Governance

2025–2029 Strategic Plan

MISSION 
Advancing Family Medicine to Improve Health Through a Community of Teachers and Scholars

VISION 
To Become the Indispensable Academic Home for Every Family Medicine Educator

BRAND MESSAGE
Teach & Transform

Download the .pdf of the full 2025–2029 STFM Strategic Plan

Download the .pdf of the shortened 2025–2029 STFM Strategic Plan

5-Year Goals, Objectives, and Tactics

Strategic Goal: STFM will be the leader in training, leadership development, and creation of knowledge that improves family medicine education and teaching.

Objectives and Tactics:

  1. Provide family medicine faculty with the skills needed to train students, residents, and health care teams to achieve better health, quality care, value, and improved work life of clinicians and staff.
    1. Provide residency programs and faculty with resources and training to implement competency-based medical education and assessment.
    2. Help programs meet ACGME clinic continuity requirements.
    3. Strengthen competencies for behavioral medicine practice and skills for advocating for integrated behavioral health and interprofessional, team-based care.
    4. Develop curriculum for teaching and assessing professionalism that is challenged by changes in technology, market forces, and health care delivery systems.
    5. Create and/or disseminate resources for faculty, resident, and medical student education on planetary health’s impact on individual and community health.
  2. Educate family medicine education teams and learners on advances in health care and health care technology.
    1. Lead the adoption, implementation, scholarship, and evaluation of ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI) in family medicine education.
    2. Lead adoption and implementation of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in family medicine education.
  3. Develop leaders.
    1. Promote opportunities for leadership development and identify opportunities to elevate family medicine educators to leadership roles.
    2. Identify or develop resources and training to improve financial acumen of faculty and learners.

Strategic Goal: STFM will inspire individuals to become exemplary, fulfilled, and compassionate family medicine teachers.

Objectives and Tactics:

  1. Increase the number of family medicine faculty to address workforce and pipeline needs within the specialty.
    1. Advocate for curricula and models of medical education that have the potential to increase the number of family physicians and family medicine educators.
    2. Promote family medicine as a pathway for learners to make a difference on issues important to them.
    3. Increase engagement with osteopathic colleagues.
  2. Reduce financial barriers to careers in academic family medicine.
    1. Identify and promote loan repayment opportunities for residents and early career faculty.
  3. Promote well-being at the personal and system level to increase recruitment and retention of family medicine educators and learners.
    1. Provide intraorganizational advocacy tools to enhance institutional support of faculty educational time.
    2. Highlight the benefits of interprofessional practice and education on well-being.
    3. Identify and promote how the use of AI can improve efficiency and reduce burdensome tasks.

Strategic Goal: STFM will enhance the capacity and quality of family medicine scholarship.

Objectives and Tactics:

  1. Promote adoption of best practices of educational scholarship through the development of a Family Medicine Scholarship Academy.
    1. Develop a mentorship training program to promote better mentor and mentee practices.
    2. Offer consultation/mentorship on scholarship, including help with data analysis and identifying funding sources.
    3. Create a toolkit with educational resources on research methodology and examples of scholarly work.
    4. Identify or create programming to educate members on evidence-based educational scholarship practices, including statistics, survey design, methodology, institutional review board (IRB) processes, data collection, and scientific writing.
  2. Advance research in family medicine education.
    1. Educate peer reviewers on how to do quality peer review.
    2. Educate members on the critical and reflective use of AI in scholarship.

Strategic Goal: STFM will drive health equity and antiracism initiatives to promote the health of communities through medical education.

Objectives and Tactics:

  1. Increase the skill set of family medicine faculty and learners related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
    1. Collaborate with other organizations to identify and act on the needs of rural training sites.
    2. Create tools and a review process to help authors of STFM resources incorporate antiracism, health equity, and social justice themes into their materials and to eliminate biased content.
    3. Educate members on how to recognize and prevent ableism and how to teach learners with different abilities.
  2. Support STFM members in their efforts to transform their institutions to be more inclusive.
    1. Develop and disseminate resources and practices that take into consideration the impact of local, state, and/or national restrictions on medical education and health outcomes.
    2. Develop and implement an initiative to build on the successes and learnings of the Antiracism Learning Collaborative.

Strategic Goal: STFM will champion family medicine education, research, and workforce recruitment and retention.

Objectives and Tactics:

  1. Equip family medicine educators and learners with skills to advocate for issues important to the discipline, their communities, their practices, their patients, and themselves.
    1. Train faculty and learners to be leaders in family medicine advocacy.
    2. Work with AAFP and state chapters to conduct advocacy training.
  2. Advocate for family medicine.
    1. Partner with other organizations to increase the primary care investment. 
    2. Identify and advocate for sources of funding for family medicine education research, both on a local and national level. 
    3. Lead and support the Academic Family Medicine Advocacy Committee and its legislative priorities.

Assumptions

The plan includes a number of assumptions pertaining to infrastructure and understanding of the organization. Several key areas of importance to STFM are woven into the plan. As a result, there is not a separate goal or objective for these areas, but they will be incorporated as part of every applicable activity. These assumptions include:

  • Diversity: STFM commits to the active inclusion of the advancement of diversity in the broadest sense, including geography, race, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, role, profession, ability, etc.
  • Underrepresented in Medicine Definition: STFM is using the Association of American Medical College’s definition of URM, which is: "Underrepresented in medicine means those racial and ethnic populations that are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population."
  • Strong Infrastructure: Governance, staff, office facilities, technology, and finances are integral parts of the plan and critical to its implementation.
  • Innovation: All objectives will include innovative concepts and efforts.
  • Communications: Communications are a means to accomplish every goal and do not need to be singled out as a goal. Informing members, communicating with outside groups, marketing products and services, and continuing ongoing publications will be inherent in all appropriate goals.
  • Collaborations: Strategic and effective collaborations within the family medicine organizations and with entities outside the family are essential to achieving these goals.
  • Technology: Technology broadly falls under infrastructure, eg, having sufficient IT staff and expertise to efficiently and effectively run our organization and programs. STFM also needs to enhance the culture within family medicine where members and learners effectively use technology in new ways.
  • STFM Foundation: STFM will support the STFM Foundation and its programs.
  • Examination of Member Benefits: This is an ongoing activity that that will be conducted by staff and committees.

Definitions

  • Strategic Goals: A goal is a broad aim to which our efforts are directed to achieve our mission and vision. The goals tell you what we hope to accomplish rather than how we would get there. There are five strategic goals for STFM. Each goal has a broad label to provide a framework for the goals and enhance understanding.
  • Objectives: Objectives are narrower aims that must be achieved to reach the strategic goal. There are several objectives identified for each strategic goal.
  • Tactics: These are specific activities that will be undertaken to achieve the objectives. Tactics will be used by staff, task forces, committees, and collaboratives to develop a master plan for implementation.
  • Actions: These are measurable actions that will be taken on and reported on by committees, collaboratives, task forces, staff, and others.

 

  1. Kirk LM. Professionalism in medicine: definitions and considerations for teaching. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2007 Jan;20(1):13-6. doi: 10.1080/08998280.2007.11928225. PMID: 17256035; PMCID: PMC1769526.

Contact Us

 

11400 Tomahawk Creek Parkway

Leawood, KS 66211

(800) 274-7928

stfmoffice@stfm.org 

 

 

Events

January 30–February 2, 2025: STFM Conference on Medical Student Education

February 11, 2025, 11:30 am CST: Webinar: Planning for the Future: Personal Finance Education with Equitable’s Stephen Dunbar

February 28, 2025, 11 am CST: Webinar: Addressing the Residency Continuity Requirement: A Panel Discussion to Share Successes and Barriers

May 3–7, 2025: STFM Annual Spring Conference

September 8–10, 2025: The 2025 STFM Conference on Practice & Quality Improvement

Due Dates

February 4, 2025: Deadline for Presentation Proposals for 2025 Conference on Practice and Quality Improvement

February 15, 2025: Applications Due for BFEF Scholarly Project Director

February 17, 2025: Submissions for the 2025 Poetry and Prose Contest Due

February 25, 2025: Apply for CERA Associate Program Director Chair

February 25, 2025: Apply for CERA General Membership Survey Chair

February 25, 2025: Applications Due for CERA Fellowship

February 28, 2025: Family Medicine Advocacy Summit Scholarship Applications Due

March 4, 2025: Medical Student Educators Development Institute (MSEDI) Applications Due

April 1, 2025: Early Bird Deadline for STFM Annual Spring Conference Registration

Useful Links

Ask a Question
AI Chatbot Tips

Tips for Using STFM's AI Assistant

STFM's AI Assistant is designed to help you find information and answers about Family Medicine education. While it's a powerful tool, getting the best results depends on how you phrase your questions. Here's how to make the most of your interactions:

1. Avoid Ambiguous Language

Be Clear and Specific: Use precise terms and avoid vague words like "it" or "that" without clear references.

Example:
Instead of: "Can you help me with that?"
Try: "Can you help me update our Family Medicine clerkship curriculum?"
Why this is important: Ambiguous language can confuse the AI, leading to irrelevant or unclear responses. Clear references help the chatbot understand exactly what you're asking.

2. Use Specific Terms

Identify the Subject Clearly: Clearly state the subject or area you need information about.

Example:
Instead of: "What resources does STFM provide?"
Try: "I'm a new program coordinator for a Family Medicine clerkship. What STFM resources are available to help me design or update clerkship curricula?"
Why this is better: Providing details about your role ("program coordinator") and your goal ("design or update clerkship curricula") gives the chatbot enough context to offer more targeted information.

3. Don't Assume the AI Knows Everything

Provide Necessary Details:The STFM AI Assistant has been trained on STFM's business and resources. The AI can only use the information you provide or that it has been trained on.

Example:
Instead of: "How can I improve my program?"
Try: "As a program coordinator for a Family Medicine clerkship, what resources does STFM provide to help me improve student engagement and learning outcomes?"
Why this is important: Including relevant details helps the AI understand your specific situation, leading to more accurate and useful responses.

4. Reset if You Change Topics

Clear Chat History When Switching Topics:

If you move to a completely new topic and the chatbot doesn't recognize the change, click the Clear Chat History button and restate your question.
Note: Clearing your chat history removes all previous context from the chatbot's memory.
Why this is important: Resetting ensures the AI does not carry over irrelevant information, which could lead to confusion or inaccurate answers.

5. Provide Enough Context

Include Background Information: The more context you provide, the better the chatbot can understand and respond to your question.

Example:
Instead of: "What are the best practices?"
Try: "In the context of Family Medicine education, what are the best practices for integrating clinical simulations into the curriculum?"
Why this is important: Specific goals, constraints, or preferences allow the AI to tailor its responses to your unique needs.

6. Ask One Question at a Time

Break Down Complex Queries: If you have multiple questions, ask them separately.

Example:
Instead of: "What are the requirements for faculty development, how do I register for conferences, and what grants are available?"
Try: Start with "What are the faculty development requirements for Family Medicine educators?" Then follow up with your other questions after receiving the response.
Why this is important: This approach ensures each question gets full attention and a complete answer.

Examples of Good vs. Bad Prompts

Bad Prompt

"What type of membership is best for me?"

Why it's bad: The AI Chat Assistant has no information about your background or needs.

Good Prompt

"I'm the chair of the Department of Family Medicine at a major university, and I plan to retire next year. I'd like to stay involved with Family Medicine education. What type of membership is best for me?"

Why it's good: The AI Chat Assistant knows your role, your future plans, and your interest in staying involved, enabling it to provide more relevant advice.

Double Check Important Information

While the AI Chat Assistant is a helpful tool, it can still produce inaccurate or incomplete responses. Always verify critical information with reliable sources or colleagues before taking action.

Technical Limitations

The Chat Assistant:

  • Cannot access external websites or open links
  • Cannot process or view images
  • Cannot make changes to STFM systems or process transactions
  • Cannot access real-time information (like your STFM Member Profile information)

STFM AI Assistant
Disclaimer: The STFM Assistant can make mistakes. Check important information.