Leading the Future of Family Medicine
The Department of Family Medicine at Wright State University's Boonshoft School of Medicine is renowned for its commitment to community service, exceptional patient care, and innovative teaching and research.
About the Department
Dayton has been a stronghold for family medicine for many years. The department has a track record of attracting medical students to family medicine and delivering on the mission to serve the community. These efforts have been recognized nationally. We continue on this journey of excellence in patient care, teaching, research and service to the community.
These are exciting times for family medicine and primary care. The Supreme Court's upholding of the Affordable Care Act underlines the need for more family medicine physicians, especially in underserved areas, and allows us to continue to care for Ohio residents who have gone without health care or preventive care for long periods.
Nearly 25 percent of students in the current fourth year class are interested in pursuing family medicine as a specialty. Our Family Medicine Interest Group received a Program of Excellence Award from the American Academy of Family Physicians in 2015 and 2016. We have added new faculty who are doing an excellent job of helping students understand the variety of opportunities in the specialty of family medicine. We are leading the medical school’s effort to establish rural clerkship locations and a rural residency track near the Wright State Lake Campus. This effort was funded by the HealthPath Foundation. This year Kate Conway, M.D., M.P.H., will lead the Global Health Initiative, another opportunity to showcase the variety of skills family medicine brings to global issues locally and internationally.
The Wright State University Family Medicine Residency Program attracts topnotch students from Wright State and the wider United States. Many graduating residents practice locally. Faculty and residents lead at the local, state and national level. Recent graduate Nicole Turkson, M.D., Ph.D., has returned as faculty. Paul Hershberger, Ph.D., director of behavioral science, was awarded a SAMHSA grant for training medical students, residents and other health professionals about SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment), an evidence-based practice used to identify, reduce and prevent problematic use, abuse and dependence on alcohol and illicit drugs. We also launched a chapter of The Ladder, a progressive mentoring program, focused on children with an interest in health careers who live in the neighborhood around our residency clinic.
Faculty and residents care for patients in two sites: the Wright State Physicians Health Center, located on the Wright State campus, and the Five Rivers Family Health Center, a federally qualified health center in Dayton. Medical students spend clerkship time and electives at both. Both are certified by NCQA as Patient-Centered Medical Homes.
We secured a five-year Health Services Research Administration training grant and were one of nine medical schools that received the three-year PACER (Professionals Accelerating Clinical and Educational Redesign) award. Both awards allow us to partner with other medical school departments, other Wright State colleges and local pharmacy and physician assistant programs to train medical students, residents other health professions students and faculty about patient-centered, team-based, interprofessional care.
We value our relationships with our patients, students and colleagues in these efforts. We hold the stories of the patients we care for and the students we teach walking alongside them through the inevitable ups and downs of the journey. We are excited to welcome more family physicians who will be leaders in caring for our communities in the 21st century.
Mission
To lead the way in educating the next generation of physicians, by
- Modeling the patient-centered principles of family medicine
- Serving our community’s health needs
- Contributing to the scholarly advancement of medicine
Vision
Preparing tomorrow's family physicians to enhance the health and well-being of the communities they serve by defining and providing state-of-the art healthcare.