AFMRD Member Benefits

Our Community

What makes the AFMRD unique?

We cater exclusively to family medicine residency directors and their associate program directors. With our sharp focus on leadership, the AFMRD has successfully served an entire nation of family medicine residency directors — and influenced the direction of the discipline — for more than 30 years.

Today, the AFMRD offers an ever-expanding array of benefits to members. Read on for a glimpse of what we offer.

Connections

One of the most lauded benefits of an AFMRD membership is the opportunity for program directors to communicate with and learn from a vibrant, experienced community of peers.

All active members may participate in the AFMRD online discussion forum, where they are free to share ideas and information as well as to air questions, concerns, frustrations, and celebrations — all within the comfort of a “gated community” of peers. 

Also, at any time, you may reach out to individual program directors from around the country through AFMRD’s member directory. Search by name, state, residency program, scope of practice, or areas of interest. (Be sure to fully complete your own profile so other members can connect with you.)

Career Development

There is always a huge demand for our renowned National Institute for Program Director Development (NIPDD). This professional development program, led by an esteemed Academic Council, is a nationally recognized fellowship open to a limited number of participants each year.

Those accepted to the NIPDD fellowship will engage with and learn from seasoned program directors, family medicine educators, and other family medicine leaders. The NIPDD fellowship uses a one-of-a-kind, real-world, adult learning model to enhance knowledge, attitudes, and skills and to groom participants to become effective residency directors.

Resources

The AFMRD provides you with the resources essential to meeting all of the day-to-day responsibilities and challenges of running a successful residency program. Our committees, task forces, and liaisons work to keep these resources as current as possible, ensuring you have the information you need to navigate the choppy waters of ever-changing regulations and expectations. 

Many of our resources are stored within AFMRD’s popular PD Toolbox. This online library contains links to external resources, sample documents from a variety of residency programs, and more. Also tucked in the PD Toolbox are high-demand, AFMRD treasures such as the AFMRD Salary Survey, which provides data helpful in negotiating residency program salaries.

The Family Medicine Residency Curriculum Resource (RCR) is a low-cost online library of competency-based content developed by AFMRD in collaboration with the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. In addition to being able to subscribe to RCR's growing database of learning and teaching tools, AFMRD members may fulfill scholarly activity requirements by submitting content to the RCR for peer review.

Recognition

The AFMRD celebrates the accomplishments of program directors and their residents through a number of annual awards.

Our Program Director Recognition Award recognizes program directors for tenure, training, scholarly activity, peer development, professional development, and advocacy. You may nominate yourself for this award.

The Nikitas J. Zervanos Outstanding Program Director Award honors a program director who demonstrates leadership and advancement of the specialty, is a mentor to residents and medical students, and provides service to the community and to family medicine organizations. The recipient of this award is named by the AFMRD and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Each year, the AFMRD provides residency programs the opportunity to select worthy residents to receive the AFMRD Resident Award for Scholarship and the AFMRD Resident Award for Advocacy.

Representation

The AFMRD maintains a leadership role in family medicine by being actively involved in health policy and academic issues.

Through our board of directors and a robust network of liaisons, the AFMRD serves as a conduit between our members and other family medicine organizations, regulatory organizations, and government agencies.

The AFMRD represents you and your interests through our alliance with a number of organizations, including the following:  Organization of Program Director Associations (OPDA), Academic Family Medicine Advocacy Committee (AFMAC), Council of Academic Family Medicine (CAFM), CAFM Educational Research Alliance, Family Medicine Leadership Consortium (FMLC), Annals of Family Medicine Board of Directors,  American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), Center for the History of Family Medicine, AAFP Commission on Education (COE), AAFP Congress of Delegates, and the Residency Leadership Summit (RLS) Symposium Planning Committee.

We advocate for and inform our members on legislative and policy issues that impact family medicine residency programs. We support a dedicated advocacy representative in Washington, DC, Nina DeJonghe, and we encourage residents and members to become active in advocacy by annually providing  Family Medicine Advocacy Summit Scholarships.

Involvement

The AFMRD is your organization!  Help make decisions that shape the future of family medicine residency training.  Attend the AFMRD Annual Meeting, join an AFMRD committee or task force, or serve as a liaison. There are many opportunities. Ask any AFMRD staff or board member for information on how to get involved.