Title: STFM President-Elect

Candidate: William C. Wadland, M.D., M.S.

Personal History:

William C. Wadland, MD, MS is Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine and also the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Development in the College of Human Medicine (CHM) at Michigan State University (MSU). He completed his MD and MS in research design and statistics at the University of Michigan . After residency in Family Medicine at MUSC in Charleston, SC, where he was elected chief resident and Mead Johnson outstanding resident, he practiced in community health centers for seven years in rural Michigan. His rural community practice engendered a personal passion for the values of integrating medical care with public health services to achieve the best health outcomes for both individuals and communities. In 1985, he joined the faculty of Family Medicine at the University of Vermont (UVM) where he led research programs and was Associate Chair. As Chair at MSU since 1992, he has facilitated an active network of nine residency programs with over 200 residents. The MSU Department has enjoyed national recognition for high numbers of medical students choosing Family Medicine and top NIH rankings for extramural funding. As Associate Dean for Faculty Development, he leads programs on leadership for other chairs, core competencies for medical education, college-wide new faculty orientations, formal mentoring programs, and evaluations for the College.

Dr. Wadland has a long track record of extramural funding including training and research grants. He has authored over 100 refereed publications and presented at scientific meetings, both nationally and internationally. His academic focus is health promotion and disease prevention especially related to tobacco use. Selected awards include: the Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians (2002), CHM Outstanding Faculty of the Year (2001), Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare (2001-2007), and the Bishop-American Council on Education Leadership Fellowship (2005-2006).

Position Statement:

Our survival, as Teachers of Family Medicine, depends on Connecting to Our Future-The Next Generation. We should stay actively engaged in: 1) the efforts to transform and redesign the clinical practice of Family Medicine, 2) the generation of new knowledge, 3) the translation of innovations into direct clinical care, 4) comprehensive approaches that promote the betterment of personal, family, and community health, and 5) nurturing and training future clinicians, educators, and scholars of Family Medicine. We need to continue to advance STFM as a friendly organizational home supporting fruitful professional relationships and networks as well as models of excellence in clinical service, education and scholarship. However,our major task in Connecting to the Future is to positively engage the next generation of learners in Family Medicine. To do this, we should showcase the best of who we are and what we will do for the next generation. We should promote an ‘open curriculum’ of accomplishment and personal joy and limit exposure to the negative ‘hidden curriculum’ of frustration and confusion. Having written hundreds of recommendation letters as chair, students usually say their career choice for Family Medicine was influenced by: 1) seeing the results of the core values (such as continuity and comprehensive care) in action, and 2) having an excellent and passionate faculty educator taking a personal interest in their professional life and future. Thus, Connecting to Our Future depends on us doing what we do best: sharing with the next generation our evolving knowledge base and values as well as a spirit of excitement and joy as Teachers of Family Medicine.

Please note: