For the second consecutive year, students in the Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine are bringing home the Murphy Cup, given as part of Family Medicine Day, sponsored by the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians (NCAFP).
The cup, awarded for the first time in 2024, goes to the medical school that boasts the highest attendance for the event.
Many Campbell faculty members are involved, as well, including, for Family Medicine Day, Dr. Robert Agnello, a Family Medicine assistant professor at Campbell. Dr. Nicholas Pennings, chair of Family Medicine at the medical school, associate professor of Family Medicine and director of the Health Center, took part in accompanying Academic Summit.
In December, the NCAFP honored Pennings with the 2024 Distinguished Family Physician Award, its most prestigious honor.
Family Medicine Day, Pennings said, presents an opportunity for students to learn more about family medicine, meet with residency programs around the state and learn practice skills commonly used in family medicine.
This year’s event, held Feb. 21-22 in Durham, included an Academic Summit with top-notch education on training future family physicians.
Family Medicine Day helps to recruit those future family physicians while they are still medical students, a news release says. “You are the future of family medicine,” NCAFP President Dr. Mark McNeill told students.
Campbell’s med school in both years has won the Murphy Cup by a wide margin, Pennings said.
The honor “reflects our commitment to family medicine and to meeting the needs of underserved populations,” Pennings said.
“We are incredibly grateful for everyone’s participation, the engaging discussions, and the shared commitment to strengthening the future of family medicine and supporting the next generation of family physicians,” Kathryn Atkinson, NCAFP director of CME & Events, said in a statement.
More than 90 medical students took part in Family Medicine Day, during which the students experienced the entire scope of the medical care practiced by family physicians, the release says. Sessions taught students to perform joint injections, suturing, point-of-care ultrasound tests and many other skills to help interested medical students understand what they might do for their patients as family physicians.
Jordan Gentry, a first-year med student from Campbell, is the new president of the Family Medicine Interest Group on campus; Andrew Gasperson, the outgoing president, and other CUSOM students have also played roles in the family medicine event for both years.
Gentry, of Yadkin County, said many of his fellow students Campbell are genuinely passionate about family medicine.
“While our education at CUSOM is outstanding, it’s events like this that truly bring out the ‘family’ in family medicine,” Gentry said. “I’ve always aspired to return to Yadkin County to help bridge the gaps that rural communities are too often left to face on their own, and events like this remind me that I’m not alone in that mission.”
Gentry believes family medicine should be rooted in relationships and a commitment to the well-being of patients and communities. “Events like this remind me that there are others who believe in this dream as well,” he added.
During the Academic Summit, leaders and faculty from residency programs and med schools gathered to learn the newest ideas and skills to improve residency training, under the direction of program co-chairs Dr. Aaron Lambert, program director for the Cabarrus Family Medicine Residency Program, and Dr. Regina Bray Brown, program director for the Harnett Health Family Medicine Residency Program.
The event’s sessions included developing adaptive learners, handling remediation among residents, better understanding physician burnout and other topics practical for the audience members’ work, the release says.
Dr. Christine Khandelwal, professor of Family Medicine and director of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Campbell, delivered the keynote address “Navigating Burnout and Moral Injury: Keeping the Flame Lit.”
Both NCAFP events serve the future of Family Medicine in North Carolina.
Exposure to the specialty helped medical students commit to Family Medicine, says the NCAFP, citing its own survey reports. It says 35.8% of students reported they were more likely to consider Family Medicine as their future specialty, thanks to attending Family Medicine Day.
“It was inspiring to see students so excited and engaged together,” Atkinson said. “It’s why Family Medicine Day was full of energy and enthusiasm from start to finish.”
The social connections among these like-minded attendees proved just as important, the NCAFP says.
“I’m having to keep calm right now with how excited I am for this,” Campbell med student Jacob Ortega said during the event.