Page 18 - RU Robert Wood Johnson Medicine • Summer 2020

“One of the things I always like to tell people is how much
I really love my job. I love everything that I’m able to do in a day, between taking care of patients and teaching residents and modeling what a fulfilling career family medicine can be for someone,” says Maria F. Ciminelli, MD, above, and front row center, with residents.
“Icouldn’t give up the patient care no matter how busy I get in my administrative and teaching roles,” she says. “The patient care
is still what is necessary for me to feel like I’m a true family physician.”
For the past 25 years, Dr. Ciminelli has dedicated herself to the practice of family medicine.“ Maria has not only become a champion for family medicine, but she also wants to set an example for her fellow
physicians and for the residents that she trains,” says Ray Saputelli, executive vice president of the NJAFP. “She really is one of the best faces for family medicine that I’ve been exposed to.”
Dr. Ciminelli took the reins at the NJAFP at a critical time for family physicians in New Jersey. More than 60 percent of primary care residents are taking their medical training and leaving the state, according to research conducted by the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals. One of the main reasons for the exodus is the inability of residents to repay their medical school debt if they choose to practice in New Jersey.
The average medical school debt in New Jersey is more than $240,000, and some residents owe as much as $400,000, according to Dr. Ciminelli. Compounding the issue of high debt load are an ineffective state loan repayment program,
a significant number of administrative burdens placed on primary care physicians, low compensation rates for Medicaid, and an emphasis on higher-cost specialty care, she says.
To tackle the shortage of family physicians in the state, Dr. Ciminelli helped the NJAFP launch a campaign last year to publicize the problems primary care physicians face in New Jersey. Working with the New Jersey Chapter of the American College of Physicians, the NJAFP created the website KeepNJDocs.org and began lobbying state legislators to improve the state’s loan forgiveness program.
Boosting the number of primary care physicians in New Jersey is critical because of the effect it can have on residents’ health. “Studies have shown when you increase the number of primary care physicians, and especially family physicians, death rates go down, morbidity and mortality declines, and the cost of care also decreases,” Dr. Ciminelli says.
Dr. Ciminelli was introduced to family medicine when she was 5 years old and started accompanying her mother, who had diabetes, to her medical appointments and translating the doctor’s orders into Italian. Her parents and two siblings immigrated to New Jersey from Italy.
“Her doctor became our family physician, and that has something to do with my career choice and path in terms of building long-standing relationships with patients that are healing,” she says.
In medical school, Dr. Ciminelli decided to specialize in family medicine after she did a rotation in that area at the Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, now the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset. “Family medicine brought everything together where I could incorporate the internal medicine, the pediatrics, the women’s health, and even surgical realms into my practice,” she says. “The diversity and just the ability to focus on whole-person care and the continuum of care were just very satisfying and rewarding.”
Now at the Freehold Family Health Center, Dr. Ciminelli is training the next generation of family physicians through the Rutgers Family Medicine Residency Program at CentraState.
“One of the things I always like to tell people is how much I really love my job,” Dr. Ciminelli says. “I love everything that I’m able to do in a day, between taking care of patients and teaching residents and modeling what a fulfilling career family medicine can be for someone.” M
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