As you review session descriptions and plan your conference schedule, here are five key reasons to stay through the end of the conference on Saturday evening, February 29.

The 2022 ACGME Annual Educational Conference will be a fully virtual experience for the second year in a row, including pre-conferences. While the conference will offer content in live, semi-live, and on-demand formats, the pre-conferences are almost entirely live, which presents a unique and exciting opportunity to connect and learn. 

In the poster, Addressing Physician Shortage in Medically Underserved Areas through a Rural Residency Program Collaboration, Dr. Douglas Nolan explored how osteopathic physician residents may be able to bridge that gap in care as they complete their education.

This is one in a series of project profiles of the ACGME’s Back to Bedside initiative, which empowers residents and fellows to develop innovations that foster meaning and joy in work and engage their patients on a deeper level.

The Annual Educational Conference not only facilitates great collegiality and networking, but also allows you to connect with ACGME leaders and staff members, to get detailed answers to your questions or simply to put a face with an email address.

Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Awardee John Patrick T. Co, MD, MPH is the designated institutional official at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Lisa Willett, MD, MACM, is the internal medicine residency program director and vice chair for education in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Debra L. Dooley came to the ACGME 22 years ago, initially in an administrative role with the Review Committee for Internal Medicine. She retires today, after 10.5 years as the Director of Educational Activities, where she leads the team responsible for producing the ACGME’s educational programming, and most notably the Annual Educational Conference. We spent some time with her before she left, discussing her career, her mentors, her legacy, and the renaming of the Debra L. Dooley Program Coordinator Excellence Award.

With overdose as the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, it is imperative that the nation—including the entire medical community—take responsibility for its role in creating this epidemic and identify and enact strategies that can address it. This is Dr. Leana Wen’s position. The former Baltimore Health Commissioner and current president of Planned Parenthood spoke about the steps she and the City of Baltimore took to address opioid addiction in the community, and what role she sees physicians playing in solving this problem that is devastating the nation.