Primary care physicians play an essential role in screening for and identifying cognitive health changes in patients. Thomas W. Bishop, PsyD, shares the importance of training residents to practice with cognitive health in mind. He shares his go-to screening tools and highlights how lifestyle factors such as physical activity and social connection are key to brain health. Dr Bishop also makes the case for an integrated team approach to navigating the complex diagnostic differences between dementia, delirium, and depression.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with Eli Lilly and Company, and has been produced independently of STFM partners. 

Hosted by Omari A. Hodge, MD, and Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase, MD
Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Resources:

• A Large Health System Quality Improvement Intervention Providing Training and Tools to Improve Detection of Cognitive Impairment in Primary Care - J Am Geriatr Soc
• KAER Framework - Gerontological Society of America (GSA)
• Mini-Cog - Quick Screening for Early Dementia Detection 
• MoCA Cognition
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
• LifeStyle Medicine and Nutritional Healing with Joseph E. Scherger, MD, MPH - STFM Podcast

Guest Bio:
Dr Thomas W. Bishop is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Chattanooga, where he serves as an Associate Program Director and Director of Behavioral Medicine. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan. Across his career, Dr Bishop has focused on preparing family medicine learners and care teams to deliver integrated, whole-person care within primary care settings.
His background includes longstanding work in behavioral medicine, psychology training within medical education, and scholarship related to cognition, learning, memory, and neurobehavioral functioning. His early academic work and professional interests included neuropsychology, and his career has continued to center on helping frontline clinicians recognize how cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and medical factors intersect in everyday patient care. Through years of practice in integrated primary care, he has helped train residents to identify concerns that may signal brain health problems, use practical screening approaches, promote prevention, engage patients and families, and connect patients with appropriate specialty evaluation and treatment when needed.
Dr Bishop has taught and presented nationally on behavioral health in family medicine, communication skills, interprofessional education, physician development, and innovative approaches to residency training. In this conversation, he brings that experience to the important topic of equipping family medicine residents to address brain health through prevention, screening, and referral for appropriate specialty care.
Link:
https://www.stfm.org/stfmpodcast092026

Can artificial intelligence restore humanity to my patient interactions? In this episode, Dr May Lin and Dr Brent Sugimoto explore how ambient scribing and smarter administrative tools free physicians to be truly present with their patients, allowing technology to become a bridge in patient care rather than a barrier. Our guests also tackle the ethical and policy dimensions of how AI affects family medicine in both the exam room and the classroom. They identify the current moment as an opportunity for residency programs to shape how AI is used in family medicine, emphasizing that if today’s residents are not trained to use AI tools ethically and wisely, their future patients may miss out on the benefits of technology-assisted care.
Hosted by Omari A. Hodge, MD, FAAFP and Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase, MD
Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Resources:

• Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Primary Care Curriculum (AiMPC) Course
• Ethical Use of AI in the Family Medicine Clinic - STFM Webinar
• An Opportunity to Thrive - AI in Family Medicine - STFM Podcast
• AI Deep Dive Summer Series Episode 1: Integrating AI into Family Medicine Curriculum Design - STFM Podcast
• AI Deep Dive Summer Series Episode 2: The Promises and Pitfalls of AI in Residency Assessment - STFM Podcast

Guest Bio:
May Lin, DO
Dr Lin is board certified in Family Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM). She practices at Amazon/One Medical where she also serves as the Director of Academic Development. A graduate of Harvard Medical School's Executive Education Course on AI in Healthcare, Dr. Lin serves on the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine’s (AACOM) Technology Task Force, Touro University's AI Task Force, and the American Osteopathic Information Association’s (AOiA) national steering committee. As an Osteopathic Health Policy Fellow, Dr. Lin blends policy interest with leadership experience in healthcare technology and medical education. Dr. Lin is passionate about advancing medical innovation giving patients increased access, decrease cost and improved quality in high touch, technology forward medical care. Integrating primary care, medical innovation, healthcare technology, and healthcare policy are key attributes to supporting primary care and elevating our next generation for sustainable primary care practice and delivery.

Brent Sugimoto, MD, MPH
Dr Sugumoto is program director of the LifeLong Medical Care Family Medicine Residency Program and a Family Physician who specializes in HIV medicine. He currently serves as co-chair of the AAFP/Rock Health “Advancing AI and Digital Health for Primary Care Initiative.” Brent ventured into artificial intelligence after the birth of his first child—when parenthood made him rethink the boundaries of his professional and personal lives—and co-founded a startup called Decoded Health, which leveraged technology from DARPA to build tools to make primary care sustainable. Since then, Brent has worked to increase family medicine’s engagement in AI/ML as a potentially transformative and disruptive technology through physician education and policy work within the specialty. Brent is excited to be a member of this task force, as he believes health technology literacy will be a critical competency for future family physicians. He uses ambient scribing with moderate success in his own practice.

Link:
https://www.stfm.org/stfmpodcast082026 

How is artificial intelligence reshaping the way we train and assess the next generation of family physicians? In this episode, Dr John Hayes and Dr Karim Hanna explore the promises and pitfalls of AI in residency assessment, from automating milestone tracking and grading robust essay exams to getting started with your first automated workflow. They also discuss how when AI takes on more of the data analysis and synthesis tasks, faculty will need to increase their coaching skills. On the other side, our guests offer an honest look at the risks of over-reliance on technology, cautioning educators to guard against "un-skilling" learners who may already lean too heavily on AI for clinical reasoning. Learn how to incorporate AI as a powerful supplemental tool while preserving the human connection that lies at the heart of family medicine. 
Hosted by Omari A. Hodge, MD, FAAFP and Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase, MD
Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Resources:

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Primary Care Curriculum (AiMPC) Course
• Ethical Use of AI in the Family Medicine Clinic - STFM Webinar
• An Opportunity to Thrive - AI in Family Medicine - STFM Podcast
• AI Deep Dive Summer Series Episode 1: Integrating AI into Family Medicine Curriculum Design - STFM Podcast
• Learning after Training: The Master Adaptive Learner - STFM Podcast
• STFM Competency-based Medical Education Toolkit
• STFM Collaborative List - Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education Collaborative

John Hayes DO

Prior to his current roles, Dr Hayes served as a Family Medicine Clerkship Director, where he led a major curriculum modernization effort that enhanced the clerkship experience for medical students. Dr Hayes is now pioneering the integration of Artificial Intelligence in medical assessments, specifically in Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs). Additionally, he is developing a summative clinical reasoning examination designed to move away from traditional multiple-choice testing and into essay prompts with AI assisted grading. He is also exploring the use of ambient AI to enhance residency education and improve communication skills for both residents and faculty, aiming to foster a collaborative learning environment. He definitely used AI to help generate this blurb.

Karim Hanna, MD

Dr Karim Hanna is an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and the founding Program Director for the USF TGH Family Medicine Residency. His work integrates primary care education and AI advancements. Dr Hanna's interests in health tech spurred his writing of a blog - MedEd+AI - with a focus on AI's role in medical education and clinical implications. His scholarly work includes research on LLMs for clinical applications and improving education through AI.

Learning the “basics” of AI begins with understanding how AI can help lighten the load family medicine educators carry every day in the clinic and classroom. In the first episode of our AI Deep Dive Summer Series, Drs Linda Chang and Rika Bajra discuss how AI has already affected medical education, from curriculum design and competency-based education to formative assessment and personalized learning. They show how AI literacy allows educators to reclaim time to focus on the human-centered aspects of patient care and medical education. And if you feel like it’s too late to start learning about AI, they offer practical tips for both using and teaching AI in medical education. 

Hosted by Omari A. Hodge, MD, FAAFP and Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase, MD
Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Resources:

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Primary Care Curriculum (AiMPC) Course
• Ethical Use of AI in the Family Medicine Clinic - STFM Webinar
• An Opportunity to Thrive - AI in Family Medicine - STFM Podcast
• Establishing a National Framework for Family Medicine AI Centers of Excellence - Fam Med.

Linda Chang, PharmD, MPH
Dr Chang is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine Rockford, with a background as a board-certified clinical pharmacist, a degree in Public Health, and ongoing studies toward a Master’s in Health Professions Education. She spent 17 years as faculty in the Family Medicine Residency Program and currently serves as the Pharmacology Theme Director at the College of Medicine, where she teaches evidence-based medicine and public health. Her work reflects an interdisciplinary approach to medical education that integrates clinical practice, public health, and emerging technologies. As co-director of the AI in Medicine theme at UIC, Dr Chang has co-led the development and implementation of a longitudinal, integrated AI in Medicine curriculum, a fourth-year elective course, and an AI in Medicine scholarly concentration program.
 
Rika Bajra, MD
Dr Bajra is an Assistant Clinical Professor in Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford School of Medicine, where she practices as a family physician and teaches medical students as the Associate Director of the Clerkship in Family and Community Medicine. In her roles as Telehealth Co-Director and Telemedicine Education Curriculum Lead, she is focused on integrating technology tools into clinical practices and medical education through a primary care lens. She has previously developed telemedicine curricula with the STFM Telemedicine Task Force and received an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) grant to create a longitudinal telemedicine curriculum. Currently, Dr Bajra is exploring the integration of artificial intelligence into the Family Medicine curriculum and its application in reducing faculty burden in Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) assessments. In her personal life, she lives with her husband and three boys and enjoys hiking and traveling.

Link: https://www.stfm.org/stfmpodcast062026 

As a special episode of the STFM Podcast, listen to an audio recording of the presidential address session of the 2026 STFM Annual Spring Conference: “STFM President’s Address–Timing, Relationships and Opportunity: The Journey to Family Medicine” by Molly Clark, PhD.

Molly Clark, PhD delivers her STFM President’s Address, “Timing, Relationships and Opportunity: The Journey to Family Medicine” from STFM’s Annual Spring Conference.

Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Speaker Bios

Molly Clark, PhD
Molly Clark is currently a tenured Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). She received her doctoral training in Counseling Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi, completed her residency at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and fellowship in Health Psychology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She also holds an appointment in the Department of Human Behavior and Psychiatry at the UMMC.

Dr Clark was sworn in as STFM President during the 2026 STFM Annual Spring Conference in New Orleans, LA. She has previously served on STFM’s Board of Directors as member-at-large and on the Behavioralist and Family Educator Fellowship Steering Committee.

As a special episode of the STFM Podcast, listen to an audio recording of the opening general session of the 2026 STFM Annual Spring Conference: "The Primacy of Primary Care—How Rural Can Lead the Way" by Kevin Bennett, PhD.
 
Dr Bennett will discuss how rural healthcare, and primary care in particular, has evolved over the years, and how rural communities have adapted in response. Innovative delivery models, workforce, and other solutions will be discussed, particularly in the context of the current policy environment. Opportunities for rural primary care to pave the way for new models of care will be discussed as a springboard for future work.
 
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
·       Describe the current landscape of innovative rural models of care delivery.Understand the impact of federal and state policies on rural care.
·       Understand the impact of federal and state policies on rural care.
·       Describe how rural primary care can revitalize health care delivery.
Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Speaker Bios
Kevin Bennett, PhD
Dr Bennett is a professor of Family & Preventive Medicine at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. He serves as the director of the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare. He also serves as the immediate past president of the National Rural Health Association.Dr Bennett's work focuses on improving health care delivery for marginalized and underserved communities, particularly in rural areas, while examining the influence of national, state, or local policies and legislation on these populations. He has worked extensively with community groups, rural health networks, health care systems, and state agencies to pioneer and assess innovative care delivery programs. He also has an extensive publication history examining the disparities in health care access, quality, and outcomes experienced by rural populations.

International Medical Graduates (IMGs) make up a significant portion of the U.S. healthcare workforce. Recent federal visa policy changes have introduced new challenges to their entry into residency programs. Immigration attorney Denise Gavica Perez and STFM's Director of Government Relations Nina DeJonghe, MPP, discuss the personal, financial, and logistical implications of these changes, with a focus on differences between J-1 and H-1B visas. They examine the importance of current visa status for medical students and consider how these policies may influence the Match. They also review current advocacy efforts within an evolving federal policy environment. 

This episode is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult a qualified attorney for specific guidance for your situation.

The episode was recorded on March 26, 2026.

Hosted by Omari A. Hodge, MD, FAAFP and Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase, MD

Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Resources:

• Education commission for Foreign Medical Graduates 
• International Medical Graduates (IMG) Toolkit - AMA 

Guest Bio:

Denise Gavica Perez

Denise Gavica Perez provides cutting-edge and creative legal counsel to companies and institutions throughout the U.S. She has extensive experience managing employment-based immigration cases for non immigrant and immigrant visas, and immigration planning and compliance programs for entities engaged in a wide range of industries, including: hospitals and healthcare institutions, construction, engineering, architecture, technology, entertainment, food service, hospitality, publishing, retail, education, financial services and banking, export and import, and other sectors. She also advises entrepreneurs and high net-worth individuals regarding investment-based U.S. immigration, including the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. 

Denise handles a wide range of nonimmigrant visas and petitions, and also provides advanced and strategic advice to clients on a variety of immigrant visas and labor certifications (PERM) for numerous occupations. She also handles family-based cases and U.S. citizenship matters, and regularly represents companies in connection with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Department of State (DOS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Form 1-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) audits. 

In addition, Denise has successfully processed many J-1 waivers, including those issued under the Conrad 30 program, and has assisted several employees worldwide in qualifying for national interest exceptions (NIE) and other exceptions at U.S. consulates and embassies abroad to travel to the U.S. 

In representing several large entities nationwide, Denise always partners with and assists her clients to ensure they remain compliant with government regulations. She routinely counsels hospitals and healthcare institutions seeking to obtain non immigrant and immigrant visas for employees worldwide, including: physicians, residents, fellows, nurses, pharmacists, medical technologists, and other healthcare experts and professionals in all medical practices. She also represents recruitment and staffing agencies tasked with recruiting healthcare professionals. 

For several years, she served as an Adjunct Professor for the paralegal program at Florida International University, and has lectured at local seminars on immigration topics. 

Nina DeJonghe, MPP

Nina DeJonghe, MPP, is a seasoned public policy professional with several years of leadership, legislative, and non-profit experience. As the Director of

Are you struggling to move partially finished manuscripts from idea to submission? Super publisher and nationally recognized behavioral health expert Dr Stacy Ogbeide inspired our hosts with her love of scholarship, and she is here to encourage you too. Dr Ogbeide shares the secrets to integrating scholarship into a busy academic medicine schedule and ditching the myth that you can only write during protected time. Discover her actionable tips like utilizing medical librarians, scheduling (and keeping) meetings with yourself, and learning the difference between your “major flow” and your “minor flow.”  
Hosted by Omari A. Hodge, MD, FAAFP and Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase, MD
Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Resources:

• Leadership through Scholarship Fellowship 
• Family Medicine - Author Instructions
• PRiMER - Author Instructions 
• 10 Ways Your Medical Librarian Can Help You Succeed With Scholarly Projects - FM FOCUS
• Creating a Faculty Development Infographic: From Idea to Publication - FM FOCUS
• Pragmatic Decisions: Choosing a Qualitative Research Methodology - FM FOCUS
• Strategies for Mixed-Methods Research in Health Professions Education Research - FM FOCUS
• Jumpstart Your Writing With an Idea Log - FM FOCUS
• Clinical Efforts Double Disparity for Nonphysician URiM Faculty: Implications for Academic Family Medicine - Fam Med.

Guest Bio:
Stacy Ogbeide, PsyD, ABPP
By training, Dr Ogbeide is a board-certified clinical health psychologist. Dr Ogbeide is the primary care track coordinator for the Clinical Psychology Internship, associate chair for Professional Development & Scholarship for the Department of Family & Community Medicine, and an associate professor (with tenure) of Family & Community Medicine. Dr Ogbeide also has a joint appointment with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Additionally, Dr Ogbeide serves as an assistant dean for faculty in the Office for Faculty within the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.
Dr Ogbeide is nationally known for her work in behavioral health integration in primary care, serving on committees such as the National Integration Academy Council through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Integrated Primary Care Advisory Group through the American Psychological Association, as well as an associate editor for the journals Families, Systems, & Health and Psychological Services. Dr Ogbeide has more than 60 scholarly publications, more than 160 professional presentations conducted nationally and internationally, and been continually funded through federal grants related to primary care workforce development since 2017.
Dr Ogbeide’s professional areas of interest include: The Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) consultation model, behavioral medicine/health psychology, faculty development and mentorship for those who are underrepresented within academic medicine, clinical supervision in primary care, and primary care workforce development. Dr Ogbeide’s work has been featured on Texas Public Rad

Is it possible to differentiate burnout from exhaustion, or resilience from endurance? Sometimes, for program directors, clinicians, and residents, it can be difficult to recognize when difficulties are a part of the job, or something under their control. In this exciting conversation, program director and career coach Santina Wheat, MD, MPH, discusses the many ways coaching provides physicians an extra set of eyes that help them recognize the “hidden load” carried by many medical educators. She offers strategies to help leaders set intentional boundaries, take the time to pause with purpose, and model sustainable practices for the next generation of family medicine residents.

Hosted by Omari A. Hodge, MD, FAAFP and Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase, MD
Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Resources:

• The Hidden Load: For educators and leaders in medicine who hold everyone up - podcast by Dr Santina Wheat
• Physician Coaching, An Evidence-based Tool for Resident Wellness - STFM Blog
• Coaching, Mentoring, and Sponsoring as Career Development Tools - Fam Med. 

Santina Wheat, MD, MPH   

Dr Wheat is an academic family physician who finds great joy in helping others find their inner potential.  She is the Program Director for the McGaw Northwestern Family Medicine Residency at Delnor. She is an Associate Professor and the Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of the Department of Family and Community Medicine where she oversees efforts of equity within the department.
As a dedicated career and life coach, she specializes in helping physicians and other healthcare workers overcome burnout and reignite their passion for their profession. Through personalized coaching, she empowers them to rediscover their purpose, cultivate balance, and reclaim joy in their careers and personal lives. Whether you're on the verge of burnout or seeking a renewed sense of fulfillment, she offers the guidance and support needed to thrive in the demanding world of healthcare.

Link:
https://www.stfm.org/stfmpodcast032026

Presented by Karly Hampshire, MD; Natasha Sood, MD, MPH; and Bhargavi Chekuri, MD (Moderator)

STFM Conference on Medical Student Education Closing Session | Sunday, February 1, 2026

Climate change is the greatest health threat of the 21st century, yet medical education has been slow to prepare future physicians for its wide-ranging impacts on health systems and patient care. In this session, we spotlight the power of student-led innovation in advancing climate and health education through two globally recognized initiatives: the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) and Climate Resources for Health Education (CRHE). Both began as grassroots projects by medical students who identified gaps in their training and took action to fill them. PHRC now benchmarks health professional schools internationally on planetary health curriculum, research, and operations, while CRHE has developed a growing library of open-access teaching materials to equip faculty with ready-to-use climate and health resources.

Through a panel discussion with the co-founders of PHRC and CRHE, participants will hear first-hand stories of how these initiatives were built, scaled, and sustained as international collaborations. Panelists will reflect on their “aha” moments, early challenges, and lessons learned in fostering inter-institutional collaboration, leveraging mentorship, and bridging the gap between education and clinical practice. As both panelists now train as residents, they will also share how their perspectives on climate and health education have evolved with greater exposure to patient care and health systems.

This session will equip educators, learners, and leaders with practical insights on cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset, leveraging collaboration, and supporting the next generation of change agents in climate and health education.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:

1. Describe how trainee-led initiatives have advanced climate and health integration in medical education worldwide.
2. Identify strategies for fostering collaboration, mentorship, and sustainability in grassroots educational innovations.
3. Apply lessons from student innovators to support the development of new climate and health education efforts at their own institutions.

Copyright © Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, 2026

Karly Hampshire, MD

Karly Hampshire is an internal medicine resident at Columbia University pursuing a career at the intersection of medical education, climate change, and health. As a medical student at University of California San Francisco, Karly founded the Planetary Health Report Card Initiative, a student-led, metric-based initiative to evaluate and inspire planetary health engagement at health professional schools worldwide, now active in over 180 health professional schools in 10 disciplines in 21 countries. She was also awarded the Emerging Physician Leader Award from Health Care without Harm for her Interview without Harm Initiative, an advocacy, research, and educational campaign urging decisionmakers to prioritize sustainability and equity in evolving decisions about the future of medical training interviews post-COVID. She currently is in the inaugural cohort of the GME Certificate of Distinction in Climate Change, Sustainability and Health at Columbia University.

Natasha Sood, MD, MPH

Natasha Sood is a resident at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Anesthesiology. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan and her Master of Public Health from Columbia University in Environmental Health Science with a specialization in Climate Change and Health. While in medical school at Penn State College of Medicine, Natasha co-founded the national organization, Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF), and w