The David Braley and Nancy Gordon Endowed Chair In Family Medicine

David Braley, a prominent Hamilton-based industrialist and his wife, Nancy Gordon, a former pediatric nurse, are committed to fostering excellence in primary healthcare. In 2000 they generously donated $1 million dollars to establish an Endowed Chair in Family Medicine at McMaster University. McMaster University matched their contribution. The Braley/Gordon Chair was inspired by David Braley’s memory of his family physician and the place in his life while growing up and promotes the belief that excellent primary care depends on the establishment of meaningful relationships not only between doctors and patients but also among all the members of interdisciplinary primary care teams. The mandate of the Chair is to create and sustain innovations in Education, Clinical Service Delivery and Research; all of which are designed to enhance the doctor-patient and interprofessional team relationships.

Dr. Cathy Risdon, the inaugural Chair holder, held the position from 2001-2011 and was instrumental in creating a number of new initiatives within the Department/university.  She helped to create the Professional Competency Curriculum, an integrated 15 month undergraduate course to teach communication, ethical reasoning, interprofessional team skills and community medicine as well as focused her research (PIER and MIME) on interprofessional practice and education.  To read more about Dr. Risdon’s accomplishments over her time as the David Braley, Nancy Gordon Chair in Family Medicine, please click here.

As the final chapter of Dr. Risdon’s tenure as Chair, she (along with the Department of Family Medicine) hosted an invitational summit entitled “Family Medicine on the Borders: Exploring Theory and Practice” In her final year of the endowment, Dr. Risdon wanted to honour the mandate of the Chair by convening a diverse group of clinicians, scientists, artists and researchers for a chance to meaningfully and thoughtfully explore some of the most pressing and current issues in family medicine. The international list of invitees included guests from across Canada, the UK, Germany, Norway and the US, whose fields of inquiry and practice included ethics, business, mathematics, geography, neuroscience, philosophy, critical studies, sociology as well as nursing, internal medicine, physiotherapy, pharmacy, occupational therapy – and family medicine.  Proceedings of the meeting were recorded by a graphic facilitator for distribution to all participants.

The four half day sessions included a mix of short keynote addresses followed by smaller group discussions, initiated by participants.  On the last day, participants nominated a series of project groups, reflecting the themes and questions which emerged from the ongoing discussions.   A sample of these identified projects offers a glimpse into the nature of the creative and  diverse ideas and interests held by the group: “The clinical encounter as a local moral world;  “ Not “Just” Family Docs. Seeing ourselves through other eyes and claiming/naming our place in the medical world”; “ Formalizing ways to honour/measure “particularity” in research on guidelines”;   “Teacher error and learner safety“.

 

In the words of one participant, the summit invited a rich and deep consideration of the following question in relation to family medicine:  what is the story we are telling about ourselves, and what is the story others are telling about us?  Setting aside time to take that question seriously may at first seem like a luxury, but if our experience at the summit is any indication, the question took on some urgency.  Our department’s capacity to take that question seriously – and to create an event which attracted so many people to participate so thoughtfully – is an example of the kind of leadership the David Braley and Nancy Gordon Endowment has allowed us to offer the discipline of family medicine and our many allies and colleagues in other fields.