2008
August - Drs. Dickson, Harris, Shaffer and White presented lectures at the National NCFMR event held in Kansas City. Drs. Lawrenzi, Lott and Olomiye spent time with potential future residents.
Lauren Sachs, DO, MBA was named Alternate Resident Director to the Missouri Board Academcy of Family Physicians.
July - New Resident Orientation at Truman Lakewood, and it promises to be a great class. The Residency Office is already planning for Interview Season this year.
June - Graduation Dinner was held at Arrowhead Club this year. And the food was even better than last year!
Hail & Farewell was at Truman Lakewood and was a memorable occasion. We welcomed our new residents by giving them their Doctor's coats. We recognized 2008 graduates and their accomplishments. The class of 2008 finished with a slideshow including advice to new residents.
Graduation Awards:
Chief Residents ~ Gretchen Dickson, MD, MBA & Crystal Jones, MD
Resident Teacher of the Year ~ Gretchen Dickson, MD, MBA
Medical Records ~ Crystal Jones, MD
Highest In-Training
Exam ~ Matthew John, MD
Resident of the Year ~ Gretchen Dickson, MD, MBA
Stepped up
to the Plate Award ~ James Lawrenzi, DO
Graduates of Combined Residency / Rockhurst MBA Program ~ Gretchen Dickson, MD, MBA
Michael Richardson, MD, MBA
Teacher of the Year ~ Laura Hempstead, DO
Consultant of the
Year ~ Saladin Cooper, MD
March - We are very excited to welcome new UMKC Family Medicine residents for 2008-09! 
February - We have newly elected Chief Residents, Drs. Matthew John and Emily Lott. Current Chiefs, Drs. Gretchen Dickson and Crystal Jones will be training and passing duties on soon.
January - Our very successful interview season ended this month. We have had a record number of interviews through January 25th. The Call Back Party was on the 26th.
2007
December - Although we have had some really great residents come from Scramble, the Residency Office anticipates matching all 12 first-year positions this year. 2008 will be a great year!
We also had record numbers of families attend our Dept. of Community and Family Medicine Holiday Party, and fantastic food, fun, mingling and great memories were made by all.
November - We had a computerized In-Training Exam at the UMKC Main Campus. Resident Retreat was at the Hilton KCI. Dr. Mark Byler, Faculty and UMKC Family Medicine alumni, spoke on travel and missionary medicine.
October - Third Year Residents went to a Tucker Leadership Lab at William Jewell College for team building exercises.
Patient-Centered Interviewing. George Harris, MD, MS, FAAFP, Professor. How to develop an effective, time-efficient interview with each patient. Strengthen your communication and relationship-building skills as well as increase your confidence level with patients. (NCFMR)
How Quality of Care Impacts You and Your Future Practice. Gretchen Dickson, MD and Michael Richardson, MD, Residents. Todd Shaffer, MD, MBA, FAAFP, Program Director. Learn about the quality of care movement and why it is important. Find out how to interpret quality data and formulate possible interventions to improve care. Explore the role of a physician on a quality assessment team. Use of information technology resources to support quality efforts. Examine the relationship between pay-for-performance and published quality of care initiatives and standards. (NCFMR)
Two residents received honors for their research paper and poster presentations. The paper "Implementing a Quality Care Program for Diabetic Patients in a Family Medicine Residency" won FIRST prize in the nation in original research paper category and was re-presented to the full assembly by Gretchen Dickson, MD. The poster presentation received honorable mention (third) in research and was presented by Ethan Richard, DO. Congratulations!
September - Senator Clarie McCaskill came to UMKC School of Medicine to warn about drug companies influencing doctors. The presentation also included a talk by physician R. Stephen Griffith, the chairman of the medical school's department of community and family medicine. In an interview, Dr. Griffith said that drug companies like to target medical residents, who receive specialized training after graduating from medical school. "The idea is, if you can get them in the habit of writing prescriptions for your drugs when they're in residency, they'll continue to do that when they're in private practice," Griffith said. The pharmaceutical industry denies any wrongdoing. Griffith's department, which is based at Truman Medical Center Lakewood, last year banned drug company representatives from contacting its budding physicians. "They don't bring lunches, they don't leave pens," Griffith said of the representatives. "We didn't say the pharmaceutical representatives couldn't come to our hospital. We just don't let them have any interaction with our students and residents."