San Francisco, CA – On Friday, March 30, 2007, during its 59th Annual Scientific Assembly at The Fairmont Hotel San Francisco, the California Academy of Family Physicians-Foundation (CAFP-F) will announce San Francisco’s Peter Sommers, MD, as the recipient of the CAFP Foundation Award for Educational Excellence in Honor of Barbara Harris. CAFP-F annually presents this award to an individual who exemplifies innovation in family medicine education.

Dr. Sommers is Clincial Professor in the UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine and director of the Northern California Faculty Development Fellowship Program (NCFDP), a regional program that prepares family medicine teaching faculty members for successful careers in academic medicine. Through his role with the fellowship program, Dr. Sommers has impacted an entire generation of family medicine educators, and by training so many family physicians to become better teachers, he has been instrumental in seeding the entire family medicine field in California with talented family physicians who are themselves educators.

The NCFDFP, now in its 17th year, has been continuously funded through HRSA Title VII funds. It attracts 12-14 participants a year from all over Northern California who come together each month for an intensive three-day course that focuses on teaching skills, managing an academic career, organizational development, development as an educator and leader, and educational scholarship. A skills-based practicum, scholarly project, and ongoing mentoring are also part of the fellowship program. To date, 170 participants have completed the program, with many graduates going on to play leadership roles as faculty members in family medicine residency programs throughout Northern California.

Dr. Sommers helped create innovative biopsychosocial training programs and has pioneered faculty development in primary care, earning national recognition. His enthusiastic teaching has inspired learners at all levels, and his commitment to teaching and to medical education reflects a singular passion to improve the quality of how future physicians are trained. The success of the fellowship program is due in large part to Dr. Sommers’ vision of what education should be. Graduates of the fellowship program credit Dr. Sommers as playing an instrumental role in developing their teaching skills and self confidence as an educator.

CAFP-Foundation (CAFP-F) is the philanthropic arm of the CAFP. A 501(c)(3) educational foundation, CAFP-F supports education for medical students, family medicine residents and practicing family physicians.

Since 1948, CAFP has been analyzing and disseminating trends and information to assist California’s family physicians in their practices. With nearly 7,000 members, including active practicing family physicians, residents in family medicine, and medical students interested in the specialty, CAFP is the largest primary care medical society in California, and the largest chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Family physicians are trained to treat an entire family’s medical needs, addressing the whole spectrum of life’s medical challenges. FPs serve a broad base of patients in urban, suburban and rural areas, often in California’s most underserved areas.