Dr. Joseph Gravel, chief medical officer of Greater Lawrence Family Health Center (GLFHC), has been elected as treasurer of the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM). The second-largest medical specialty board in the country, the ABFM provides the standard by which family medicine doctors are evaluated and certified. Gravel has served on the board in some capacity since 2014, most recently holding the title of member-at-large, executive committee.

A nationally-known academic leader in family medicine, Gravel was the founding residency program director of the Tufts University Family Medicine Residency. In addition to his role as CMO at GLFHC, he also serves as family medicine residency director emeritus, providing leadership in the oversight of the acclaimed Lawrence Family Medicine Residency (LFMR). LFMR was the first “teaching health center” of its kind in the U.S.: a residency program, fully owned and operated by a community health center, which trains doctors to care for the underserved.

A native of Norwich, Connecticut, Gravel graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University and Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He completed his family medicine residency training at Virginia Commonwealth University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he served as chief resident, and was a medical officer in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, Fort Devens in Massachusetts and overseas in South Korea.

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. Nearly 60,000 patients depend on GLFHC for their primary health care needs at locations in Lawrence and Methuen. For more information, visit https://glfhc.org.