In 2016, a Castlight Health report named Wilmington, North Carolina, the city with the highest abuse opioid abuse rate in the US. In response, Joseph Pino, MD, MHA, and members of the community sought to safely reduce the number of opioids prescribed, increase adherence to best practices in opioid prescribing, and reduce emergency department visits due to opioid overdose. His poster, presented at the 2019 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, reports the outcome of these multiple initiatives.

As 2019 revs up, we thought it was a good time to look ahead at what the CLER Program has lined up for the coming year.

ACGME Manager, Employee Communications Emily Vasiliou wrote about her experience attending the ACGME's annual Awards Retreat for recipients of the Courage to Lead and Courage to Teach Awards for the first time in 10 years.

2020 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Edwin L. Zalneraitis, MD is the pediatric residency program director at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.

Lauren Wojnarowski, MA is the ACGME's Associate Director, Educational Projects, working in the Education Department's Educational Activities team. She is one of the planners of the Annual Educational Conference, and her team's role is to handle collection of educational content and logistics (besides AV) to produce the conference each year. We asked her to share some more about her role and what the conference experience is like for her behind the scenes.

2020 ACGME David C. Leach Awardee David Valentine, MD is a fellow in clinical neurophysiology at New York University’s Langone Health.

2021 Debra L. Dooley GME Program Coordinator Excellence Awardee Dawn Fountain works in the general surgery residency program at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita.

If you’re joining us in Orlando next week, here’s a quick list of tips and information to know before you arrive! See you soon!

The 2020 Annual Educational Conference wrapped up with an enriching and inspiring day of sessions.

2021 Debra L. Dooley GME Program Coordinator Excellence Awardee Sharon M. Ashley is the senior residency program coordinator for emergency medicine at Emory University.