Board Reports

Executive Director's Report

Roger Sherwood, CAE

It’s Annual Report time again (my 24th one), and my approach this year is to make this report a chronologic reflection of what has happened in the last year.

In April 2004, we got back into our regular cycle with the Annual Spring Conference in Toronto. We attracted nearly 900 paid registrants to our Toronto meeting, versus 800 participants in Atlanta the previous September. It featured many excellent presentations by STFM members and was evaluated highly by participants. The Legislative Affairs Committee participated in the Annual Spring Hill Visits. The Academic Family Medicine Advocacy Alliance (STFM’s Washington office) partnered with the AAFP Washington office to coordinate the event.

May was a bit of a quiet month but still found presentations from the meeting being uploaded by the presenters and evaluations from the meeting being sent to presenters and analyzed at the STFM offices.

Early June marked the annual conference for residency directors in Kansas City, and once again, Hope Wittenberg played a role by presenting legislative updates at the meeting.

In July, STFM was involved in the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students. We sponsored a booth at the meeting, and the STFM Board had its annual July meeting. At that meeting, Board members focused on the relationship of the STFM Strategic Plan to the Future of Family Medicine report and STFM’s responsibility for implementing strategic initiative #8—Promoting a Sufficient Family Medicine Workforce.

In August, the president, past president, and I traveled to the meeting of the Family Medicine Working Party and AFMO Steering Committee in Baltimore, where much of the discussion focused on the implementation of the future of the FFM Strategic Initiatives.

In late September, STFM, partnering with the Medical College of Wisconsin, hosted the annual Forum for Behavioral Science. Attendance at this meeting was 50% higher than the previous year, when the meeting was positioned right against the rescheduled STFM annual meeting. There were 125 participants, stimulating plenary sessions, and excellent presentations.

On September 30, the Family Medicine Digital Resource Library (FMDRL) began its official work under a 3-year grant from the National Library of Medicine. The project leader, Jacob Reider, MD, who also chairs the STFM Communications Committee, began to lay the groundwork and to acquire the technology necessary to support this project.

October was a busy month for STFM. We participated in the triennial Wonca World Conference in Orlando, as well as the AAFP Annual Scientific Session. There were presentations at the Wonca meeting by many STFM members, and STFM convened a meeting of STFM-like organizations from around the world. Additionally, the International Committee held a special session at the Wonca meeting. We staffed our booth at the AAFP Scientific Assembly, and many STFM members participated in the meeting as presenters and learners. At the same time, the NAPCRG meeting was held just down the street from the Academy meeting in Orlando. At that meeting, a presentation was delivered on ethics in research, which was part of the AAMC-ORI Grant received by STFM earlier in the year. On October 26, the Family Medicine Curriculum Resource Project submitted its final report to the federal government and completed its work. The electronic version of the resource document will become a part of the FMDRL.

In early November, the Board met at the AAMC meeting in Boston. At that meeting, the Academic Family Medicine Fall Session featured “The Continuum of Lifelong Learning and Practice Improvement.” The Patient Education Conference was held in San Francisco in mid-November. Attendance was down a bit from the previous year, and two of the three plenary speakers cancelled due to labor disputes in San Francisco. However, the highlight of the conference was a plenary presentation given by comedian Jerry Lewis on chronic pain. On November 20, STFM held its first stand-alone Faculty Development Series Session in Chicago, drawing 45 participants, which made this a very successful venture. A local planning committee headed by Board Member-at-Large Janice Benson did a great job in hosting the session.

December was a bit of a quiet month, and the dedicated STFM staff took a well-deserved holiday break between Christmas and New Years.

January began with a bang, however, as the president, president-elect, and executive director attended the Working Party, AFMO Steering Committee, and RAP Project Board meetings in Las Vegas, Nev. The following weekend, the STFM Predoctoral Education Conference was held in Albuquerque, NM. Attendance for the meeting was strong, and there were excellent plenary presentations on the future of family medicine. The Group on Predoctoral Education had a stimulating preconference session on the future of family medicine and predoctoral education.

February marked the 25th anniversary of the STFM Conference on Families and Health. This meeting also focused on FFM and the role of the family in the new model of family medicine. Participants celebrated the 25th anniversary, and attendance was up for the meeting. At the February Board meeting at the conference, we presented the 2004 financial results. While STFM still had red ink on the bottom line, we were happy to report that the red ink was half of what we’d experienced the year before. I reported on the measures being taken to reduce expenses and increase income, and our efforts are paying off. We’re headed in the right direction.

March was a busy month for the STFM staff as preparation intensified for the coming Annual Spring Conference. The president and executive director met with officials from the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians to discuss ways in which the two organizations might work more closely together in enhancing family medicine education in osteopathic schools and residency programs. Also in March, the Steering Committee and several consultants for the FMDRL Project gathered in San Antonio, Tex, to continue work on constructing this digital resource library to be of maximum benefit to STFM members.

In April the cycle starts all over again with the 38th Annual Spring Conference in New Orleans. We’re watching registrations closely, we’ve already filled the hotel, and we are anticipating another great meeting.

It has been a mixed year. Membership was down from the previous year, but the good news is that it has started to turn up in 2005. Similarly, meeting attendance has improved for the two meetings held early this year. There are a lot of good signs out there, and we’re working to capitalize on what appears to be an improved climate.

I’d like to pay tribute to the committed volunteers who make this organization so vibrant. At the same time, I would like to thank and recognize staff who not only show up for work every day but truly care about what happens to this organization and its members. It’s a blessing to be part of this wonderful organization.