Wendy Barr, MD, MPH, MSCE, of Greater Lawrence Family Health Center (GLFHC) has been voted President-Elect of the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD).

AFMRD is a national organization that inspires and empowers family medicine residency program directors to achieve excellence in family medicine residency training. Dr. Barr is Vice President of Clinical Education and Director of the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency Program.

She is a member of the health center’s senior management team and in in charge of all curriculum and operations of the residency program. GLFHC has the largest primary care network of physicians in the region with over 140 clinical providers. It is also home to the nation’s first health-center owned and operated Lawrence Family Medicine Residency program, of which both doctors are graduates. Since 1994, 200 students have graduated from GLFHC’s residency program.

Dr. Barr received her medical degree and master’s degree in Public Health from Tufts University School of Medicine, where she is also an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine. After completing her residency at Lawrence Family Medicine Residency, she completed a faculty development and research fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania where she also received a master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology (MSCE). She worked as both the Maternity and Research Directors for the Institute for Family Health (an FQHC in New York City) and the Beth Israel Residency in Urban Family Medicine for six years. There she developed a new model for using Centering Pregnancy to train family medicine residents and was on the Leadership Council for the IMPLICIT network which works to improve the care of mothers and babies. In 2010, she returned to GLFHC as the Associate Residency Director during which time she developed the Centering Pregnancy program and was the project director for the transition of the residency to a four-year curriculum. In 2015, she transitioned to Program Director and has continued to oversee the expansion of the residency program to now 40 residents. She currently serves on the board of the Steering Committee for the CAFM Educational Research Alliance (CERA), and the AAFP Commission on Education. She has published multiple articles and book chapters around improving primary care education and maternal and child health. She was raised in Pittsburgh, Pa., and received her bachelor’s degree in Communications Sciences and Disorders from Northwestern University.

About GLFHC: The mission of Greater Lawrence Family Health Center is to improve and maintain the health of individuals and families in the Merrimack Valley by providing a network of high quality, comprehensive health care services and by training health care professionals to respond to the needs of a culturally diverse population. More than 62,000 patients depend on GLFHC for their primary health care needs at locations in Lawrence and Methuen.