The University of Wisconsin Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) played a major role in planning and presenting at the seventh annual Family Medicine Midwest (FMM) Conference, held November 9-11, 2018, at Union South on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The theme of the conference was Advocacy for Health.”

The event focused on ways family physicians can help improve patients’ health not only through direct care, but also through advocacy and education on issues of health equity.

Seventeen DFMCH faculty, residents, and medical students served on the conference planning committee, which was co-chaired by Thomas Hahn, MD, an assistant professor (CHS) in the DFMCH.

More than 30 DFMCH faculty and residents and UW School of Medicine and Public Health students presented at the conference. In addition, 36 UW School of Medicine and Public Health students received scholarships to attend the event.

2018 Family Medicine Midwest Conference Slideshow

Student leaders from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health Family Medicine Interest Group get ready to serve up some delicious Babcock Hall ice cream to conference attendees.
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Welcome Workshops and Plenary Sessions

The conference got underway with a series of six expert-led Welcome Workshops, four of which featured DFMCH faculty, staff or colleagues:

  • David Deci, MD, spoke on family medicine and care for the homeless
  • Robin Lankton, MPH, CHES; Karina Atwell, MD; Jillian Landeck, MD; and Shelly Shaw, MPH, spoke about community health needs assessments;
  • Ronni Hayon, MD, spoke about transgender care; and
  • Thomas Hahn, MD, and Jennifer Edgoose, MD, MPH, spoke about inclusive mentorship.

The event’s opening plenary session featured an “advocacy in action” panel discussion. Panelists from UW Health/UW-Madison included:

  • Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, a Madison alderperson and UW Health’s Chief Diversity Officer;
  • Kellia Hansmann, MD, MPH, a third-year resident in the DFMCH’s Madison residency program; and
  • Kevin Thao, MD, MPH, a DFMCH faculty associate at the Aspirus Wausau family medicine residency program.

The conference’s featured plenary session offered an inspiring presentation from Oluwaferanmi Okanlami, MS, MD, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and the Director for Medical Student Success in its Office for Health Equity and Inclusion.

Dr. Okanlami, a family physician who in medical school suffered a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the chest down, spoke about overcoming the challenges of disability and advocating for access and opportunities for all.

Many Opportunities for Learning and Fun

All three conference days were packed with learning opportunities, including 29 education sessions, three sets of poster sessions and four sets of oral presentations.

Rounding out the educational program was a residency fair, a Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) network student dinner and advocacy discussion, and a Sunday morning breakfast discussion that included pre-medical students from UW-Madison.

For fun, the DFMCH hosted a Friday evening welcome reception with entertainment from Brenna Gibbons, a fourth-year UW School of Medicine and Public Health student, and her father Tom.

On Saturday, the DFMCH’s Adrienne Hampton. MD, also led a morning yoga session, and UW School of Medicine and Public Health FMIG student leaders served Babcock ice cream during an afternoon break.


Next year, the eighth annual FMM Conference will be held in Naperville, Illinois, in November 2019.

The FMM Conference is presented by the Family Medicine Midwest Foundation, a collaboration of family medicine stakeholders from 12 Midwest states. Special thanks to the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians for meeting management, and to all the committee members, faculty, learners, and staff who made the conference a success!

Published: December 2018