This headline question was posted recently on the events page of Harvard Medical School's Center for Primary Care: "What Could the Future of Harvard Medical School Look Like With Family Medicine?"

The event being touted -- a town hall meeting coordinated by medical students Diana Wohler, Mark Wu, Rachael Rosales and Ashley Shaw -- was designed to foster discussion about how to develop robust family medicine education opportunities for both students and faculty. The invitation was open to students, residents, faculty and administrators from Harvard Medical School and, in fact, all of greater Boston.

Fast forward to Nov. 5, when at 6 p.m., the town hall crowd started to arrive. As close to 120 people settled into their seats, the buzz began.

"We started five minutes late because as soon as people came in they started conversing with each other," said Wohler, as she described the evening for AAFP News.

"It was nice to see the community and the connections being formed right in front of us," said Wohler, who admitted she fell in love with family medicine after attending a family medicine interest group meeting shortly after arriving on campus in 2011.

"We had students and admins and faculty raising their hands; my (microphone) runners could hardly keep up with the number of people who were happy to talk about their experiences as learners and teachers," said Wohler.

Attendees were encouraged to share their experiences with primary care education, including successes, barriers and lessons learned, and to talk about what they wish they could experience.

Russell Phillips, M.D., has served as director of Harvard Medical School's Center for Primary Care(primarycare.hms.harvard.edu) since it opened in 2010.

Phillips, a primary care internist, told AAFP News that the center was created out of what was initially a student initiative to highlight and strengthen the role of primary care at the medical school.

"Our mission is to improve the health of our communities through transformation of primary care practice and education. And from the very beginning, there has been strong interest on the part of the medical school and center leadership to strength family medicine at Harvard," he said.

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Harvard Town Hall Meeting Fosters Enthusiasm About Family Medicine