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Established on April 1, 1974, the Department of Community Medicine's major functions are to develop and conduct community-based health care programs, essentially for the care of people who have been difficult to reach, and to support the primary care residency training program with the Department of Medicine.
Rather than seeing ourselves as either a purely academic, research-directed endeavor or an exclusively community-based service, we view community medicine at its best as grounded in science with a substantial element of patient contact. We devote our attention to the needs of the medically underserved and bring them into contact with health services. After more than 30 years of service, we are confident that the characteristics of the best community medicine practice include integrating patient-focused care, using interdisciplinary health care teams, partnering with community agencies and organizations, training, and implementing research and advocacy programs.
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