In August 1999, the AAFP established the National Network for Family Practice and Primary Care Research (now the AAFP NRN). From 1999 to today, the growth of practices involved with the NRN has been steady as physicians are empowered through research to help their communities and world.
Many NRN clinicians were recruited from the former Ambulatory Sentinel Practice Network (ASPN), a North American primary care practice-based research network established in 1978. ASPN ceased operations in 1999; however, the legacy of ASPN’s success lives on in the AAFP NRN.
The Board of Directors of the AAFP established the AAFP NRN to preserve the momentum of ASPN in studying the phenomenon of primary care. The major contributors to the development and long-standing success of ASPN have rallied their support behind the AAFP NRN and can provide the benefit of ASPN’s 20+ years of experience in practice-based research.