Welcome to Family Medicine

Welcome to the Department of Family Medicine website!   We believe that we have, and continue to develop, a culture of innovation and inquiry in our Department. This culture transcends geographic place. Our partner sites, our teaching units, our research colleagues, our partnership with other universities across the region and the province, all contribute to this to this culture. The Department of Family Medicine has expanded exponentially over the last few years.  This growth has moved us to think in different ways -- different ways to provide education and different ways to communicate with one another: all leading to novel solutions for solving challenges.

We would be delighted if you would take some time to look through our website.  I believe that you will see all the exciting things we have to offer our residents and faculty and will truly understand why the Department of Family Medicine is such a special place to be.

Chairs Welcome

The Department of Family Medicine should certainly be reflective of family medicine within the community that it serves.  It should also reflect the future of the discipline and, ideally, lead and inform the evolution of the discipline.  In 2008, family medicine in Canada has been acknowledged as the foundation upon which the health care system must be built.  As in all foundations, if it is not strongly built, properly planned and made with good materials, it will not serve its purpose.  The Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University very much reflects the breadth and complexity of family medicine in this country but is also well positioned to influence and inform the future of family medicine.

It seems incredible to believe that within our lifetime, the image of a family physician has undergone a complete and utter transformation.  The image of a solo family physician (as seen in Marcus Welby epidoses of old) working in an office with a receptionist and providing comprehensive primary care all by himself (and the vast majority were males) no longer holds.  The specialty of family medicine has become an interprofessional team-based specialty with increase interdependence amongst the primary health care providers.  Our specialist colleagues would acknowledge that a health care system without a strong family medicine foundation could not function (just as family physicians would be quick to acknowledge that our specialist colleagues are just as indispensable in this system).  This perhaps was not the case 20 years ago but is much more broadly recognized in 2008. 

As I noted above, our Department clearly reflects these challenges.  Our Department consists, of course, of family physicians but these physicians are of a broad demographic mix.  Our Department has expanded to include over 500 part-time faculty members whose contribution to the teaching of the next generation of family physician and primary health care providers is invaluable.  In this report, you will read about a strong and vibrant research team.  Three short years ago, our Department consisted of a core of just one PhD researcher.  We now have five PhD researchers with a sixth well on her way to achieving her PhD.  Two of the six PhD researchers also have their MD but importantly, the other PhDs have a variety of backgrounds including sociology, pharmacology, and health research methodology.  This group of researchers is helping us to look at how we provide primary care, the models in which we practice primary care and are also  helping us to evaluate the evidence for various treatments used to benefit our patients.

The Department of Family Medicine has moved from a Hamilton-centric model to a broadly distributed model with vibrant teaching units (both real and virtual) in Brampton and Kitchener-Waterloo.  2008 saw a formal partnering between the City of St. Catharines and the Region of Niagara and McMaster University to start a distributed teaching unit in the Niagara/St. Catharines region.  Discussions are ongoing at the time of this report for the development of a significant presence in Burlington.  It is, however,  not just the urban centres where we have expanded into, our rural program has moved into a host of different sites throughout south central Ontario.

- Dr. David Price