Profile in Caring:
Dr. Joseph Gravel
Meet our Chief Medical Officer and Residency Director
Before coming to GLFHC, Dr. Gravel served as Residency Program Director of the Tufts University FMR for 14 years and also as Medical Director of the Sharewood Project, a free clinic in Malden. Joe has significant national, regional, and statewide leadership experience in family medicine. Recently, he was nationally elected by his program director peers as President of the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors after serving 5 years on its Board of Directors. Joe has been a contributing author in numerous family medicine textbooks and journals and frequently speaks at national and regional family medicine meetings on a variety of topics. In his spare time, he loves following the Boston sports teams, keeping up on current events, and travel. Most of all, he values time with his wife Barbara, and their children – Elizabeth (age 13), Teddy (age 10), and Caroline (age 9).
Q. How has your personal history impacted your choice to come to Lawrence?
A. I was excited about coming to GLFHC because I grew up in a New England mill town very similar to Lawrence. I feel very much at home here when I look out at the Merrimack River; it reminds me of growing up in Norwich, Connecticut along the Thames River. When I first went to college at Tufts University, I thought I would be a public defender type of attorney. The Kennedys were
my boyhood heroes because of their interest in social justice and the civil rights movement. But then I went pre-Med where I was particularly drawn to primary care and family medicine. I have worked in underserved communities since leaving my residency’s practice.
Q. What brought you to GLFHC?
A. Although I did my residency training in Virginia, I have been living in Massachusetts for the past 15 years. The Residency program here in Lawrence has a national reputation as a place that produces the best Family Medicine physicians for underserved communities. The opportunity to help train family doctors is the greatest job in the world. There is something tangible and so meaningful about it. You hope that you’re making a positive impact on future generations of both physicians and patients. LFMR attracts really wonderful residents and wonderful attendings. It’s not only about where you are but who you’re with – there are fantastic people here associated with our Residency program and Health Center. Also, I think it is an auspicious time to be working in a community health center setting. With the national movement toward health care reform, Washington’s Capitol Hill is very interested in transplanting our Residency model to other places in the U.S. There is a national discussion on the importance of having preeminent learning communities and residencies existing in top clinical environments including community health centers like GLFHC. Our reputation for excellence in graduate medical education is well-known, which makes this a pretty neat place to be.
Q. Why were you interested in taking on the major responsibilities of both the CMO and Residency Director?
A. There is just so much integration required between the clinical side and residency that I have always served in both roles in my prior positions. You can’t produce really great family doctors and optimally train them in an outpatient setting if you don’t have the outpatient setting running well. Having resident physicians in an outpatient environment improves the quality of care provided there and also attracts really great family physicians to the clinic to teach and see patients. This model allows the Residency to be at the table so to speak at all times when we are trying to improve our clinical quality; and vice versa, the Residency is improved by knowing in great detail what the administrative and clinical sides are doing. When I look at clinical resources and how we make the best judgments and determine priorities, I always have residents in mind. The integration of both improves the quality of our clinical enterprise as well as our educational enterprise.
Q. How do you reconcile your dual role and responsibilities when serving on the senior leadership team?
A. I view my role primarily as one of facilitating communication between clinicians and administration. To have a successful health center involves people with different talents and different roles. In truth, if each side understands the challenges of the other, we would realize that we all believe in the mission and share the same ultimate goals. Sometimes it’s just agreeing on how to get there. I like to think instead that all of our roles are ultimately to be patient advocates. Our organization is meant to actualize the whole concept of patient centeredness and patient advocacy. So I think my facilitating on both sides of the equation will help us achieve that ultimate goal of providing the best for the patient and the Greater Lawrence community.