HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY MEDICINE

The Center for Family and Community Medicine was established in July 2007. The current Center incorporates the research programs of the former Center for Community Health Partnerships with the clinical and teaching programs of Family Medicine at Columbia University, to address the needs of patients and families in underrepresented urban communities.

FAMILY MEDICINE AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

The Family Medicine Program at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is committed to training physicians who want to acquire the special skills needed to care for families, particularly those with problems unique to urban communities.

The program also strives to teach its residents to develop systems that improve the health of whole communities, to motivate them to teach family practice to fellow practitioners, and, fundamentally, to inspire them to create change. Among the managers of health care, the importance of primary care and preventive services is gaining greater recognition. The influence of managed care has drawn primary care physicians from the periphery of the provider system to its center. Concurrently, much of primary care methodology is being reexamined from a more critical, scientific perspective. Family medicine, the academic branch of the clinical discipline known as family practice, is examining relevant primary care issues and conducting research to provide meaningful answers.

In short, Family Medicine is recruiting and training leaders for tomorrow's health care.

HISTORY OF THE CENTER FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS

The Center for Community Health Partnerships was established in 2002 to represent Columbia University's commitment to working with community-based organizations in northern Manhattan. The Center serves as a university-community catalyst by creating academic community partnerships that improve the health of the community and by developing new knowledge in community participatory research to better address issues of health disparities. The Center's grant funded initiatives encompassed various approaches to understanding and reducing health care disparities, both in northern Manhattan and nationally.