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In this Issue:
- Governor's Corner
- EDUCATION
- ADVOCACY
- CCCM-- Collegiality, Camaraderie, Communication, Mentorship
- GOVERNANCE

Gail E. Mizner, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
Governor's Corner
Greetings all! I am honored to have started my four-year term as governor of our wonderful Colorado ACP Chapter. Because this is my first letter to you, it is somewhat lengthy. Feel free to just click on the links above to get to the information that most interests you.
I must start with thanks to two luminaries. First, Dr. Ted Palen, who has decided he'd like to step down after serving as our treasurer for 20 years. Our well-balanced books are due entirely to his diligence. Thank you, Ted! And next, my predecessor, Dr. Al Steinmann, for keeping the chapter strong during the pandemic, revising and updating our bylaws, supporting me as I got up to speed on all the workings of the ACP, and to top it off, agreeing to take over as chapter treasurer from Dr. Palen!
In other changes, I want to let you know that the chapter has a new Executive Director, Colleen Keeku. Colleen brings a wealth of experience as the ED of four other chapters (Indiana, New Mexico, and two in Illinois), and I am thrilled to be working with her. We thank Christine Westbrook for her 25 years as executive director and wish her luck in her future endeavors.
Though I grew up in Colorado, did my IM residency at CU, and spent the first 5 years of my career on the CU faculty before heading to other parts, my involvement with the Colorado ACP really started after my family moved back to Colorado to the beautiful Roaring Fork Valley in 2010. I found a position as the only internal medicine physician at a family practice based Federally Qualified Health Center which was and is challenging and rewarding work. But surrounded by FPs in a rural setting, I found myself longing for an internal medicine home. That home is what I found with the Colorado ACP. I want to take some time to review with you what the ACP is doing in hopes that some of it might spark your interest, encourage deeper engagement, and help even more people find a “home” with the ACP.
As I see it, the ACP has four major functions: Education, Advocacy, Governance, and what I am calling CCCM (Collegiality, Camaraderie, Communication, and Mentorship). Of course, the governance function is necessary to effect the other goals. This update will be organized around those functions as they occur on both national and state levels.
EDUCATION
ACP is known for its excellence in education and that is true at both a national and a state level.
The National ACP meeting in Boston in April had a huge number of educational opportunities as well as a chance to meet colleagues from all over the country. Colorado held a joint reception with the New Mexico and Mexico Chapters in which we honored our outgoing governors.

ACP New Mexico, Colorado, and Mexico Governors in Boston.
On a state level, our Scientific Meeting Planning Committee, co-chaired by Dr. Jen Stichman and Dr. Matt Moles, has a terrific educational program planned which includes an AI theme: Adrenal Insufficiency by Dr. Michael McDermott, Allergy and Immunology by Dr. Daniel Soteres, and Artificial Intelligence by Dr. Eden English not to mention the Always Incredible Dr. Mel Anderson giving his review of the most relevant and interesting paper of 2024. Mark your calendars now for February 7-8, 2025 at the Broadmoor!
After a COVID-induced hiatus, I'm thrilled to announce that we are also bringing back Ortho Day with Dr Ted Parks on Saturday, October 26th. As many of you know, Dr Parks is an orthopedist who is extraordinarily skilled at teaching office orthopedics to internists and has done so at ACP National meetings as well as our state meetings. I've already registered and hope to see many of you there! Register HERE!
Mentoring and nurturing our internal medicine trainees and their education is a critical part of the ACP, and Dr. Richard Miranda, as head of the ACP Resident/Fellow committee, does a great job organizing both the Doctor's Dilemma every February and the Resident/Fellow meeting every May. Here is his report from this past May's competition:
Oral Presentations:
First Place - Emily Vicks, University of Colorado: A Tortuous Course: recurrent fever of unknown origin as a clue to giant cell arteritis
Second Place - Zach Schultz, Saint Joseph Hospital: Suspicious Cysts: A Spontaneous Tension Pneumothorax leading to the Diagnosis of Familial Birt-Hogg-Dube Syndrome
Third Place - Jane Li, Saint Joseph Hospital: Acinar Predominant Invasive BRAF V600E Adenocarcinoma of the Lung Presenting as Pneumonia: A Case Series
Poster Presentations:
First Place - Jacob Keeling, HCA Sky Ridge: Atypical Lymphoma and Monospot Testing: Malignant Deception – A longitudinal report
Second Place - Ashley McKenzie, Saint Joseph Hospital: Impact of Rheumatic Disease on Fertility and Desired Family Size for Women: A Proposed Methodology
Third Place - Megan Parfait, Saint Joseph Hospital: Incidental findings on high-resolution computed tomographic lung imaging in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis
Special thanks to our cohort of judges and Chapter members that volunteered their time to judge the competition: Mel Anderson, Elizabeth Hicks, George Issa, Gerard Salame, Eric Seger, Karen Stenehjem, Meghan Zimmerman, and Kayleigh Zerr.
More “mature” ACP members are invited and encouraged to attend these sessions to meet and learn from our younger colleagues! I will be sending out announcements about the 2025 Doctor's Dilemma and Resident/Fellow meeting in future governor's letters.
ADVOCACY
On a national level, ACP advocacy occurs through our resolutions submitted to the Board of Governors (BOG) and reviewed by the Board of Regents (BOR) and through Leadership Day.
Resolutions
This past April, no fewer than 21 resolutions were reviewed at the BOG. I'm proud to report that resolution 6-S24, written by Dr. Mark Mathews and sponsored by our Colorado Chapter asking “that the Board of Regents…partner with other medical specialty organizations to advocate for insurance companies including Medicare and Medicaid, to reduce their premiums or offer some other financial incentive to those members who are vaccinated according to Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations” was the only one of the 21 resolutions adopted and referred for implementation without amendments or further study. Congratulations to Mark and all those who worked on this resolution to help incentivize recommended vaccines for our adult patients!
Another resolution I want to highlight is 10-S24, which asked that the ACP update its policy to support physicians pursuing collective empowerment. That one adopted with BOR amendments for implementation. You can find a list of all resolutions and what the outcomes were HERE.
I welcome suggestions for any resolutions you may want to propose for consideration at the April 2025 BOG meeting.
Leadership Day
Dr. Steinmann led the charge for a very successful Leadership Day in May while I was filling my soul with wonder floating the Grand Canyon. Here is his report:
Our Colorado Chapter enjoyed robust representation at this year's ACP Leadership Day in Washington, DC. Our largest contingent in over ten years included six recipients of the medical student and resident stipends provided by our Chapter. Attendees participated in introductory sessions on advocacy as well as briefings by ACP staff, Congressional staff, and members of Congress, as well as a full day of visits to the offices of Colorado's Senators and Representatives. Priority bills included the Safe Step Act, which would place certain restrictions on mandatory medication step requirements by insurance companies, the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which would add 14,000 new Medicare salary slots for residents over several years, and the Physician Fee Schedule Update and Improvements Act, which would change the formula by which Medicare determines physician payment so we would avoid the threatened annual cuts to physician payments.
This year's medical student attendees from the University of Colorado included Jennifer Felker, Charlotte Kwong, and Mia Barrett. Resident attendees were Theresa Asuquo from the UC Med-Peds program, Amil Shah from Parkview, and Ashley McKenzie and Konner Feldhaus from St. Joe's. St. Joe's Chief Resident, Sophia Raia also attended. Chapter members in attendance were Megan Hiles, Carl Barnes, and Al Steinmann.
On a state level, Dr. Dave Downs, our Health and Public Policy Committee (HPPC) chair and his committee members worked hard during the Colorado legislative session, coordinating with Colorado Medical Society to fight or support a variety of health care related bills. The Colorado ACP HPPC has also engaged with the CAFP (Colorado Academy of Family Practitioners) and the AAP (American Academy of Pediatricians) in a group called Primary Care Advocates to strengthen our collective voices.
Dr. Downs and I are also committed to working with National ACP to help us expand our advocacy efforts in the state of Colorado. More on that to come…
CCCM-- Collegiality, Camaraderie, Communication, Mentorship
I don't have to tell any of you that we are facing challenging times in medicine with huge financial and time pressures. This is leading to highly skilled physicians retiring early and sometimes being replaced by far less experienced clinicians. Hospitalists, PCPs, and specialists are often siloed in their own worlds and not communicating with each other—even over patient care. I've met younger physicians disappointed with their first jobs and struggling to decide how to address that.
The solutions to these problems are complex and multifactorial. One of the things we can do to improve both patient care and our own professional lives is to communicate more, sharing not just our knowledge but also our challenges, triumphs, support, and mentorship.
The workshop titled “Crafting a Career in Internal Medicine that Works for You” that Dr Marti Schulte and I led at our annual chapter meeting last February was one attempt at starting that kind of conversation. Here is a link to the recording.
To continue the conversation and explore other ideas about how to connect, I'm going to offer what I'm calling “Chat with the Gov.”If you'd like to have a phone or zoom call with me, just email me at gailmiz@msn.com and we'll get it arranged. I'm eager to hear more from our members about their issues, challenges, and good ideas.
Of course, ACP already has some formal systems for providing support to our members. These include a formal coaching program through the National ACP about which you can find more information HERE.
Our chapter Wellness Committee is headed by Dr. Julie Cohen who is looking for another well-being champion to add to our Colorado group. The national ACP offers classes that focus on coaching to each chapter's wellbeing champions. If you are interested in becoming a well-being champion, please contact Julie at jcklecze@gmail.com Julie and Marti and I have been discussing starting a more informal mentoring program for our chapter—if there is sufficient interest. So, please let us know if you are interested.
Another formal way we have of appreciating and supporting one another is through our Chapter Awards Committee. Here is a report from our committee chair, Deb Parsons, MD, MACP, FRCP:
The CO Chapter-ACP Annual Meeting last February was a landmark event, celebrating outstanding ACP internists across the state. This success was due to the dedication and passion of everyone involved. We received a record number of nominations from a diverse group of nominators, and now we encourage you to start thinking about the physicians you will nominate this year. Our nomination email will be sent to all members at the beginning of September.
Highlights from last year's awards include:
- Volunteerism and Community Service Award: Ted Palen, PhD, MD, MSPH, FACP
- Colorado Early Career Physician Award: Juan Lessing, MD, FACP
- Colorado Early Career Physician Award: Mugabe′ Walker, MD, FACP
- Robert B. Gibbons, MD, MACP Distinguished Medical Educator Award: Chad Stickrath, MD, FACP
- Joel S. Levine, MD, MACP Distinguished Healthcare Advocate Award: Rebecca (Becky) Hanratty, MD
- The Laureate Award: Richard (Rick) Miranda, MD, FACP
- Advancement to Mastership in the American College of Physicians: Erik Wallace, MD, MACP
Our chapter is committed to honoring more geographic and practice setting diversity. This fall, we aim to receive nominations from all corners of the state as we introduce a new award for rural internists. Recognizing exceptional contributions from our colleagues enhances our ACP culture, boosts morale among internists, and fosters a sense of statewide achievement in internal medicine. The ten-member Awards Committee is dedicated to fairness and transparency in the selection process ensuring each award remains relevant and valuable to today's practicing internists.
Mark your calendars for September 1st and look out for our CO Chapter-ACP nomination letter; then, nominate an ACP internist you work closely with to help strengthen our CO Chapter-ACP!
GOVERNANCE
If you are interested in ACP's National Governance structure, here's a link: Governance Leadership | ACP Online
On a state level, as I mentioned above, we have just revised our bylaws which you can find here.
If you choose to read the bylaws, you will note that we created a new position, that of vice president. I have selected a candidate for vice president and am waiting to get GAC approval before announcing that individual.
The GAC (Governor's Advisory Council) is linked here.
Another critical part of our governance is our committees. We currently have 8 state chapter committees chaired by wonderful individuals who all agreed to let me share their emails with you. Please see below.
Finance Committee: Dr. Allan Prochazka Allan.prochazka@cuanschutz.edu
Planning Committee: Dr. Jen Stichman Jennifer.Stichman@DHHA.org
Dr. Matt Moles Matthew.Moles@CUAnschutz.edu
Membership Committee: Dr. Mugabe Walker Mugabe.walker@gmail.com
Awards Committee: Dr. Deb Parsons debparsonsmd@gmail.com
Health and Public Policy Committee: Dr. Dave Downs davedowns1@me.com
Wellness Committee: Dr. Julie Cohen jcklecze@gmail.com
CECP (Early Career Physicians): Dr. Juan Lessing juan.lessing@CUAnschutz.edu
Residents/Fellows Committee: Dr. Rick Miranda rhmcu1@gmail.com
With gratitude to all of you,
Gail Mizner, MD, FACP, AAHIVMS
Governor, Colorado Chapter of the American College of Physicians