The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has selected Stephanie Gold and Sebastian Tong as the 2023 James C. Puffer, MD/American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Fellows. 

 

Stephanie Gold, MD, FAAFP

Dr. Gold is an associate professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Colorado, a practicing family physician at a federally qualified health center in the Denver Health system, and a Scholar at the Farley Health Policy Center. Her research and policy work focuses on payment reform for primary care and integrating behavioral health with primary care, with the goal of system transformation to enable primary care to better and more equitably care for the whole health of individuals, families, and communities.

Dr. Gold served as president of the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) from 2022-2023. Through the CAFP, she helped advance legislation to improve primary care investment in Colorado and provided input on multiple state task forces and committees related to primary care payment reform. Dr. Gold co-edited a book, Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care: Your Patients are Waiting, which provides guidance on practice transformation to integrate care. She led the development of the Building Blocks of Behavioral Health Integration, a framework of care delivery expectations for use in practice transformation and alternative payment models. Dr. Gold also teaches policy and advocacy skills and has developed novel curricula for residents and international learners.

 

Sebastian Tong, MD, MPH

Dr. Tong is a family physician, addiction medicine specialist, and health services researcher. He is an assistant professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Washington. He also serves as the associate director of the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI) region’s Practice and Research Network, a practice-based research network of over 120 practices. He practices primary care at Harborview Family Medicine Center, a hospital-based safety-net clinic.

Dr. Tong’s research focuses on access to and implementation of evidence-based practices in primary care. He has a particular interest in chronic pain, substance use disorder, loneliness, and integrated behavioral health. He has received research funding for his work from the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the ABFM Foundation, and the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation.

As NAM Fellows, Drs. Gold and Tong will each receive a flexible research grant to further their careers.  Named in honor of James C. Puffer, M.D., president and chief executive officer emeritus of the ABFM, the fellowship program enables talented, early-career health policy and science scholars in family medicine to participate in the work of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and further their careers as future leaders in the field. The NAM Fellows continue their primary responsibilities while engaging part-time over a two-year period in the National Academies’ health and science policy work.

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences, and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors. The NAM collaborates closely with its peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

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