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We were thrilled to celebrate 50 years of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington over the course of 2021. Our department was formed in 1971 and has been at the forefront of the specialty since its inception.
On behalf of the whole department we offer our gracious thanks for celebrating with us and marking the occasion in meaningful ways. We hosted a virtual speaker series throughout the year, and a retrospective video to highlight how far we’ve come and to inspire us into our next 50 years. We had an anniversary presence at our CME conference Advances in Family Medicine & Primary Care in September and capped the celebration with a special event September 30th, 2021. These events were the result of the hard work of many contributors, and we offer our thanks to all the committee members who helped make it happen.
We are excited to dive into our next 50 years by hitting the ground running in 2022. Please see below for recordings and opportunities to contribute to the Department.
Department of Family Medicine 50th Anniversary Celebration Video
Department of Family Medicine Awards
2021 Winners announced!Greer-King Faculty Support Fund for Medical Student Education
Learn More and contributePast Events
December 2nd, 2021, 5:30pm PST – Sharing the Sparks: Your UW Family Medicine Stories – Hosted by Jeff Borkan MD, PhD (Chair of Family Medicine, Brown University; DFM Residency alumnus), Amanda Kost MD, MEd (Associate Professor, DFM), and Valerie Ross MS (Associate Teaching Professor, DFM)
Our final Anniversary Speaker Series event flipped the script and allowed participants to be the “speakers.” All participants were asked to share stories in small break-out groups with the prompt:
“Tell us the story of your most meaningful or memorable relationship or experience in the UW Department of Family Medicine (including WWAMI)”
It was a wonderful evening of story sharing and reminiscing.
November 17th, 2021, 5:30pm PST – Go Fast or Go Far: Building Better Partnerships for Global Health – Anna McDonald MD, MPH
Dr. McDonald completed undergraduate education at Duke University, followed by a quick trip down the road to University of North Carolina for her medical degree. While in medical school, she took a year to complete an MPH in global health at Harvard, then moved to Seattle to join the Swedish First Hill Family as a resident at the Downtown Family Medicine clinic. After graduating, she stayed in Seattle to complete the Global Health Fellowship at UW, and was able to spend time in Peru, earning her Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene. After what felt like a lifetime of training, she joined the Global Health Service Partnership and spent the next two and a half years living in Malawi, where she helped to develop the first family medicine training program in the country. She joined the Swedish faculty in 2017, and now facilitates the bidirectional Global Health resident exchange program – splitting her time between Seattle and Malawi.
Watch recorded presentation
October 26th, 12:15pm PDT – The Importance of Providing Hope in Medical Care – Ashwin Rao MD, FAMSSM
Ashwin Rao, MD is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Section of Sports Medicine at the University of Washington. He is the program director of the University of Washington Sports Medicine fellowship and he serves as a team physician for UW Husky Athletics. He is a medical consultant for the Brooks Beast Middle Distance Club and served for 12 years as a team physician for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) and is a nationally recognized leader in athlete mental health. His clinical and research interests span a wide range of areas, including ultrasound guided diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, mental health and awareness, the treatment of chronic soft tissue injury, and cardiovascular wellness.
Watch recorded presentation
September 30th, 5:30pm-7:30pm PDT – UW Department of Family Medicine 50th Anniversary Soirée
Featuring: Remarks by Lauren Hughes MD, MPH, MSc, remarks by founding Chair Theodore Phillips, remembrances, awards, toasts, music, and more!
Watch recorded event
September 30th, 12:00pm- 1:00pm PDT – 50th Anniversary Keynote Address – Rebecca Etz, PhD
“Where the Sidewalk Ends and the Promise of Primary Care Begins”
Rebecca S. Etz, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist, Co-Director of the Larry A. Green Center for the Advancement of Primary Health Care for the Public Good, and an Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Population Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Etz has expertise in qualitative research methods and design, primary care measures, theory of family medicine and primary care, practice transformation, and engagement of stakeholders. She has spent the last ten years developing deep national relationships working with practices and policy makers on primary care related measurement, professionalism and vision. Prior work has also included bridging the boundaries between primary care practices, behavioral health, and community resources. Dr. Etz has also held many national leadership positions, including co-director of a large practice-based research network, Board member of the North American Primary Care Research Group, and Board member of the Center for the History of Family Medicine.
Watch recorded presentation
September 15th, 8am- 8:45am PDT – 10 Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) Updates – Frank Domino MD
Dr. Domino is a Professor and the Pre-doctoral Education Director for the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA. Dr. Domino is also the Editor in Chief of Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins’ “5 Minute Clinical Consult” series. He has written a book titled “Manual Medicine for Primary Care”, which offers easy to use interventions that all clinicians can use in their office. Additionally, he is the host of the “Frankly Speaking” Podcast and writes a weekly blog discussing recent publications. We were lucky to have him join us this year as a part of the department’s 50th anniversary celebration to provide an update in evidence-based medicine.
Watch recorded presentation
Aug 25th, 2021 5:30pm PDT – There’s a new National Academies’ report about primary care: what does it say? And, what can we do? – Jennifer DeVoe MD, DPhil, MCR, and FAAFP
Dr. Jennifer (Jen) DeVoe is a practicing family physician and health services researcher based in Portland, Oregon. As the Chair of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Department of Family Medicine, she oversees nearly 200 faculty, 80 resident physicians, and several of OHSU’s primary care clinics. DeVoe also serves as the inaugural director of OHSU’s new Center for Primary Care Research and Innovation and was recently awarded a P50 grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop the BRIDGE-C2 Center (Building Research in Implementation & Dissemination to Close Gaps and Achieve Equity in Cancer Control Center).
Dr. DeVoe was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2014 and has served on several committees at the National Academies, most recently serving on the committee that just released the report entitled, “Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care.”
Watch recorded presentation
July 29th, 2021 5:30pm PDT – Integrative Medicine, a luxury service or necessity?– Iman Majd MD, MS, L.Ac
Iman Majd MD, MS, L.Ac is a clinical assistant professor at the Department of Family Medicine UW. He finished his FM residency at UW in 2012 and joined UWNC Factoria where he created the first model for acupuncture and integrative medicine in primary care at UW. In 2018, he joined the DFM and started his position as the clinic director for Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UW. As an Integrative Medicine physician and acupuncturists, he incorporates integrative medicine approaches into family medicine practice to help patients in their journey to restore and maintain their health.
Watch recorded presentation
June 30th, 2021 5:30pm PDT – UW DFM’s Past, Present, and Future Support for Reproductive Rights, Access and Care – Ying Zhang MD, MPH
Ying Zhang, MD MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington. She joined UW for her Family Medicine Residency in 2011 as a resident in the Harborview track. She completed the National Research Service Award Fellowship and her MPH at UW after residency and joined the residency faculty in 2016. Ying is currently a Director for the Reproductive Healthcare & Advocacy Fellowship at UW and is a WA State Cluster Leader for the Reproductive Health Access Project. She is passionate about reproductive health and care for refugee and immigrant communities.
May 27th, 2021 5:30pm – Celebrating the Department’s long history in research – past, present, and future – Laura-Mae Baldwin MD, MPH & Matthew Thompson, MBChB, DPhil
Laura-Mae Baldwin, MD MPH, Professor of Family Medicine, joined the Department in 1987 and has led and collaborated on research focused on increasing access to and quality of health care in diverse rural and urban clinical settings throughout her career. Dr. Baldwin began her career working alongside and being mentored by the department’s pioneering researchers, eventually serving as Director of Research from 2003-2014. Her greatest joy has involved establishing active research partnerships with clinicians, clinical practices and organizations across the five WWAMI states. She is the Founding Director of the WWAMI region Practice and Research Network, now comprising over 90 primary care clinics across the region committed to collaborating on research with academic partners.
Dr Matthew Thompson is Professor and Vice Chair for Research, and inaugural holder of the Helen D. Cohen endowed Professorship. Dr Thompson trained in family medicine/general practice in both the United Kingdom and the USA, and started his research career at the UW Department of Family Medicine in 1999 with a NRSA Fellowship. After a few years at the UW, he moved to the Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, before returning to the UW in 2013. Much of his research has focused on improving diagnostic decision making in primary care. This has included identifying clinical features to spot serious illness in adults and children, improved management of common infections, and adoption of new diagnostic and monitoring technologies.
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Watch recorded presentation
April 29, 2021 – Daytheon Sturges, MPAS, PA-C, CAHIMS, CHES, has been a physician assistant (PA) since 2008 and a PA educator since 2013. He is an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Washington – MEDEX Northwest PA program, associate program director of regional affairs, justice, equity, diversity, & inclusion, and also serves as the justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion co-chair for the Department of Family Medicine, while maintaining clinical practice in family medicine UW Neighborhood Clinic – Northgate. His passion is providing care to underserved populations.
Watch recorded presentation
March 11, 2021, Inaugural Farber Visiting Professorship Lecture – Dr. Gregg Vandekieft, Medical Director for the Providence Institute for Human Caring’s Palliative Practice Group, supporting palliative care programs across the seven states served by Providence. He is the founder and past medical director of the palliative care consultation services at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia and Providence Centralia Hospital, as well as the Providence Olympia Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic. He was lead medical director for Providence Sound Hospice for 12 years, serving Thurston, Mason, and Lewis Counties. His clinical practice is currently limited to inpatient consultations and tele-palliative care. He has been a UW volunteer clinical associate professor for nearly 20 years.
Watch recorded presentation
February 11, 2021 – Dr. Sharon Dobie, professor emeritus in the University of Washington Department of Family Medicine (DFM). Dr. Dobie joined the DFM in 1989 and has since served as a trusted educator and mentor to hundreds of medical students and residents. She is the past director of the UW School of Medicine Underserved Pathway from 2008-2018 and served as faculty advisor to the Community Health Advancement Program from 1989-2010. She was the recipient of the UW 2010 Sterling Munro Public Service Teaching Award and the 2016 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Gold Humanism Award, and she was named the 2018 Washington Academy of Family Physicians Family Medicine Educator of the Year. She is also the editor and a contributing author of the book Heart Murmurs: What Patients Teach Their Doctors.
Watch recorded presentation
January 7, 2021 – Dr. Antonio Dajer, UW Family Medicine residency class of 1986.Dr. Dajer presented on the lessons he has learned during his post-residency career, a career that includes time working as a hospital medical director in Nicaragua, service on the Navajo reservation, his ER shift in Lower Manhattan during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and working as an ER director for 14 years.