ADFM 2023: Redefining the Value of Family Medicine for our Communities

It has been just over 2 years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic and, as we all know, the declaration was only the beginning. Beyond the threat to health there was a threat to the economy, to belief in experts, and an undeniable exacerbation of the disparities our most vulnerable populations face. Now, as we emerge from this extended crisis state, family medicine departments across the country are becoming re-energized to address those disparities and inspire fundamental change within our system. There are many roadblocks to this interest in tackling systemic challenges, including workload and pressures on time, major staffing shortages, income inequity, specialty disrespect, and hardships of finances and material resources. The theme of the 2023 ADFM Annual Conference was how to grapple with these challenges and use them as opportunities to redefine the value of family medicine for our communities.

We began this year’s ADFM Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia by reconnecting with many of our longtime members and also welcoming 55 first-time attendees! In addition to many department members, we also welcome ADFM associate members to participate and allow members to nominate additional individuals from their department to attend; these are both fantastic leadership development opportunities for those looking to grow within academic family medicine (learn more about Associate Membership here). The annual conference always kicks off with our pre-conference days which boast engaging workshops, including sessions for both our LEADS Fellowship Cohorts (leader development for those looking to move into senior leadership in family medicine) and our BRC Fellowship (research capacity building via strategic planning). Both fellowships are currently accepting applications for next year’s cycle.

In her talk, “A Lamp, A Lamppost, and a Leg Lamp: How Story, Myth, and Legend Cultivate ‘Strong Cultures,’” our keynote speaker, Christy Ledford, PhD, shared the key components of strong cultures that improve individual and organizational performance and explained how storytelling communicates and cultivates these components. Dr Ledford wove a masterful story on empowering our family medicine leaders to be the authors of their own personal and departmental stories.

After this powerful session on storytelling and semantics, we welcomed our new Government Relations Director, Nina DeJonghe! We are excited to have Nina on board and look forward to working with her for many years to come. Our penultimate session of the day was “Creating a Customized Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Metrics Framework” which provided examples and options for creating and customizing a departmental framework for EDI metrics in health care delivery, workforce recruitment and retention, learner recruitment and training, and research participation and trust.

Finally, we rounded out our first day with a panel discussion of all the recent changes to residency training. The panel shared the next steps moving forward, tasking the specialty to develop an assessment framework, education strategy, faculty development strategy, and an information technology (IT) infrastructure of the tools the specialty will need to enact all this change.

The main session of the second day featured Marissa Coleman, PsyD, who led an interactive session on “Building Antiracist Cultures through a Commitment to Racial Humility.” The goal of this session was to assist participants in creating shared language around racial humility, justice, and belonging, offer space for authentic self-reflection, and move attendees into a space of action as they apply principles of antiracism into their own organizational roles. There was also time set to discuss specific methods for mitigating bias from negatively influencing cross-cultural interactions. Finally, attendees had the opportunity to explore the organizational stages of EDI and antiracism work and identify steps to advance antiracism within their sphere of organizational influence. After this workshop, attendees participated in concurrent presentations; first, Ignite-style talks from our outgoing LEADS fellows, and then as part of our first ever “Innovations Showcase,” which featured a variety of topics ranging from the power of downstream revenue models to experiences and intervention of sexual harassment in a department.

The final day of the 2023 ADFM Annual Conference included “The Changing Roles of the Chair and Administrator,” which was, in a way, summative of the theme of this year’s conference. It allowed members to evaluate what the role of the chair and administrator has entailed, how that is transforming, and how we can best show up to meet those needs for our community and relay the impact and importance of the discipline of family medicine.

The 2023 ADFM Annual Conference closed with the welcoming of our new ADFM President, F. David Schneider, MD, MSPH, from UT Southwestern. Additionally, the baton was passed from this year’s Conference Chair, Kelvin Wynn, MD to the chair for 2024, Colleen Fogarty, MD, MSc. We are so thankful for another year of connecting with family medicine leaders and for remaining active in improving our field and each other to serve our community the best we can. We look forward to connecting again for the 2024 Annual Conference, on February 20-24, 2024 in Palm Springs, California!

• © 2023 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.