Biography

Warren J. Ferguson, MD attended the Boston University School of Medicine where he was a National Health Service Corps scholar. Subsequently, he completed his residency in family medicine at the Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice Residency. For twenty-seven years, he has provided patient care in two Massachusetts community health centers, where he has served diverse populations in Lawrence and Worcester. He was Medical Director of the Greater Lawrence Family health Center from 1985 to 1989. In 1989, he became Medical Director of the Family Health and Social Service Center in Worcester and was subsequently named Vice President of Medical Services in 1991. Although he still cares for patients at this health center, he now serves as Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and as the medical director of the MassAHEC Network.

He has taught medical students and family practice resident physicians for 21 years, focusing on curriculum development regarding service to underserved populations. He has developed particular expertise and written on practice issues with culturally diverse populations and on teaching methods aimed at improving students’ cultural competency. He has led the development of a cultural competence curriculum for the University of Massachusetts Medical School including student and resident curricula, as well as faculty development which was published in Academic Medicine. In 2000, he has been awarded a five-year Cooperative Agreement from HRSA to provide consultations to the National Center for Cultural Competence. He has presented several invited presentations in the area of culturally effective communication to faculty from several disciplines.

His research has focused on solutions to health disparities experienced by underrepresented minorities and persons with limited English proficiency. Additionally, he has researched and written on primary care workforce issues faced by community health centers and on the role of teaching health centers for recruitment and retention of primary care providers in these settings.

Dr. Ferguson has received recognition and awards for his work in these capacities. He was named Medical Director of the Year by the New England Community Health Center Association in 1990 and Outstanding Physician of the Year by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers in 1993. He has received the Director’s Award from the U.S. Public Health Service. He was named Massachusetts Family Physician of the Year in 1998 and also received a Special Recognition Award for Teaching by the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1998 and an Educational Achievement Award in 2006.

Selected Presentations:

Language Services and Cultural Competence

• Lindholm M and Ferguson WJ. Can we create a medical home for limited English proficiency patients? 44^th Annual STFM Conference, New Orleans, LA, April, 2011.
• University of Massachusetts Medical School, Keynote Speaker at Conference on Language and Diversity, 2010.
• Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration. UMass Memorial Health Care. Keynote Presentation: Crossing the Language Divide. Providing Language Services for Spanish Speaking Patients
• Ferguson W, Godkin M, Haley HL and Philbin M. Evaluating the impact of a multicultural interclerkship on student knowledge, skills and awareness. 42^nd Annual STFM Conference, Denver, CO, April 2009.
• Lindholm, M and Ferguson WJ. The Utilization Trends of Professional Interpretation for the Inpatient, and Their Effects on Post Discharge Health Care Visits. 41^st STFM Annual Spring Conference, Baltimore, MD, May, 2008.
• Barrett SV, Gentile GM, Zanetti ML, Ferguson W, Godkin M, Jonassen JA and Pugnaire MP. 2007 AAMC Annual Meeting; Research in Medical Education (RIME) Abstract Poster Session
• Hickman T, Ferguson W, et al. Knowledge, Attitudes and Skills: Creating a Curriculum Thread in Cultural Competency. GEA/GSA Mini-Workshop. AAMC Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., November 11, 2003.
• Ferguson W, Keller D and Quirk M. Getting Buy In: Developing Culturally Competent Faculty.
  STFM Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA. September, 2003.
• Ferguson W and Candib L. Culture, Language and the Doctor-Patient Relationship: Is their a connection to outcome disparities? STFM Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA. May, 2002.
• Ferguson W, Keller D and Quirk M. Getting Buy-In: Developing Culturally Competent Faculty. STFM Annual Predoctoral Conference, Tampa, FL, February, 2002.

Correctional Health

• Kirby P, Ferguson WJ and Lauthers A. Post-release Use of MassHealth Services. 4^th Annual Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health, Boston, MA, March, 2011.
• Ferguson WJ et al. Collaborating to Create a Model Correctional Health Curriculum for Medical Schools and Residency Programs" 43rd Annual STFM Spring Conference, Vancouver, BC, April, 2010.
• Ferguson WJ. Growing Your Own: Correctional Health Fellowships" 3rd Annual Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health, Fort Lauderdale, FL, February, 2010.
• Ferguson WJ. Building a unique curriculum for a unique setting: Correctional health professional education. Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health, Boston, MA, March, 2008.

Community Health

• Ferguson WJ et al. Regional Medicine-Public Health Education Centers: Improving Population Health Education through the Continuum and Across Specialties" Boston , MA . AAMC Annual Meeting, November, 2010
• Ferguson WJ et al. Everything that you wanted to know about teaching community health centers. 43^rd Annual STFM Conference, Vancouver, BC, April, 2010.
• Pernice J, Bailey L and Ferguson WJ. Developing Physician Workforce Initiatives. National Association of Community Health Centers Community Health Institute, New Orleans, LA, September, 2008.
• Pernice J and Ferguson WJ. Improving Health Outcomes in Primary Care: The Role of Health Coaching and Lay Health Workers. National Association of Community Health Centers Community Health Institute, New Orleans, LA, September, 2008.
• Cashman S, Ferguson W, Savageau J and Lasser D. Impact of training site on future career choice in serving underserved populations. AAMC Workforce Conference, Washington, DC, May, 2007.
• Ferguson W, Savageau J, Cahsman S and Lasser D. Thirty Years of Family Medicine Residency Training: Characteristics Associated with Practice in a Health Professions Shortage Area. STFM Annual Spring Conference, Chicago, IL. April, 2007.
• Ferguson W, Lasser D and Baldor R. Commonwealth Medicine, Family medicine and Massachusetts. Partnerships that improve public sector care to vulnerable populations. STFM Annual Spring Conference, San Francisco, CA. April 27, 2006.