CRG's Research Infrastructure: Concepts and Resources
Last Updated on April 16, 2022 by Lee Burnett, DO, FAAFP
Above: Acting Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu, the 2002 J. Jerry Rodos Lecturer at the Thirteenth National Conference in Bethesda, interacts with National Conference participants. From left, clockwise: Ana Bejinez-Eastman, MD, Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital (PIH), Whittier, California; Muntu Davis, MD, then a family medicine resident at PIH; Cynthia Olsen, MD, Wright State University, Dayton; Peter Nalin, MD, Indiana University Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis; John Payne, MD, Stanislaus Medical Center, Modesto, California, Dr. Moritsugu.
The National Conferences on Primary Health Care Access
The National Conferences are invitational conferences limited to around 50 persons annually.
The conferences focus on major themes in family and community medicine and primary health care access and are structured to interrelate with ongoing National Projects, described below. Conference management is provided by the Coastal Research Group.
The National Consortium on Community-Based Medical Education
The National Consortium is comprised of several interrelated activities that are associated with the subject matter of the National Conferences.
The consortium consists of the academic sponsors of the National Conferences on Primary Health Care Access, the institutional members of the Coastal Research Group, and the Consortium’s Fellows, Senior Fellows and Scholars.
The National Projects
The National Consortium has been approved by the Coastal Research Group Executive Board to conduct four projects associated with the National Conference Series:
1) the National Project on the Outcomes of Family Practice Residency Training, William A. Norcross, MD, Principal Investigator;
2) the National Project on the Heritage and Legacy of Family and Community Medicine, the late F. Marian Bishop, Ph.D., MSPH, Principal Investigator (her successor is yet to be named);
3) the Project on the Funding of Family and Community Medicine in the 21st Century, John E. Midtling, MD, MS, Principal Investigator; and
4) the National Project on the Community Benefits of Family Practice Residency Programs, Perry A. Pugno, MD, MPH, Principal Investigator.
The National Project Advisory Committees
Distinguished panels of physicians and researchers knowledgeable about the history and objectives of the academic discipline of family medicine comprise the National Project Advisory Committees.
The National Project Advisory Committee on Family Practice Residency Outcomes is a 20 person committee, comprised of the current and emeritus members of the Coastal Research Group’s Policy Analysis Committee and Research and Data Base Management Committee.
National Grand Rounds
Specific days of each of the National Conferences on Primary Health Care Access are dedicated to in-depth reviews of specific policy issues. National Grand Rounds announced for the next National Conferences are
(1) Strategic Programs to Impact the Geographic Distribution of Physicians,
(2) Primary Care Resources and the Public Health Infrastructure and
(3) the Community Benefits of Family Practice Residency Training.
The National Consortium Website
The Website provides information to the public and to National Consortium members about the various projects. In addition, it arranges hyperlinks between the Website and such National Consortium activities as the Internet-Based Annotated Bibliographies, described below.
Internet-Based Annotated Bibliographies
The National Consortium on Community-Based Medical Education is engaged in the development of annotated bibliographies on relevant subjects to family medicine and to community-based medical education.
One of these, the National Project on the Outcomes of Family Practice Residency Training, builds on a bibliography commissioned by the Coastal Research Group and published, under the authorship of Thomas C. Brown, Ph.D., in a hard-bound edition in 1989.
The Family Practice Residency Graduate Data Base
A comprehensive data base exists which contains the names, background information, and questionnaire responses of all the graduates of non-military family practice residency programs that have existed in the State of California from 1970 to present.
The Family Practice Residency Graduate Data Base has been constructed and maintained with the advice and oversight of experts in outcomes research.
The 16th National Conference
The 16th National Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Islandia on Mission Bay, San Diego. Conference dates will be April 10-12, 2005.