November 2024

Dear friend and colleague

If you are receiving this letter, you are part of the legacy of Family Medicine at Mizzou. Your work and contributions have created our present, the Department that we are today. I write to tell you that we have much to celebrate! Your department leads in many spaces:

  • Residency rated #30 of more than 1100 US Family Medicine Residencies (Doximity, 2024)
  • President, Missouri Academy of Family Physicians: Dr. Natalie Long
  • Missouri Delegate (1 of 2) to AAFP Congress of Delegates: Dr. Peter Koopman
  • Member, United States Preventive Services Task Force: Dr. James Stevermer
  • Member, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices: Dr. Laura Morris
  • President, North American Primary Care Research Group: Dr. Richelle Koopman
  • Members, National Academy of Medicine: Dr. Jack Colwill, Dr. Michael LeFevre
  • Members, ABFM National Journal Club Steering Committee: Dr. Nick LeFevre, Dr. Erik Lindbloom, Dr. Laura Morris

In addition to strong contributions nationally and at the state level, department members continue to provide leadership in MU Health and the School of Medicine. We staff 11 family medicine clinics across 5 counties with 4 residency teaching sites. We are the primary doctors for an ever-growing patient population, now almost 70,000. Currently, we have 16 residents per entering class, and active fellowships in Academic Family Medicine, Sports Medicine, Geriatrics, and Palliative Medicine, as well as a Master of Science of Academic Medicine degree track. Our researcher teams lead both the Missouri Practice Based Innovations Network (MO PIN) and Rural Health Research Center.

Despite these tremendous successes, we are challenged to secure funding for education, scholarship and research – work that has enabled us to become local and national leaders.

The generosity of our family of donors has established and enhanced endowments that provide ongoing support for educating students, training residents and fellows, and discovering and sharing knowledge that will improve health. Among other things, contributions from our donors help send residents and fellows to present and learn at national meetings – valuable experiences that strengthen their skills and development into future leaders. To everyone who has sent a gift to MU Family Medicine, we appreciate you!

I write to ask you, who have built our present, to strengthen our future with an end-of-the-year donation to the FUTURE OF FAMILY MEDICINE PROFESSOR, an endowment we established 20 years ago to enhance our efforts to renew and transform the discipline of family medicine.


To learn more about the Future of Family Medicine Professor or to view a complete list and description of our funds, visit our website: medicine.missouri.edu/FCMgiving. For online gifts, please use the link on our giving page or if you prefer to mail your gift, use the donation form and return envelope included with this letter.

Please contact me if you have questions or feedback. I value your interest in our department and wish you the best this holiday season.

With thanks,
Richelle J. Koopman, MD, MS
Professor and Chair
Jack M. and Winifred S. Colwill Chair

A SPECIAL NOTE
It is an exciting time indeed – we are celebrating our 50th graduating residency class with a reunion and CME event June 27, 28, 2025 – mark your calendar and plan to join us!

 

Richelle J. Koopman, MD, MS
Richelle J. Koopman, MD, MS
Professor and Jack M. and Winifred S. Colwill Chair

 

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