The Department of Family & Community Medicine (DFCM) is an academic department within the Faculty of Medicine that is composed of family physicians and other health care professionals dedicated to leadership in teaching, research, service and the advancement of the discipline of family medicine

locally, nationally and internationally.

 

Our geographical reach is wide and continues to grow. Since 2006, the Department has added five core teaching sites and now is comprised of 14 hospital-based family medicine teaching units as well as hundreds of community based family physician faculty members. Our Teaching Practices Program reaches as far north as Red Lake in the west, and Moose Factory/ Weeneebayko in the east.

 

Combined, the Department counts over 1,400 faculty members, making us one of the largest family medicine departments in the world. We produce almost 40% of Ontario’s family physicians and through our expansion have played, and continue to play an important role in addressing the chronic shortage of family physicians in the country.

 

We are mindful that with the Department’s size and strength come responsibility and leadership. At this time in Ontario, family medicine has been given an extraordinary opportunity to reshape primary care. We are leading the way in the development of innovative interprofessional models of care through initiatives such as the transformation of our 14 core Family Medicine Teaching Units into Academic Family Health Teams, the creation of a Department-wide EMR Users’ Group and the establishment of a new Quality Improvement (QI) Program.

 

At the same time, DFCM researchers are generating new knowledge to improve quality of care and finding better ways to help physicians translate that knowledge into effective clinical practice.

 

Underlying all of these achievements is a deep commitment to social justice and equity – values reflected in the Department’s involvements at the local, national and international level.