The Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) was recently recognized by the American Academy of Family Physicians as one of 19 medical school Family Medicine Interest Groups (FMIGs) to win the 2019 Program of Excellence (PoE) Award for their exemplary efforts to grow and support interest in family medicine.
Award winners were recently announced at the AAFP National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students in Kansas City, MO.
FMIGs are student-run organizations that provide opportunities for students to learn about and experience family medicine outside of their medical school curricula. FMIGs host events, workshops, leadership development opportunities, and community and clinical experiences. These award-winning groups are breaking new ground with important initiatives such as starting pipeline programs for students who are underrepresented in medicine and working with their school administration to change the curriculum to be more supportive of primary care.
NEOMED was recognized as a PoE for its Excellence in Promoting the Scope of Family Medicine. These efforts extend far beyond the national award to improving the future of family medicine and building the vital primary care physician workforce.
“Making sure that medical students have an appreciation of family medicine is a key step to those students choosing family medicine for their career,” said Clif Knight, MD, senior vice president for education at the AAFP. “Excellent FMIGs such as these award winners are an important component in these efforts. This is essential to addressing the needs of our communities in order to improve health outcomes in a system that relies on a foundation of primary care.
“All of this year’s award winners have done outstanding work giving students the opportunity to activate the knowledge they’ve acquired in the classroom, develop leadership skills that will serve them in their future practices and communities, and better understand the vital role that family medicine plays in our health care system.”
The winners’ applications are published online to facilitate the sharing of best practices and programming ideas among FMIGs nationwide. There is also a programming resource for all FMIGs to use that highlights the most successful and innovative ideas from these exemplary schools.
FMIGs are independent groups, governed by their host medical school and supported by faculty and staff with resources and support from the national FMIG Network administered by the AAFP.