-
In this Issue:
- Governor's Message
- DOCTORS DILEMMA AND CHARTER OAK CONTRIBUTION:
- ADVOCACY:
- WELLNESS PAINT & SIP
- MEDICAL STUDENT ENGAGEMENT: MEET A MENTOR
- ANNUAL MEETING UPDATE:
Ruth E. Weissberger, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
Governor's Message
Dear CT ACP Colleagues,
I'm pleased to share with you some of the recent activities and achievements of the CT ACP Chapter, and upcoming events. First though, I'd like to bring to your attention two statements issued by national ACP. One, in conjunction with other leading physician groups, responds to the announcement on withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization. The other reaffirms our organization's commitment to equity. The two statements can be found here:
https://www.acponline.org/node/410518
https://www.acponline.org/node/410509
The legislative session is Connecticut is underway, with a number of health and health care related bills in consideration. CT ACP will once again use our VoterVoice platform to inform members of specific bills of interest and provide a quick, user-friendly way to send a message to your legislator(s). Please take advantage of this opportunity to raise your voice on issues that affect the health of patients and the profession of internal medicine in Connecticut. Just a few of the issues we are following include scope of practice for naturopaths, restricting private equity acquisition of hospitals, and Medicaid reimbursement.
Please see below for more updates in the areas of advocacy for health care policies that benefit our patients and our practice. Additionally, please take a look at the Chapter's activities engaging with medical students and residents, our wellness events, and of course, highlights of our annual Chapter Scientific Meeting and the 2024-25 award winners.
If you are not yet involved in CT ACP but would like to be, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Executive Directors, Lisa Winkler and Tricia Dinneen Priebe, at lisa@grassrootsct.com
My term as Connecticut ACP Governor comes to an end this April, when the new Governor, Dr. Daniel Tobin, begins his 4-year term. It has been a great honor and privilege for me to serve in this role and to represent the Connecticut Chapter on the ACP Board of Governors for the past 4 years. We can anticipate a lot of work to come in the next 4 years to improve health care delivery for our patients, to defend vulnerable patient populations, and to defend evidence-based medicine and science. ACP will continue to lead on these fronts, providing a trusted voice for internal medicine, and I hope you will stay engaged. Please join with me in wishing Dr. Tobin great success in the new term.
Sincerely,
Ruth
DOCTORS DILEMMA AND CHARTER OAK CONTRIBUTION:
At our annual Chapter meeting in October we introduced a new feature to the Doctor's Dilemma competition, holding a fundraiser as a way to cheer on our teams and support a charity selected by each group. The charities selected included:
- Bridgeport Primary Care-Doctor's Without Borders
- UCONN Traditional-Charter Oak Health Center
- Yale Traditional-Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services
- UCONN PCIM-American Red Cross
Donations were made throughout the competition, with the winning team's selected charity to receive all of the contributions. The UCONN Traditional IM Residency team won the competition and $425 was donated to their charity, Charter Oak Health Center. We've included a picture below of Dr. Jackie Savage and our Governor, Dr. Ruth Weissberger presenting the check to the leadership of the health center.
ADVOCACY:
As we did last year, CTACP submitted impact statements on several scope of practice expansion requests in Hartford. Dr. Anthony Yoder and Dr. Rebecca Andrews currently serve on the Scope Review Committee established to examine allowing naturopaths in Connecticut to prescribe. Drs. Andrews and Yoder have done an excellent job articulating our concerns and as of this newsletter, it looks unlikely that the working group will release recommendations that support an expanded scope. Despite this victory, it is likely that legislation will be introduced for consideration this session.
At the same time, Dr. Yoder is serving on the Office of Health Strategy working group established to review the state's approach to the Health Information Exchange. (This group was part of a coalition effort, involving CTACP, that highlighted key concerns.) Specific recommendations on contract provisions, protected health information, liability, cybersecurity and patient education, among other issues were formally recommended as part of the discussion by Dr. Yoder and others.
Dr. Kirsten Ek serves on the Steering Committee of the CT Coalition for Climate Action, representing CTACP. The group is focused on addressing health and environmental concerns related to climate change. As a steering committee member, Dr. Ek contributes to guiding the group on effective policy positions in concordance with ACP policy.
WELLNESS PAINT & SIP
In November the Wellness Committee hosted a paint and sip event at the Surf Club in Madison led by Drs. Sujata Prasad and Katie Norman. CTACP members gathered on the shoreline to paint seascapes under the direction of physician and painter Dr. Norman. It was a fun event that really tapped into the creativity of our members.
MEDICAL STUDENT ENGAGEMENT: MEET A MENTOR
The “Meet a Mentor” program for medical students was inaugurated at the annual Chapter meeting in October and was a great success. Thank you to all the mentors and medical students who participated (mentors listed below), to Drs. Varun Jain, Naseema Merchant, and Rizwan Ishtiaq for helping organize and carry out the event, to the IM Interest Group at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine for the idea, and to the IMIG leaders at all 3 CT medical schools for promoting it. The feedback from our mentors and students was uniformly positive, and we hope to repeat the event in future.
Nephrology: Dave Miner, MD, FACP
Hematology/Oncology: Ellice Wong, MD
Occupation Medicine: Amir Mohammad, MD, FACP
Gastroenterology: Elizabeth Richardson, MD
Rheumatology: Robert McLean, MD, MACP
Endocrinology: Faryal Mirza, MD
Cardiology: Atique Azam Mirza, MD
Primary Care: Sarita Soares, MD, FACP
Infectious Disease: Shaheena Shan, MD
Hospital Medicine (Academic): Andrea Roberts, MD
ANNUAL MEETING UPDATE:
In addition to the events at the 2024 Chapter meeting noted above, we were proud to have Dr. Darilyn Moyer, ACP Executive Vice President and CEO, give the keynote address on the escalating pandemic of medical misinformation, and to speak on strategies for effective leadership at our Women in Medicine Networking Breakfast. We held a robust abstract competition with over 200 posters presented, and a variety of engaging scientific sessions.
Next year's meeting will be held on October 10th, so please mark your calendars.
Congratulations to this year's award winners:
Victoria Forbes, MD: The CTACP Chapter Volunteerism Award
David Miner, MD, FACP: The Henry Gift Distinguished Internist Award
Donna Windish, MD, FACP: The George F. Thornton Teaching Award
Rebecca Andrews, MD, FACP: The Rosemarie L. Fisher Female Physician Leadership Award
Shaili Gupta, MD: The CT ACP Chapter Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Award
Angela Stein, MD: The CT ACP Chapter Early Career Physician Teaching Award
Shaheena Shan, MD: The CT ACP Chapter Laureate Award
Senator Saud Anwar, MD: The CT ACP Legislator/Public Servant of the Year Award
Special thanks to our vendors for their support.
