Penn's research drives groundbreaking clinical advances, laying the foundation for better care in the community and the world — today and tomorrow.
The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health conducts innovative research that asks and answers important questions relevant to primary care, community medicine, and public health. Ultimately, the research will enable healthcare providers to deliver personalized patient–centered care in a primary care setting and inform innovative approaches to improve population health.
The department has ongoing research in areas of mental health, maternal child health, complementary and integrative medicine, Asian and cultural medicine, intimate partner violence, as well as educational research to improve the training of physicians.
The department is committed to conducting research in collaboration with the communities it serves, particularly those that suffer from disparities of health related to low income and race/ethnic minority status. The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health hopes that, by engaging the community, its research can directly transform the care for these populations and will have sustainable long–term benefits.
Goals for Penn's Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Research Program are:
- To be a nationally recognized leader in family medicine and primary care research, in areas such as aging, bioethics, depression, literacy and health, maternal and child health, integrative medicine, and the social determinants of health.
- To foster the development of Family Medicine clinician–investigators through mentoring by other investigators, collaborating within and outside the department, and continuing development and promotion of all faculty in rank and tenure appointments within the university.
- To engage learners of all level (undergraduates, medical students, graduate and other health professional students, residents and fellows) in clinical and translational research that seeks to improve primary care delivery and community health.