Family doctors group gives Silver Award to School of Medicine

The UW School of Medicine has earned a Silver Achievement Award from the American Academy of Family Physicians. The award recognizes the medical school’s outstanding efforts in encouraging students to enter family practice.

As of October 1998, the UW had a three-year average of 28.8 percent of graduating medical students choosing an accredited family practice residency.

“Our faculty and staff have many years of experience advising our medical students about career choice and about residency selection,” said Dr. Tom Greer, a UW family physician who is an associate professor and director of the Predoctoral Section of the Department of Family Medicine.

“Excellent central staff and faculty in Seattle coordinate our program, while our teachers all over the WWAMI region talk with students about careers in family medicine and primary care. We appreciate the work these formal and informal advisors do every day. Their impact on medical students is evidenced by the number who choose a career in family medicine.”

The award was presented in Seattle April 30 at the 32nd Annual Conference of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. Lisa Hager, education coordinator, and Dr. Kathleen Ellsbury, associate professor and faculty coordinator of the family medicine advising program, joined Greer in accepting the award on behalf of the medical school. ¶