Alum to Alum At the spring conference of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, Dan Ostergaard, MD (BS Med ’71), vice president of professional activities for the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), left, presents Robert Beattie, MD ’89, associate professor and chair of family and community medicine, the 2009 Top Ten Award for the highest percentage of medical school graduates who enter the field of family medicine. UND ranked first in the nation for this recognition, with a three-year average of 20.3 percent of its MD grads choosing family medicine.

The University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences is the best in the country for producing family medicine physicians, according to rankings released by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

Ranking first among 126 medical schools in the country, UND earned the Achievement Award from the AAFP, which recognizes outstanding efforts to foster student interest in family medicine and produce graduates who enter the specialty.

Based on a three-year average, for the period ending October 2007, 20.3 percent of UND’s graduates have entered an accredited family medicine residency program. The overall U.S. match rate for family medicine this year is 7.4 percent, according to the AAFP.

“We are very pleased to be recognized as the nation’s most effective medical school in encouraging students to pursue the specialty of family medicine,” said Joshua Wynne, MD, MBA, MPH, senior executive vice president for health affairs and executive dean of the UND medical school, Grand Forks.  “We are working hard to address North Dakota’s need for physicians and other health care workers, especially those in the field of family medicine.”

According to Robert Beattie, MD ’89 (Family Medicine Residency ’92), chair of the school’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, Grand Forks, “The AAFP Achievement Award recognizes the results of the quality education and training our students receive from exceptionally talented family physicians throughout the state.”