STFM Launches Professionalism in Family Medicine Education Initiative

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) has launched a 2-year initiative to support family medicine faculty as they teach and model professionalism.

The initiative is being led by STFM President Joseph Gravel, MD, chair of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. It is supported by a grant from the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Foundation.

“Professionalism is a term that has taken on negative connotations,” Dr Gravel explains. “… this initiative is intended to update the concept of professionalism training with new expectations and tools…”¹

STFM’s professionalism initiative aligns with current ABFM projects to update guidelines on professional and personal conduct.

It addresses the following objectives and tactics in STFM’s 2025-2029 strategic plan:

• 1.1 Provide family medicine faculty with the skills needed to train students, residents, and health care teams to achieve better health, quality care, value, and improved work life of clinicians and staff.

• 1.1.1 Provide residency programs and faculty with resources and training to implement competency-based medical education and assessment.

• 1.1.4 Develop curriculum for teaching and assessing professionalism that is challenged by changes in technology, market forces, and health care delivery systems.

The new STFM Professionalism in Medical Education Task Force will:

• Convene a Professionalism in Family Medicine Summit, co-sponsored by the American Medical Association, to create and/or endorse an updated definition of professionalism, engage family medicine organizations, and get consensus on next steps on teaching and assessing professionalism

• Develop and release professionalism curriculum for residents and third- and fourth-year medical students

• Identify or create competency-based tools to assess resident professionalism

• Deliver faculty development through conference presentations and virtual training sessions

Task force members include Joseph Gravel, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin; John Brady, MD, VCU-Riverside Family Medicine Residency; Daniel Casey, MD, JPS Family Medicine Residency; Amy Clithero, PhD, MBA, University of New Mexico School of Medicine; Roger Garvin, MD, Oregon Health & Science University; Lauren E. Gibson-Oliver, MD, MBA, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, (UAMS) Family Medicine Residency Program; Lynne Havsy, PhD, St Luke’s Family Medicine Residency – Anderson; Timothy Hoff, PhD, Northeastern University; Natalie Long, MD, University of Missouri – Columbia; Adam Saperstein, MD, CAPT, MC, USN, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Takudzwa Shumba, MD, MPH, Stanford University School of Medicine; Mary Theobald, MBA, Society of Teachers of Family Medicine; Maria Montanez Villacampa, MD, University of Texas Health Science Center – San Antonio.

• © 2025 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.