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In this Issue:
- Governor's Message
- ADVOCACY:
- DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION:
- ANNUAL MEETING UPDATE:
- WELL-BEING:
- AWARDS:
- SOCIA MEDIA AND CTACP:
- HOT TOPICS:
Ruth E. Weissberger, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
Governor's Message
Dear CT ACP Colleagues,
A great deal has been happening with CT ACP over the past several months. We've hired new Executive Directors (Lisa Winkler & Tricia Dinneen Priebe) to help guide our organization and improve our connections at the state level. This team has been actively engaged at the local, state and national levels for three decades and actually represented internal medicine before the Connecticut General Assembly several years ago. I hope you will join me in welcoming them to our organization.
With their help, we have begun planning our in-person annual meeting on October 21, 2022. Planning Committee Co-Chairs Drs. Naseema Merchant and Diana Sewell have lined up a wonderful program, so keep an eye out for more on that soon. We'll also be sending out the registration link for the abstract competition shortly and look forward to an excellent array of submissions this year.
Last month I traveled to Washington, DC with Drs. Anthony Yoder and Eric Schwaber to participate in ACP's Leadership Day. It was an excellent opportunity to gather with colleagues and highlight the critical role ACP plays in advancing the priorities of patients and physicians on several different fronts. Issues that we discussed with the offices of Connecticut's congressional delegation included expanding access to health care coverage, stabilizing and increasing payments for undervalued office-based visits under Medicare, prescription drug reform, increasing the number of residency positions, and pandemic preparedness, among others. This meeting followed the excellent ACP meeting last month in Chicago, where many of our colleagues gathered from Connecticut to enjoy attending in-person educational sessions and networking. Here's a picture from the Connecticut Chapter reception. (add pic)
I hope you will review this edition of our newsletter and check out the ways that CTACP is already engaged, highlighting the contributions of our colleagues and serving as a voice for our profession.
Sincerely,
Ruth
ADVOCACY:
The Chapter's Health and Public Policy Committee, under the leadership of Drs. Ben Cherry and Anthony Yoder, has been advocating at the state level in two key areas of ACP public policy, the state's plan to expand health access and control costs under the guidance of the Office of Health Strategy, and climate initiatives. CT ACP joined an alliance on climate change this legislative session and participated in testimony by the medical community in Connecticut in support of key proposals to improve air quality and health outcomes.
Please click here for a joint op-ed published in the CT Mirror by Drs. Yoder and Weissberger titled, Connecticut should lead on primary health care cost reform and click here to view Drs. Cherry and Yoder's letter to the editor on the air quality that ran in the New Haven Register.
Both proposals were passed this session by the Connecticut General Assembly.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION:
We said a fond good-bye to our former DEI Committee Co-Chair, Dr. Inginia Genao, and wished her well in her new position as Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging at Penn State College of Medicine. Dr. Amir Mohammad, current Chair, is continuing the work of the committee and is successfully recruiting new members, and ongoing priority. The DEI Committee is also exploring how the Chapter can better serve the needs of International Medical Graduates among our membership.
National ACP has recently updated the member profile options on the ACP website to improve collection of demographic data. Please take a moment to log into https://www.acponline.org/node/29045, click on Visit MyACP, and update your member profile under Member Services.
ANNUAL MEETING UPDATE:
The CT ACP Annual Scientific Meeting 2022 will be held in person on Oct. 21 at the Convention Center in Hartford. We're looking forward to a great day of CME sessions, the resident and student abstract competition, and networking opportunities. The speaker line-up includes:
- A Clinical Pearls Series in Cardiology, Psychiatry and Hematology and Oncology with Drs. Joyce Meng, Jayesh Kamath, Margaret Evans and Arthur Lee
- A Global Warming Panel/Workshop with Drs. Kirsten Ek and Robert McClean
- A Keynote, He for She, How to Be an Effective Ally for Women Physician Colleagues, with Dr. Robert Nardino and Nina Pirrotti, Esq.
Please keep an eye out for more information on the meeting and poster submissions. As always, we'll need volunteers to serve as judges for this event. Please contact Dr. Shaheena Shan if you are interested.
WELL-BEING:
CT ACP's Wellness Committee, led by Dr. Sujata Prasad, moved its activities outdoors last month, hosting a wellness retreat on a beautiful late spring day, May 21, at Mercy by the Sea in Madison. Activities included a discussion on the benefits of meditation followed by a meditation session, yoga overlooking the Sound, high tea and pastries and walks on the beach.
AWARDS:
Please join me in congratulating this year's 2022 Internal Medicine Resident Award recipients. These graduating medical students, who will be staying in CT for residency training in internal medicine, were recognized for their outstanding academic achievement and community service. Each received a $500 award from CT ACP.
- Shobana Subramanian, MD, Yale University School of Medicine
- Christopher Costa, MD, Frank H. Netter School MD School of Medicine
- Jessica Mary Bertenshaw, MD, UCONN School of Medicine
SOCIA MEDIA AND CTACP:
Dr. Varun Jain is leading the charge to enhance and improve CTACPs social media presence. Please be sure to like the chapter's Facebook page @ACPConnecticutChapter, share your Facebook page and twitter handle with Dr. Jain and let us know if you are interested in getting more involved with the Social Media Committee. If you have current news to share or potential posts, you can also email Dr. Jain at varunjainafmc@outlook.com
HOT TOPICS:
U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory Addresses Health Worker Burnout
A new Surgeon General's Advisory highlights the critical need to address the issue of health worker burnout issue across the country and recommend steps health care orgs, policymakers, insurers, and others can take to address health worker well-being and strengthen our communities. ACP provided input to the report and stands with the Surgeon General on his mission to address societal, cultural, structural, and organizational factors that promote health worker well-being and ensure that health workers can thrive. Learn more at https://surgeongeneral.gov/burnout
ABIM Article: Combating Medical Misinformation
The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM)'s President and CEO Richard Baron, MD and Board Chair Yul Ejnes, MD (Chair emeritus, ACP's Board of Regents), published an article in The New England Journal of Medicine titled, “ Physicians Spreading Misinformation on Social Media – Do Right and Wrong Answers Still Exist in Medicine?, that explains how ABIM is addressing the challenge of misinformation in the medical community.