If you were working in GME back in the 80s, maybe you attended one of the ACGME’s early forerunners of the Annual Educational Conference.

ACGME President and CEO Dr. Nasca kicked off his Saturday morning session at the Annual Educational Conference with some “non-rhetorical” questions: Can anyone predict what the health care system will look like in 2035? Can anyone predict how long your residents will practice? 40 years?

After stumping the room, he went on to explain that it is our job is to prepare residents to practice in the future—not to arm them with practices, skills, and knowledge of the present. We want our residents to be prepared not just for 2018 but for 2035—and beyond.

For the first time since 2012, the ACGME today presented the John C. Gienapp Distinguished Service Award to Timothy C. Flynn, MD, FACS. The award is named for Dr. John Gienapp, who was the ACGME’s Executive Director for 19 years. Dr. Gienapp made several important contributions to GME and ACGME accreditation, and when he retired this award was established in his honor to recognize those who, like himself, dedicated themselves to a career in graduate medical education and made outstanding contributions to residency education and ACGME activities in a variety of ways.

This week's e-Communication includes news on the Milestones program, ACGME Requirements available for Review and Comment, new subspecialty proposals, calls for resident and public members, and more.

Karen J. Nichols, DO, MA, MACOI, FACP, CS-F is the current Chair of the ACGME Board of Directors, having assumed this role in September 2020. We asked Dr. Nichols to talk about her professional experience, her role, and her experience with the ACGME’s first-ever virtual Annual Educational Conference.

In the poster, Waging War Against Physician Burnout: Overcoming the Barriers of Military Medicine with Personalized Patient Care Boards, presented at the 2021 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, Dr. Jessika Weber and colleagues present their project that looked at how customized care boards in pediatric patient rooms are helping young patients.

Drs. Lyuba Konopasek, Stuart Slavin, and Timothy Brigham walked participants through the ACGME-developed guidebook, “Well-Being in the Time of COVID-19,” and explored how the ideas within it could be implemented in graduate medical education in their 2021 ACGME Annual Educational Conference session.

2021 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Joanne Valeriano-Marcet, MD is the rheumatology program director at University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine.

2021 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Awardee Meghan M. Walsh MD, MPH, FACP is the chief academic officer and DIO at Hennepin Healthcare. She specializes in internal medicine.

2021 Debra L. Dooley GME Program Coordinator Excellence Awardee Adam Finney is a program coordinator for child neurology and pediatric epilepsy at the University of Colorado.