Acquiring professional academic skills.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Successful family medicine faculty are proficient at the skills of the profession, ie, teaching, research, writing, and management. However, possessing these skills is not sufficient for building a successful academic career in family medicine. Successful faculty are also adept at learning, conforming to, and taking advantage of the norms, expectations, and reward structures of the profession. The addition of a conscious, systematic faculty development approach can improve the process and success of faculty learning these skills. Methods for teaching these skills to faculty are reviewed.