The Family Medicine Interest Group at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University was recently recognized as a 2019 Program of Excellence for its Special Consideration for Collaborative Initiatives by the American Academy of Family Physicians at the AAFP National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students in Kansas City, Missouri.
Quinnipiac’s FMIG was one of 19 to win the 2019 Program of Excellence Award for its exemplary efforts to grow and support interest in family medicine. With 148 active members, Quinnipiac’s FMIG was awarded for the events it hosted last year with other Quinnipiac student interest groups, including “Psychosis in Primary Care” with the Psychiatry Interest Group, “Dermatology in Primary Care” with the Dermatology Interest Group and “Primary Care Week” with the Pediatric and Internal Medicine Interest Groups.
“We are very proud of our family medicine interest group students who, for the second year in a row, received an award from the AAFP,” said Dr. Howard Selinger, the Carol L. and Gustave Sirot Endowed Chair of Family Medicine and Netter FMIG faculty adviser at Quinnipiac. “As future family physicians, our students will be broadly trained, well prepared and invested in the need to practice patient-centered care.”
FMIGs are student-run organizations that provide opportunities for students to learn about and experience family medicine outside of their medical school curriculum. FMIGs host various events, workshops, leadership development opportunities, and community and clinical experiences.
“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 Dr. Clif Knight, 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.”