Illinois Southern Governor's Newsletter March 2026
In this Issue:
- Governor's message
- Chapter News
- Advancement to Fellowship
- Advocacy update
- Well-Being
- From ACP National
- Leadership roster
- Upcoming events
Manajyoti Yadav, MD, FACP, ACP Governor, Illinois Southern
Governor's message
Dear Illinois Southern ACP members and colleagues,
It is truly an honor and privilege to write my first newsletter as your chapter Governor. As I have stepped into this role, I find myself reflecting on the journey that brought me here—one that has been shaped by mentors, colleagues, and the many meaningful connections within this wonderful ACP community. I began my medical training in India, and my path then led me to residency in New Jersey and Chief Residency at UICOM-Peoria, which continues to be my professional home as an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Clerkship and Sub-Internship Co-Director and a core teaching faculty with the IM residency program. Like many of you, my career has been guided by a passion for patient care, education, and the desire to contribute to something larger. Outside of work, you'll often find me running, I run half marathons, or biking—activities that keep me grounded and energized.
ACP has been a key part of my journey. When I started as a resident, I never imagined I would be writing this newsletter to you all one beautiful Spring day! This journey has been made possible by a lot of mentors and colleagues. I would like to take a moment to recognize and thank our past chapter leadership for their mentorship, vision and tireless efforts in building a strong and vibrant community. We are blessed to have a very robust leadership with strong ACP national representation, which makes us a “mini but mighty” Chapter! Their work has created a solid foundation that allows us to continue growing and innovating. I am equally grateful for the ongoing support and expertise of our Executive Director, Colleen Keeku, whose behind-the-scenes work keeps our chapter connected, organized, and moving forward.
As I begin my term, I want to emphasize that this chapter belongs to all of us. Your voice, your ideas, and your involvement are what will shape our future. I encourage each of you to look for opportunities to engage—whether by joining a committee, mentoring trainees in their ACP work or submissions, participating in advocacy efforts, or contributing to our newsletter and chapter communications. Even small contributions can have a meaningful impact. I invite you to share your experiences, highlight your work, and help us tell the story of our members. Together, we can continue to build a supportive, dynamic, and forward-looking community that advances both our profession and the care of our patients.
In the months ahead, I hope this newsletter will help strengthen our connection. We will celebrate the accomplishments of our members, highlight chapter activities, share advocacy efforts, and create more opportunities for engagement and leadership.
Please reach out to me, I would especially love to hear how the chapter can better support you, what issues are affecting your practice, and how you would like to be involved.
It is a privilege to serve you, and I look forward to working together with all of you!
Dr. Yadav at the ACP Board of Governors meeting 2025
Chapter News
ACP IL Southern Students' and Residents' Day - Oct 23, 2025, Springfield, IL
We had a very successful students and residents day with posters, oral vignettes and doctor's dilemma competitions. I want to thank Drs. Tulika Chatterjee and Manasa Kandula, the Co-Chairs of the Resident and Student Education Committee who led the whole program. I also want to thank our faculty judges for volunteering their time, including the ones that had to drive from their far away hometowns to this event.
CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners!
Congratulations to the 2025 Resident and Student competition winners!
Medical Student Posters
- 1st Place – Aaron Shulkin, Champaign
- 2nd Place – Grace Brolly, Champaign
- 3rd Place – Joy Ku, Champaign
Resident Clinical Vignette Posters
- 1st Place – Ayesha Ali, SIU
- 2nd Place – Scott Van Gemert, SIU
- 3rd Place – Seemab Imtiaz Gill, Carle Urbana
Resident Other Category Posters (Research/Quality Improvement/High-Value Care/Public Health)
- 1st Place – Rishi Bothara, UICOM Peoria
- 2nd Place – Jerry Sweis, SIU
- 3rd Place – Safi Ur Rehman Daim, Carle Urbana
Oral Clinical Vignette Competition
- 1st Place – Varshini Thiruvadi, UICOM Peoria
- 2nd Place – Nancy Mayer, Riverside Kankakee
- 3rd Place – Roshani Bista, Carle Urbana
Doctor's Dilemma Champions
- Winning Team – SIU
Priya Antil
Mohamad Bahrou
Asmitha Reddy
This was followed by our award ceremony.
Congratulations to the 2025 Chapter award recipients!
ACP Illinois Southern Residents & Students of the year 2026
Mounica Vorla - Carle
Diego Ruiz-Avila - UICOMP
Dr. Alex Tran - UICOMP Med/Peds
Dr. Eugene Annor - UICOMP
Dr. Obada Daaboul - SIU
ACP ILS New Master Vidya Sundareshan, MD MACP
ACP ILS Laureate 2025 Dr. Peter Phan, MD FACP
Congratulations to ACP ILS Awardees
ACP Illinois Lifetime Achievement Award: John M. Flack, MD, MPH, MACP
ACP Illinois Early Career Physician Award: Denise Marie A. Francisco, MD
ACP Illinois Early Career Physician Award: Balakrishna Ravella, MD
ACP Illinois Volunteerism & Community Service Award: Ashley Tang, BS
Advancement to Fellowship
Advancement to Fellowship is for ACP members in good standing that are three or more years out of residency. Members must also be board-certified in internal medicine or neurology at the time of their application. Advancement or traditional applications must be submitted online with an up-to-date curriculum vitae and FACP sponsor letter. The applications can be submitted any time of the year; the elections occur in cycles throughout the year. All Fellows elected till the March cycle are invited to the Convocation at the national IM Meeting April that year.
Congratulations to all the newly elected fellows (in the order of July 2025 till date):
Jacob A Varney, MD FACP
Ahmed Sokrab, MBBS FACP
Muhammad Asif, MD FACP
Bradley R Oliver, MD FACP
Navdip Arora, MD FACP
Balakrishna Ravella, MBBS MD FACP
Elizabeth Tatum, MD FACP
Arslan Inayat, MD FACP
Sidra Ilyas, MD FACP
Dhaval Save, MD FACP
If you are a member working towards your ACP Fellowship, please feel free to reach out the Chapter leadership or a current Fellow for guidance.
Advocacy update
Leadership Day is the College's annual two-day advocacy event in Washington, DC that enables our members from across the country to bring our issues of concern to U.S. lawmakers. This is a great opportunity for the College and our members to bring our policy priorities to Congress and try to influence the legislative process on behalf of internal medicine.
A chapter wide essay competition was conducted in Feb to select chapter sponsored candidates to participate in the Leadership Day. We had very robust submissions with strong essays. The following members were chosen to participate in this year's event from our chapter, along with the chapter leadership:
Elio Jabra, Resident, Urbana
Lauren Sargeant, Student, Urbana
Kavitha Jacob, MD, Faculty, Peoria
Congratulations to the winners!
If any member has a powerful story about their patients or healthcare, pertaining to the ACP priority issues, please consider sharing with the team so that we can take it to Capitol Hill. If you had applied but did not get selected, please consider applying again next year. The chapter is working towards increasing the total number of sponsored seats.
IL Southern team, Leadership Day 2025
Well-Being
ACP Launches Well-being Champion Curriculum in Recognition of Health Workforce Well-Being Day
American College of Physicians (ACP) has officially launched the Well-being Champion curriculum—a new, free member-exclusive program designed to help internal medicine physicians, trainees, and future physicians foster cultures of well-being.
Health Workforce Well-Being Day highlights the importance of prioritizing the well-being of clinicians and care teams. ACP's Well-being Champion curriculum provides practical tools, leadership strategies, and evidence-based approaches you can use to create meaningful change in your workplace, training program, or professional community. CME and MOC credit are available.
- Leadership skills to serve as a Well-being Champion
- Practical strategies to promote professional fulfillment and reduce burnout
- Tools to design data-driven well-being initiatives
- How to apply quality improvement frameworks to improve physician well-being
By completing this curriculum, you can play an important role in advancing a culture of well-being in internal medicine—on Health Workforce Well-Being Day and beyond.
From ACP National
ACP Advocacy Update: Judge Blocks Immunization Schedule Changes, Stays ACIP Member Appointments
For those of you following this issue closely, a federal judge has issued a significant federal court ruling in favor of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and a coalition of leading medical and public health organizations, who filed suit challenging recent Health & Human Services (HHS) directives that bypassed established evidence-based and legal processes used to inform national vaccine guidance. These actions jeopardize public health, disrupt clinical practice, and undermine trust in immunization policy.
ACP Resolutions Spring 2026
A resolution is a proposal that asks the ACP to take a position and/or an action. Any ACP member can submit a resolution to his or her ACP Governor for consideration by the local chapter council. A resolution consists of at least one directive (“Resolved clause”) accompanied by supporting statements (“Whereas clauses”). Resolutions may also be initiated by a national committee or council.
The resolutions to be discussed at the Board of Governors Spring meeting are as indicated below. You can find the full resolutions text here
Resolution 2-S25. Advocating for Evidence-based Medical Practices Surrounding Kratom Use and Proper Regulation of Kratom.
Resolutions 4-S25 and 5-S25. Aid in Dying Act and Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD).
Resolution 6-S25. Ensuring ACP Accessibility for All Members.
Resolution 1-S26. Educating ACP Members about Discharge Summaries from Skilled Nursing Facilities.
Resolution 2-S26. Advocating for Partial Medicare Opt-Out for Physicians.
Resolution 3-S26. Updating ACP's Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Policy Positions.
Resolution 4-S26. Developing Evidence-Based Nutrition Policy and Establishing an ACP ‘Nutrition and Food as Medicine’ Hub.
Resolution 5-S26. Developing Policy to Support Permanent Standard Time.
Resolution 6-S26. Addressing the Environmental Burden Associated with ACP Publications.
Resolution 7-S26. Phasing Out Industry Funding from ACP's Annual Internal Medicine Meeting.
Decisions made at the BOG will be communicated in my subsequent newsletter.
Leadership roster
Governor - Manajyoti Yadav, MD
Treasurer - Sharjeel Ahmad, MD
Awards Committee – Chair – Janet Jokela, MD
Membership Committee – Chairs – Susan Hingle, MD; Vidya Sundareshan, MD
Resident and Student Education Committee – Co-Chairs – Manasa Kandula, MD; Tulika Chatterjee, MD
Early Career Physicians Committee – Manasa Kandula, MD
Council of Resident Members – Chair - Open
Council of Student Members – Chair – Open
If you are interested in one of the open positions, please reach out to me or Colleen Keeku, Executive Director via email.
Upcoming events
ACP National IM Meeting: April 16-18, 2026 - San Francisco, California
ACP IL Reception at IM 2026: April 16, 2026, SPIN San Francisco RSVP HERE
ACP Leadership Day: May 12-13, 2026 – Washington D.C.
ACP IL Southern Chapter Competitions - Call for Submissions: Opens in June
ACP IL Chapter Scientific Meeting and Students' and Residents' Day: Oct 2, 2026 – Peoria
I will close this newsletter with a quote that reflects both the privilege we hold as physicians and our ability, through service, to uphold humanity:
“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.” - Hippocrates