Funding and Advocacy

National Family Medicine Strategic Plan for Research

 


Suggested Reading

Family medicine research remains significantly underfunded, receiving a fraction of the support awarded to other specialties despite its foundational role in population health. “To enhance family medicine’s ability to deliver evidence-based care, a comprehensive research advocacy plan is imperative,” one that includes proportional federal funding (e.g., 5% of NIH allocations), dedicated infrastructure through agencies like AHRQ’s NCEPCR, and the creation of an NIH Office for Family Medicine Research (Etz et al., 2024).

Equally critical is investment in developing a diverse and sustainable research workforce. “Career development awards specifically designated for family medicine are needed to support early career researchers and provide flexibility for clinicians who want to stay engaged in patient care” (Moreno et al., 2024). The below articles from the JABFM Special Issue expand on these themes, highlighting successful models of advocacy, infrastructure building, and workforce development that can inform departmental and national strategies.

These strategies must be paired with strong institutional advocacy from department leaders to secure faculty lines, integrate with CTSAs and training programs, and align departmental missions with research excellence. Successful models with higher funding success highlight strategic recruitment around research themes, building mentorship networks, and fostering multidisciplinary collaboration. (Krist et al., 2024; Lucan et al., 2024; Bennett et al., 2024).

Leaders must act now to advocate, invest, and align priorities to ensure family medicine research informs policy, improves care, and drives equity.

Past Is Prologue: The Essential Role of Advocacy in Shaping the Future of Family Medicine Research

Current and Future Challenges to Publishing Family Medicine Research

Tactics for Internal Advocacy to Increase Research Capacity in a Family Medicine Department

Building Research Capacity (BRC): Purposes, Components, and Activities to Date

Family Medicine: Finding Its Way on the Federal Research Roadmap

For questions and updates on the strategic plan, please reach out to Shannon Robinson (srobinson@napcrg.org).