2004 Norwich Native Son Joseph W Gravel Jr., MD, FAAFP, a family physician, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) in Milwaukee. A graduate of Tufts University in Medford, MA magna cum laude and Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, he served as chief resident at Virginia Commonwealth University / Fairfax Family Medicine Residency in Fairfax, VA. after 3 years in the US Army Medical Corps. Dr Gravel was a family medicine residency program director for 20 years. He was founding residency program director of the Tufts University Family Medicine Residency in Malden, MA. Before taking the Chair position at MCW he was Chief Medical Officer and residency program director of the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center/Lawrence Family Medicine Residency, a Federally-Qualified Health Center in Lawrence, MA, and was a Professor of Family Medicine at UMass (Worcester) and Tufts University (Boston).
Dr. Gravel was elected President-Elect of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM), the largest academic family medicine organization in the U.S. with over 5000 members. He previously served on the STFM Board of Directors Foundation as Treasurer and is a member of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s (ACGME) Review Committee for Family Medicine (that accredits family medicine residency training programs) and the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians’ Board of Directors. He has served as Chair of the Academic Family Medicine Advocacy Committee (AFMAC), as Treasurer and Credentials Committee Chair for the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Board of Directors (that board certifies family physicians in the US) and on the STFM Board of Directors. He is a Past President of the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD), the northeast region’s Family Medicine Education Consortium (FMEC), and the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians. He has received several national awards including the 2013 STFM Advocate Award and the 2016 AFMRD President’s Award.
As a family medicine residency program director, his programs participated in 3 national residency innovation initiatives- the P4 National Demonstration Project, the HRSA Teaching Health Center program, and the ACGME Length of Training (LoT) Pilot. He was also selected by Governor Deval Patrick to serve as a Commissioner on the Massachusetts Special Commission on Graduate Medical Education and has been deeply involved in national and statewide family medicine workforce advocacy. His department at MCW created the first community health center-based Teaching Health Center in Wisconsin. He has published numerous articles, commentaries, and has made over 100 national presentations on various family medicine education topics.