Pay it Backward and Pay it Forward on #GivingTuesday

 Victoria Gorski, MD

Victoria Gorski, MD

I’m writing to ask you to put the STFM Foundation on your list of worthy causes to contribute to this year on #GivingTuesday.

The STFM Foundation plays a critical role in nurturing people at all phases of the career life cycle in academic family medicine. So this time of year presents a fitting opportunity for giving a gift to the organization that is likely to be for you, as it is for me, your primary professional family.

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Our Mentoring Relationship

By Irmanie Eliacin, MD, and Suzanne Minor, MD

On being the mentee

It all started 2.5 years ago. I was a brand new faculty coming out of a busy practice and entering the realm of academic medicine; when the opportunity afforded itself I ran with it. The transition from residency to a traditional outpatient clinic to academia was daunting. At the first curriculum committee meeting I attended, I saw from afar a smiling, warm face and heard her voice loud and resounding after they introduced me as a new faculty, saying “Welcome!” Little did I know Suzanne Minor, MD (Suzie) would soon be instrumental and integral in the development of my new role as an educator.

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Why They Stay

Amanda Zavodnick, MSW, LCSW

Amanda Zavodnick, MSW, LCSW

As health care providers, we empathize with the terror and pain victims of intimate partner violence encounter. We must also empathize with the abiding love they have for their partners. 

The question of why a partner stays in an abusive relationship is almost always accompanied by a myriad of accusatory allegations. All too often we hear that victims who stay in violent relationships are “crazy,” or that they are somehow responsible, or worse even, that they provoke and revel in the abuse. We must not surrender to these myths. If we truly wish to understand why these individuals stay in abusive relationships, we must recognize that this question never has a single answer; rather there are a constellation of reasons why individuals stay in violent relationships.

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