Growth of Family Medicine   Dr. Jonathan Han, a family physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, shares a book with one of his young patients.      Reach Out and Read was co-founded by pediatricians Barry Zuckerman, MD, and Robert Needlman, MD, and while a majority of our medical providers today are pediatricians, a growing number of family physicians are implementing the ROR model of early literacy intervention in their well-child visits. Currently, more than 6,000 family physicians and residents are participating in ROR, approximately 15% of all ROR medical providers throughout the country. To reach more children and families who will benefit from the books and the anticipatory guidance that we provide, ROR needs to reach out to more family physicians. The National Center is currently working with family medicine champions to develop strategies to increase awareness among family physicians on a national level, as well as on statewide and local levels. These champions are encouraging their colleagues across the country to consider implementing the ROR model as part of delivering the highest quality well-child care to the families and communities they serve. Utilizing ROR as a competency evaluation tool is one way to help family physicians perform neurodevelopmental assessments, while at the same time intervening with the family to promote and improve literacy skills among their children. This November, Dr. Suki Tepperberg of the Boston University Department of Family Medicine and Dr. Jonathan Han, a family physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, will be presenting at an American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) conference "Infants, Children, and Adolescent Medicine" in San Francisco, CA. They will use this opportunity to introduce ROR to their colleagues and discuss ways of incorporating it into their practices. To learn more about ROR's outreach strategy to family physicians, contact Brian Gallagher, Director of National Expansion, at 617-455-0667 or brian.gallagher@reachoutandread.org. To read a recent article about ROR and family medicine in American Medical News, click here. Return