The training of residents in community-based hospitals has been an important task for clinician-educators in family medicine. Community programs have produced more than 75% of family practice residents. The development of these programs has been a major mission for the discipline and has required strong vocal support. Nikitas Zervanos, MD, founder and current director of the residency program at Lancaster General Hospital in Lancaster, Pa., has long provided that support. In this discussion, an edited version of interviews conducted in May 1991 and March 1992, Dr. Zervanos recounts his early and lasting involvement with the residency in Lancaster. He has served as the director of Temple University's family practice review course, as a longstanding consultant to the Residency Assistance Program, and in various capacities on the boards of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and the STFM Foundation. In 1987, he received STFM's Certificate of Excellence; in 1990 the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians honored him with their Leadership Award. Dr. Zervanos is a clinical professor in the Department of Family Practice and Community Health at Temple University in Philadelphia.