Harvard Medical School Launches $30M Primary Care Center

Harvard Medical School announced today the launch of a new Center for Primary Care, funded by a $30 million anonymous gift, that will serve as the focal point of the Medical School’s campaign to devote attention to primary care.

“Harvard Medical School’s commitment to leadership in all aspects of academic medicine led to serious, action-oriented discussions about the future of primary care, and this gift is a direct result of those conversations,” University President Drew G. Faust said in a press release. “I applaud Dean Flier for his bold and inclusive approach to forging primary care’s next frontier.”

The primary care initiative began in response to reports suggesting that primary care physicians are typically overworked and underpaid in comparison to colleagues who specialize in other disciplines. This trend has dissuaded medical students nationwide from primary care and has prompted some current practitioners to consider changing specialties later in their careers.

Medical School Dean Jeffrey S. Flier said that while this initiative cannot eliminate all concerns about the profession, he hopes that the University devoting attention to primary care will encourage more Medical School graduates to consider the field.

“The Center will create an organization at HMS that will both bring together the very large and diverse community interested in primary care, from students to trainees and faculty, and enhance that community by investing a lot of new resources,” he said.

Another aim of the new Center is to promote increased investment of both time and resources in primary care innovation. The anonymous gift will help to fund primary care scholarships, with a particular focus on issues related to health care policy.

The Center is the culmination of a year-long effort, led by the Primary Care Advisory Group, to rethink the Medical School’s approach to primary care. Comprising a diverse group of medical students, residents, faculty, and administrators assembled by the dean’s office, PCAG also solicited input from the Medical School community to include the perspectives of all affiliates.

“Harvard is a place that trains future leaders,” said Russell S. Phillips, professor of medicine and co-chair of the Primary Care Advisory Group. “My hope is that the Center will encourage students to come to HMS who hope to be future leaders in primary care.”

Flier said he hopes that the Medical School’s efforts will help spark increased innovation in the field of primary care on the national level.

“We have the most amazing student body and faculty and trainees who are potentially able to change the field of primary care medicine when given the proper resources and encouragements,” he said. “I would like to see, in the next five to 10 years, that through specific initiatives there will be major changes both locally and, ideally, nationally in how primary care is organized and carried out.”

—Staff writer Barbara B. DePena can be reached at barbara.b.depena@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Monica M. Dodge can be reached at mdodge@college.harvard.edu.