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Message from the Chair
What does it mean to be an innovator?
Often, in our academic world, it is measured by research funding for a specific disease, organ system, or cellular process. Insurers and the government are willing to pay hundreds of billions of dollars for new equipment and complex procedures. And yet patients are going to hospitals for preventable problems, patients are harmed, costs are skyrocketing, and physicians are overwhelmed. The result is a system which produces poor results but costs vastly more than any other nation.
Our mission is to find another way. The potential impact of research that changes how we practice medicine is tremendous. This is a key goal, along with training the students, residents and fellows who will lead these critical changes. The real innovation we need is developing, implementing, evaluating and disseminating new more effective and efficient ways of caring for patients.
Patients who smoke ask to be treated with respect
What is it like to be someone who smokes in today’s increasingly smoke-free world? How can providers best interact with their patients who smoke and support their efforts to become tobacco-free? A new study by researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Department of Family Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center represents one of the first efforts to ask these and other seemingly simple, yet critical, questions like “What do patients who smoke want and need from their physicians?”
UNC Family Medicine Welcomes Dr. Robert Phillips as 11th Huntley Lecturer
Dr. Robert Phillips, Jr, MD, MSPH, will speak at the 11th Annual Huntley Lecture on Wednesday, March 4, 2015. Dr. Phillips will discuss the social mission of academic health centers and pose some interesting questions about the transition to business and education models that meet the Triple Aim for healthcare. The lecture will be held at 11:00am at the Kenan Center in the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
UNC Family Medicine Faculty Member Shines at TEDxUNC
Dr. Todd Zakrajsek, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the Executive Director of the Academy of Educators in the School of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill. He was a featured speaker at TEDxUNC held at Memorial Hall on Saturday, February 7, 2015. At TEDxUNC, innovative thinkers, from both our university and the greater community, discussed their approaches to some of humanity’s fundamental concerns.
UNC Family Medicine Offers FREE Living Healthy Workshop
Do you suffer from a chronic condition? Do you or your partner feel stressed and fatigued because of your chronic illness? If the answer is yes, our Living Healthy workshop may be right for you. Sign up now! Classes begin on March 3