In the educational arena, the major objective is to ensure that Family Medicine residents and medical students acquire skills in the core competencies of medicine. The core competencies described by both the AAMC and the ACGME center on six major areas: patient care; medical knowledge; practice-based learning and improvement; interpersonal and communication skills; professionalism; and system-based practice. Medical student education activities include training in communication skills and working with families. Required Family Medicine curricula in the areas of facilitative physician-patient communication approaches, family-oriented care, and the physician-patient relationship address educating physicians to be interpersonally skilled and caring patient advocates. Training modules focusing on brief psychotherapeutic and assessment techniques for individuals, couples, and families are an integral part of the curriculum.

A significant portion of the clinical practice is integrated with educational activities, in that Family Medicine residents see patients alongside the psychotherapists practicing in the Department. In addition to formal counseling sessions that are scheduled in the Family Stress Clinic, the members of the Behavioral Medicine Team see patients on a consultation basis with residents, as they conduct their medical encounters at the Family Medicine Center.

Research and scholarly activities include participation in Departmental research projects and research on Behavioral Medicine topics.