Chair's Message: Strategic Plan, Our Journey So Far (Jan/Feb 2024)

Dear Colleagues,

It has been just over a year since we launched our 2022-2027 Strategic Plan, a process that brought many of us together to articulate our collective values, needs, priorities, and aspirations.

Seeing our department come together around the themes of community, relationships, and leadership was incredibly inspiring. But a plan is only a plan.

Over the past year, faculty, staff, and learners from all corners of DFCM have embraced the essence of the strategic plan. I have been humbled by the creativity and energy behind initiatives that uphold our tradition of excellence in family and community medicine education, research, and high-quality clinical care, while doing more to embed the needs of patients, families, and marginalized communities in our work.

Initiatives such as the COVID-19 Community of Practice and Family Medicine Patient Advisory Committee have gone from strength to strength. We welcomed our first Vice-Chair of Community and Partnerships, built an Indigenous Leadership Circle and became the administrative home for the new Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care. We are finding new ways to prepare learners for comprehensive family medicine, helping faculty members to re-find joy in work, supporting family medicine research, and connecting new graduates with job and locum opportunities to meet our province’s health human resources needs.

Of course, this is just the beginning. Our leadership and ingenuity are needed more than ever to ensure we attract and train family doctors who are prepared to work in the system we have while shaping the system we need. A system where every person is attached to a responsive and high-quality primary care team and every primary care team is designed in partnership with its community.

And so, our journey continues. If you have ideas about how we can advance any areas of our plan, please get in touch or join me for a coffee chat.