Valerie Gilchrist, MD – Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Welcome to the DFMCH’s FY17 annual report, a summary of our faculty and staff activities from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017.
In FY17, we provided care for 385,358 patient visits (159,633 total patient panel) in our 20 statewide clinics. We continued to improve patient care quality through new workflows for patients who have hypertension or who have been recently discharged from the hospital, new processes for prescribing controlled substances and an increased emphasis on tobacco cessation.
Our commitment to educating primary care providers for Wisconsin remains strong.
- Of the 33 residents in our sponsored and academic partner programs who graduated in 2017, 22 (67%) entered practice in-state—above the national average of less than 50%.
- Our academic partner, the La Crosse Family Medicine Residency Program at Gundersen Health System welcomed its first class of residents in July 2016. We also formalized academic partnerships with the Aurora Lakeland Rural Training Track Family Medicine Residency and the Aurora Waukesha Family Medicine Residency Program.
- In October 2016, we received a four-year, $675,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to expand our residency by two positions. Starting in FY18, two new residents will be located at our Madison residency program’s Belleville site, and will participate in a Rural Health Equity Track that focuses on health disparities in rural areas.
- Of the 45 PA Program students who graduated in 2017, 30 (67%) entered practice in-state and 8 (18%) entered primary care.
- We taught 708 UW School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) students, and for the third year in a row, the American Academy of Family Physicians named the SMPH’s Family Medicine Interest Group a Program of Excellence.
In addition, our researchers received $8.6 million in grant awards in FY17—a 15% increase from FY16—and 23 new awards from external funding sources.
I thank all of our faculty and staff for their skill and dedication: we couldn’t do our work without you! Over the next year, we look forward to strengthening our educational partnerships, continuing to improve how we care for our patients, expanding our research portfolio and deepening our community health efforts. Because health lives here, in Wisconsin.
Valerie Gilchrist, MD
Millard Professor in Community Health
Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Year in Review
July: 41 residents entered our statewide programs, including four at our new academic partner program, the La Crosse Family Medicine Residency Program at Gundersen Health System.
September: William Miller, MD, MA, presented the Farley Visiting Professor Lecture.
November: Susan Skochelak, MD, MPH, received the 2016 Renner Award; Jonas Lee, MD, received the 2016 Hansen Lectureship; Kevin O’Connell, MD, and Susan Skochelak, MD, MPH, received Chair’s Awards.
January: UW Health Integrative Medicine formally changes its name to Integrative Health.
February: DFMCH Chair Valerie Gilchrist, MD, became president of the Association of Departments of Family Medicine.
March: U.S. News & World Report ranks the DFMCH seventh of family medicine departments in its 2018 edition.
May: We honored 26 medical students, residents and faculty mentors at the McGovern-Tracy and Student Scholars Award ceremony. PA program welcomed new class and graduated 45 students; 30 (67%) entered practice in Wisconsin and 8 (18%) entered primary care.
June: 33 residents graduated; 22 (67%) entered practice in Wisconsin.
AAFP recognizes Clinical Adjunct Professor and Aurora teaching faculty John Brill, MD, MPH, with its 2017 Exemplary Teaching Award for Full-Time Faculty; names SMPH Family Medicine Interest Group a Program of Excellence for the third year in a row.