A Message from the Chair

On behalf of our faculty, residents, fellows, and staff I would like to invite you to learn about the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Our primary clinical site is located within the heart of an academic medical center, where we care for vulnerable populations in our surrounding communities. Our department is committed to compassionate, culturally sensitive, and inclusive care. All of our providers are passionate about caring for patients who often have complex medical needs along with challenging social and economic circumstances. Above all, it is our mission to treat everyone who seeks care within our department with the utmost respect – a value we all share.

In addition to being a leading center for training in family medicine, preventive medicine, obesity medicine, and medical informatics, our department is a national leader in health services research. We are the home for the UH ADVANCE (Advancing Diagnosis through Validated Analytics and Novel Collaborations for Excellence) Center – funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). At any given time, there are a number of research projects underway within the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, and department faculty have received funding from AHRQ, the NIH, PCORI, and the American Heart Association, among other organizations. Our commitment to scholarship includes not only pursuing grant funded research at the highest level, but also training in basic research skills, scholarly writing, and quality improvement.

I am immensely proud of our Department, and especially the wonderful graduates of our family medicine residency program, whom I have witnessed flourish in training and also in practice across North America and beyond. It is a great privilege to lead our innovative and diverse department. Once again, I invite you to reach out, learn about us, and help us learn about you.

Goutham Rao, MD

Chairman & Division Chief, Department of Family Medicine
Clinical Professor, Case Western Reserve University