Family and Community Medicine

Since colonial times in the U.S., medicine has been divided into three distinct groups: the physician, the surgeon and the apothecary. Physicians were viewed as elite and usually held a university degree. Surgeons, in contrast, were typically apprenticed and hospital trained. This distinction between medicine and surgery did not survive in colonial America. Physicians in America were expected to also perform surgery and prepare medicines. This was the beginning of the general physician in the U.S.

The emergence of specialization within American medicine did not take root until the middle of the 19th century. As the base of knowledge within medicine continued to grow and many doctors chose to do more of what they were interested in and good at, specialization became inevitable. The role of the general physician remained an essential part of healthcare in the U.S., however. By the early 1900s, many states required candidates for medical licensure, including the general physician, to have a one-year internship in a hospital setting in addition to possessing a medical degree.

Following WWII, the number of specialties and subspecialists increased at a phenomenal rate, while the number of general practitioners declined dramatically. However, the public became increasingly vocal about the fragmentation of their care and the shortage of personal physicians who could provide initial, continuing and comprehensive care. The concept of the generalist was reborn with the establishment of family practice as medicine’s twentieth specialty in February 1969. Rather than training being limited to one year of postgraduate training, it was increased to three years.

In 1970, Creighton University School of Medicine established the Family Practice Division of the Department of Preventive Medicine, headed by Dr. Michael J. Haller, MD. In August of that same year, an approved program began for training residents in family medicine. A Family Practice Clinic was opened at 3374 South 13th Street in Omaha, staffed by residents and which served not only to help alleviate the shortage of primary care physicians, but also as a developing ground for the new specialty of family practice.

In June 1971, a “pilot program” began with Creighton interns at St. Joseph Hospital. Dr. Michael Haller, MD, established a program of airplane flight instruction for interns and residents in order to make practice in a rural community more attractive. He believed that faster mobility to larger cities would increase the desirability of rural community medicine and may help alleviate the rural physician shortage in Nebraska and other Midwestern states. Creighton was the only medical school in the country to have such a program.

In 1973, the Division of Family Practice went on to become a department in its own right.

During the 1970s, the Family Practice Department expanded its operations to include “model units” at three locations that simulated the structure and functioning of a private family practice office for the training of its residents.

In 1973 the School of Medicine was one of only five medical centers nationwide to receive a $10,000 Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) planning grant from the Association of American Medical Colleges. This grant was to help determine how HMOs could relate to academic medical centers. Dr. Michael Haller of the Family Practice Department was instrumental in helping to determine the feasibility of HMOs at Creighton.

On Dec. 11, 1977, the new St. Joseph Hospital, now known as CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center, was officially opened to the public and the former St. Joseph Hospital on 10th and Martha was closed.

Department Chairmen

• 1973–1977: Mike Haller, MD
• 1977: Fred Pettid, MD
• 1978–1981: Mike Haller, MD
• 1984–1989: Eugene Barone, MD
• 1989–1995: Mike Haller, MD
• 1995–2011: Donald Frey, MD
• 2011–2016: Laeth Nasir, MBBS
• 2016–present: Amy McGaha, MD

Department Program Directors

• 1970–1978: Mike Haller, MD
• 1978–1985: Fred Pettid, MD
• 1985–1991: Richard Hurd, MD
• 1991–1993: John Kuncaititis, MD
• 1993–1997: Donald Frey, MD
• 1997–1999: Jim Hougas, MD
• 1999–2001: Donald Frey, MD
• 2001–2004: Judson Jones, MD
• 2004–2010: Thomas Hansen, MD
• 2010–2016: Amy McGaha, MD
• 2016–present: Michael Greene, MD