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The NIPDD 9-month fellowship provides instruction, education, and formative experiences designed for family medicine physician educators to enhance and develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be effective leaders as directors of residency programs. 1 Historically, postgraduate training program directors in family medicine faced many challenges without signifi cant training in fi nance or administration. For those reasons, and because family medicine directors might not have support from other program directors, the sessions on stress and burnout were always full at the Program Directors Workshop. In 1994, during a strategic planning meeting of AFMRD, the idea of a school for program directors surfaced. At the same time, the ABFM was seeking a way to educate program directors on policies and procedures to assure resident eligibility for the certifi cation exam. With major fi nancial support from the ABFM, the idea became reality. In-kind staff support from the AAFP and AFMRD, and the interface with AFMRD, AAFP, STFM, RAP, and ABFM initiated the creation of the Academic Council by selecting representatives of those organizations to participate as members of the Council and to teach in the fellowship. 1 The Academic Council reports to the AFMRD Board of Directors through the Council Chair. Each element of the fellowship receives CME credit from the appropriate medical specialty organizations and the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE).

A 28 item Q-sort instrument was developed and administered to 159 clinical teachers in family medicine. The 28 items represented behaviors or attitudes of clinical teachers. Factor analyses yielded a three-factor structure for describing characteristics of the ideal clinical teacher. The factors were given the names "authority," "sensitivity," and "capability."

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STFM presidential theme, "Searching for Solutions: Realizing Our Vision, Renewing Ourselves, and Supporting It All," responds to 3 important challenges for the Society.First, STFM will work to realize the vision of the Future of Family Medicine (FFM) report and the New Model of practice. The STFM Board has commissioned a special task force to focus the Society' s efforts and to prioritize how we can bring the New Model into our residency and departmental practices. Our efforts need to be consistent with our strategic plan, take advantage of our unique capacities, and make a difference. Watch for future developments and announcements.Second, STFM will continue its focus on providing valuable opportunities for growth and renewal. The STFM Board will work closely with its standing committees to ensure that STFM meetings and scholarly forums provide the right mixture of presentation opportunities, scholarship, and careful examination of the issues we face as a discipline.Third, STFM is launching the New Partners Initiative (NPI) to assist departments, residency programs, and individual faculty members to develop relationships with new partners, to develop new attitudes and fund-raising skills, and to develop new sources of support.The impetus for NPI lies in the following trends:• Title VII support hangs on precariously; funding has been reduced and, if it survives, it will likely take a very different form in the next several years• Medicare/Medicaid indirect and direct medical education payment rates have dropped considerably in the past 10 years, and current pressures on the federal budget suggest that they will continue to drop• Insurance reimbursement and managed care payment rates, such as IME and DME, continue to decline Over the years, academic family medicine organizations and faculty have become dependent on these declining funding streams. In recent years we've spent enormous amounts of time and effort on sustaining them, with increasingly diminishing returns. The FFM report noted that, "Faculties are … consumed by the demands of clinical care and teaching, with little time, energy, motivation, or resources for scholarly inquiry." 1The good news from FFM is that the American people want a good relationship with a personal physician. There are foundations, corporations, individuals, and community groups poised to become our partners in health care and education. We need to develop new attitudes, new partnerships, and new funding approaches that project excellence, competence, and the value of our contributions.During the coming months NPI will roll out in 3 phases:• The NPI Think Tank will convene on September 28, 2005 at the AAFP Scientifi c Assembly in San Francisco to identify appealing big ideas and "funding magnets," to suggest key strategic relationships, and to provide overall direction for the project. The Think Tank • The Academic Fundraising Fellowship is accepting enrollees now, and each year it will offer 2 workshops and an optional year-long one-on-one coaching program. Participants will lear...

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