Arthur Kaufman, MD

Distinguished Professor & Vice Chancellor for Community Health Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine

Dr. Kaufman received his medical degree from the State University of New York, Brooklyn in 1969. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City in 1974. Dr. Kaufman is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and in Family Practice.
He has held numerous positions throughout the years. He served in the U.S. Indian Health service, caring for Sioux Indians in South Dakota and Pueblo and Navajo Indians in New Mexico. Dr. Kaufman joined the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico, School of Medicine in 1974 and has remained there throughout his career providing leadership in teaching, research and clinical service. He was promoted to full Professor in 1984 and Department Chair in 1993. In 2007 he was appointed as the first Vice Chancellor for Community Health.

He helped initiate the Primary Care Curriculum in New Mexico which became an international model for change by innovative track in traditional medical schools. He began to integrate Public Health and Family Medicine as Director of the Rockefeller funded Health of the Public Program in New Mexico. In recent years, he had focused on bringing concern for the Social Determinants of Health into the classroom, the hospital and clinic and into the community. This has been transforming for education and clinical service. He is Director of New Mexico’s World Health Organization Collaborating Center for the Dissemination of Community-Oriented, Problem based Education. In 1999 he was elected Secretary General for the Network: Community Partnerships for Health through Innovative Education, Service and Research. The Network is a WHO-affiliated, non-government organization comprised mostly of academic health centers in developing countries interested in improving their relevance in education and service in addressing health needs of their local populations.

Dr. Kaufman has been the recipient of many awards during his career. He has received national teaching awards from the Association of American Medical Colleges (Primary Care Award) and from Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (Achievement Award). He received the “Family Physician of the Year” award from the American Academy of Family Practice in New Mexico. He was also the recipient of the “Humanism in Medicine Award (AAMC)” in 2001. In 2011, he received WONCA’s “5-Star Doctor” Award. And in 2018 he was designated the University of New Mexico Medical School’s “Living Legend” award.

He has over 70 publications and has written 4 books. His publications concern healthcare for uninsured and marginalized populations and problem-based and community-oriented teaching innovations. He has received numerous federal and private foundation grants to support his work.

Dr. Kaufman is invited by countries all over the world to consult and speak. He has worked with medical schools in China, Thailand, Mexico, Pakistan South Africa, Namibia, Moldova, Mexico, Brazil and Australia to name a few.

Dr. Kaufman’s has a passion for creating innovative education and service models to better address community, indigent, rural and population health needs.

His other passion is his family, his wife Ellen and their children Holly and Will, who are all physicians.

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