Modern medicine consists of numerous specialized fields. While such specialization has led to remarkable medical advancements, it has also created certain challenges. Instead of comprehensively addressing an individual’s health issues, care is often divided by specific organs or systems. Even when symptoms are interconnected, patients must visit multiple specialty clinics and see several doctors, which can be inconvenient and increase medical costs. This situation has highlighted the need for a new specialty that provides more human-centered care by evaluating and treating patients in a holistic manner.

Family medicine emerged in response to this need as a new specialty dedicated to providing continuous and comprehensive healthcare services regardless of disease type or patient age. From this perspective, family physicians focus not merely on the “disease” but on the “person with the disease,” fulfilling their role as primary care providers.

To educate and train specialists in family medicine and conduct related research, the Department of Family Medicine was established at the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine in 1984, marking its 40th anniversary in 2024. Over the past 40 years, the department has achieved both quantitative and qualitative growth. Its contributions go beyond the department itself, establishing family medicine as a true discipline of primary care and expanding into critical areas once overlooked by physicians, such as quality of life, respect for life, and disease prevention. The department has also made significant achievements in smoking cessation, obesity management, pain and fatigue management, nutrition, vaccinations, integrative medicine, functional medicine, integrated care for cancer patients, and hospice and palliative care. Many alumni trained as primary care physicians through the department serve communities across the country, providing compassionate care that inspires courage and hope among those in need.