President's Message

Dear Colleagues:

Within each of us resides a certain feeling that defines what this remarkable discipline of family medicine means to us. It is a good feeling. It is one that we share with each other, and it is a feeling that transcends many of our individual differences. Such feelings reflect an unspoken agreement on certain shared values. Those values, which form the core of family medicine’s identity, will remain forever. Yet, how we act upon those values is, and must always be, a work in progress. Health care and medical education are changing in ways that many of us never imagined. Our challenge, in the midst of these changes, is to find new and better ways to meet our patients’ and learners’ needs. I invite you to bring your imagination, your ideas, and your questions to Denver this spring. Please be willing to take a risk and share with the rest of us your best thoughts regarding those strategic actions that you think will preserve the core values of our discipline. Together we can use our time in Denver to discover new and practical ways of acting on the idealism that ignites our love for the work we do.

—Stephen P. Bogdewic, PhD
STFM President