993 as the behavioral science director. In my current position as educational associate director, I coordinate faculty development, evaluation, research, resident recruitment, and grant writing while providing teaching and patient care. A particular area of research interest is the patient-physician relationship.

STFM has been the major source of my professional development. The Annual Spring Conference, Behavioral Science Forum, and Conference on Families and Health have provided innovative teaching approaches, research ideas, and enriching professional and personal relationships. I served 4 years on the Program Committee, 2 years as chair of the Patient-Physician Interaction Group, and have been a longstanding member of three groups.

My wife, Connie, is an elementary school teacher. We have two sons at CSU. As outdoors enthusiasts, we’ve nearly completed our goal of climbing Colorado’s 54 peaks over 14,000-feet elevation.

Position Statement

An important function of our professional organization is maintaining our tradition of excellent faculty development. Through our conferences, our journal, and networking opportunities, members are able to expand their professional development as educators and scholars. STFM is a leader in faculty development. It’s what we do best. As a member-at-large, I will advocate continued support of professional development efforts.

A second function of our organization is to take a leading role in the future of family medicine. Diverse issues face family medicine: recruitment of students, access to health care by the underserved, recognition of the specialty by consumers, and expansion of scholarly activity within the discipline. STFM should work to implement the outcomes articulated in the Future of Family Medicine project. It is also vital that we continue to advocate for federal appropriations for family medicine training programs.

I will bring to the Board the perspective of a faculty member working in a community-based residency program. Community-based programs face unique challenges such as limited resources for research and faculty development. As a researcher, I will be a strong supporter of scholarly activity in family medicine. I will approach the role as a learner. While both advocacy and inquiry are needed for groups to be effective, the role of inquiry is important to assure that all viewpoints are heard and understood. An important role of the member-at-large is to hear membership concerns and communicate them accurately to the Board.

In summary, as a member-at-large I will work to maintain our deep commitment to excellence in professional development and support work of the future of the discipline of family medicine. I will strive to communicate effectively with working groups to ensure that all voices are heard within our organization.

It is a honor to be nominated to the Board. I would appreciate your support.

Member-at-Large

Nancy J. Baker, MD
University of Minnesota

I have the privilege of being a second generation family physician teacher. I grew up in a rural community in northern Illinois where for more than 20 years my Dad practiced family medicine. In the mid 1960s we moved to Columbia, Mo, where he helped found the Department of Family and Community Medicine. I attended St. Olaf College, the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, and did my residency training at St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center in St. Paul.

Upon completion of residency, I joined the teaching faculty at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill, where I was affiliated with the University of Illinois. Three years later, I returned to Minnesota to become faculty at Ramsey Family Medicine. While there, my teaching and research efforts were primarily focused on adolescent and maternity care, community health, and screening and intervention for intimate interpersonal violence.

For the past 4 years, I’ve been faculty at Smiley ’s Clinic, one of the core residency sites for the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) at the University of Minnesota. I also serve as the director of Community Health for the DFMCH and am a master tutor in the medical school.

Over the years, I’ve held a number of leadership positions within organized medicine, including chair of the AAFP Committee on Women, membership on the AAFP Commission on Special Constituencies, the AAFP New Physicians Committee, and am currently on the AAFP Commission on Education. I had the pleasure of serving on the STFM Program Committee from 1999–2003 and have been active in the STFM Group on Ethics and Humanities and Group on Community Health.

My husband, Dan, and I spend as much of our free time as possible canoeing with friends and family in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of northern Minnesota.

Position Statement

The Future of Family Medicine project has given us a clear template for action. Four core concepts I’m especially passionate about are (1) a team approach to care, (2) the utilization of advanced information systems, (3) providing patient care within the context of community, and (4) an emphasis on quality and safety. As teachers of the next generation of family physicians, I think it’s imperative that we model our skill and commitment to doing each of these well.

Soon we will be expected to demonstrate our success at implementing the ACGME core competencies within our curricula. This means not only changing objectives language and our educational methods; it means changing the means by which we evaluate our efficacy as teachers. Are we, in fact, successful at teaching students and residents how to deliver community-responsive, culturally sensitive, comprehensive primary care? If the answer is “yes,” then we must share our insights with our colleagues in other medical subspecialties; if the answer is “no,” we need to change the way we do our work, if not the very nature of our work.

As I prepare to complete an 18-month study at the Physician Leadership College within the University of St. Thomas, I also see a need for leadership development among learners and colleagues. Our unique training and patient care skills equip us to be masters at working collaboratively within diverse organizations to achieve adaptive, rather than technical, solutions to complex issues. The better grounded we are, as educators, in health care finance, business ethics, strategic planning, and the use of information technology to improve health, quality, and safety procedures, the better we can represent our discipline in a variety of local, state, and national deliberations.

I’d be honored to serve as your member-at-large on the STFM Board of Directors.

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