Press Release
May 7, 2007
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Jennifer Forbes
Phone: (732) 235-6356
Jenn.forbes@umdnj.edu
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Names New Chair of Family Medicine
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NEW BRUNSWICK—Peter S. Amenta, MD, PhD, interim dean of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS), announces that Alfred F. Tallia , MD, MPH, has been named associate professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Tallia, a resident of Pottersville, served as acting chair of the department since 2005.
"I am extremely pleased that Dr. Tallia agreed to assume leadership of the Department of Family Medicine," said Dr. Amenta. "His expertise in practice quality care strengthens the patient-centered and physician training services provided by the medical school."
A board certified family physician and associate director of the department's research division, Dr. Tallia's practice-based research focuses on the organization and quality of the healthcare system. Earlier in his career, Dr. Tallia led the flagship New Brunswick based family medicine residency, widely recognized for providing innovative community-based training for family physicians. During that time, he won the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine research award for the landmark study (Academic Medicine 1994) that demonstrated family medicine residencies actually reduce costs for hospitals and the healthcare system.
"Family physicians can provide a personal medical home for patients. It's our responsibility to know our patients, understand what they want from the healthcare system, provide them access and coordinate that care," said Dr. Tallia. "As chair of the department and an advocate for primary care, it is my goal to help family physicians improve efficiency in their practices, resulting in better outcomes for their patients."
Dr. Tallia earned his bachelor's degree in biological sciences from Fordham University, New York, N.Y., and his medical degree at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He completed his residency and fellowship in Family Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pa. Dr. Tallia earned his master's in public health degree through a joint program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
In 2003, Dr. Tallia was selected as a member of the UMDNJ Master Educators' Guild, for demonstrating exceptional teaching, creativity and innovation in the delivery of education. He is a member of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School's Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the American Academy of Family Physicians Center for Research in Family Medicine and Primary Care, and a member of the board and several committees of the National Board of Medical Examiners. He currently chairs CEUP, the national commission evaluating the physician licensing examination process in the United States.
The editor and primary author of a popular medical review textbook and multiple abstracts, book chapters, and publications, he is currently the principal al or co-principal investigator on studies funded by the National Diabetes, Digestive Disorders and Kidney Diseases Institute, Public Health Service, National Cancer Institute, National Heart Lung Blood Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, all of which focus on practice quality of care, organization, and function.
UMDNJ is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,700 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and a school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.
