Faculty

 

R. Steven Griffith MD, Chairman
Department of Community and Family Medicine

Dr. Griffith

Medical Education: University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine
Residency: University of Arizona School of Medicine

I was raised on a farm near a small town in northeastern Missouri, so being a “show-me” guy and Presbyterian are two things from which I will never recover. I attended college in St. Louis at Washington University prior to medical school. While there I met the woman who consented to marry me in 1974. Nora and I have 4 children, ranging in age from 11 to 29. After residency I volunteered for the National Health Service Corps working in southeastern North Carolina for four years before returning to Missouri. 

I have been with Department of Community and Family Medicine at UMKC School of Medicine since 1984. Initially I worked in the rural office of the Department, then became Program Director of the residency in 1989. I held the position of Associate Chair from 1998 until I became Chair of the Department in 2001. Although there have been many changes in the Department in the last couple of decades, what attracted me in 1984 is still here—a primary care hospital with one residency that trains residents in the full spectrum of Family Medicine. The sense of camaraderie that has existed since the inception of the program and the mission to care for all patients regardless of ability to pay continue to make this a great place to be.

When away from the office, I spend a lot of time being the tack-boy for my equestrian daughter and trying to contain my 13 year old daughter. When time permits, I like to travel, camp and fish in the Boundary Waters (on the Canadian side), see movies, solve crossword puzzles and sudokus, and read non-medical stuff.