The 2027 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, taking place February 25-27 in San Antonio, Texas, promises to be another extraordinary gathering for the graduate medical education (GME) community. Each year, the conference includes a deep lineup of educational sessions, courses, workshops, networking opportunities, enriching activities, and more. On Friday, February 25, after the President’s Plenary, attendees can select from one of four plenaries on timely and thought-provoking topics, and to cap off that day, a Sunset Session will provide insights into the Common Program Requirements Major Revision process. These Featured Plenaries are designed to spark dialogue, challenge assumptions, and provide actionable insights for educators, leaders, and learners alike.
The Featured Plenary sessions are more than presentations—they are opportunities to engage with pressing issues shaping medical education today and tomorrow. This year’s program reflects themes central to the ACGME Mission: professionalism; well-being; innovation; and adaptability in a rapidly evolving health care landscape.
Choosing among the Featured Plenaries, included as part of attendees’ conference registration, will be a challenge, as the range of topics covered will appeal to all, regardless of your role in GME. Here’s a quick preview of what to expect from each:
SES001 – AI Agents in Action: A Roadmap for Engaging the GME Community in Implementing Agentic AI
This plenary explores agentic artificial intelligence (AI), a next-generation approach to AI that goes beyond simple chatbots to create autonomous digital assistants capable of streamlining repetitive tasks, ensuring compliance, and enhancing communication. Presenters will demonstrate how their institution successfully implemented low-barrier, low-code strategies to design and deploy custom workflow-specific agents. Attendees will see measurable impacts on accuracy, efficiency, and learner experience.
SES002 – Everyone Deserves to Be Safe: Workplace Violence and Safety in the Learning Environment
This plenary will examine the prevalence and impact of workplace violence in health care. Participants will explore common risk scenarios, learn practical verbal de-escalation strategies, and review a structured framework for recognizing, responding to, and reporting safety threats based on our experience.
SES003 – Legal Lessons for GME Leaders: Navigating Risk, Responsibility, and Decision-Making
In the world of GME, certain actions can be associated with legal risk. This interactive plenary will examine scenarios involving due process, remediation, retaliation claims, and documentation missteps. Attendees will learn how to identify red flags, apply policies consistently, and partner with institutional leaders to create defensible, learner-centered solutions. This session should be helpful for anyone involved in GME decision-making who wants to do the right thing while understanding potential legal ramifications for programs and institutions.
SES004 – What Should We Eat? New Nutrition Science and What It Means for Patients, Policy, and Physician Training
This plenary, will explore the latest evidence on healthy dietary patterns, common misconceptions about nutrition, and practical strategies for making informed food choices and examine major federal policy developments, including efforts related to ultra-processed foods, school nutrition programs, Food Is Medicine initiatives, and emerging US Department of Health and Human Services priorities relevant to physician education. Presenters will discuss how changing nutrition science and policy are reshaping expectations for medical education and consider opportunities for residency and fellowship programs to better prepare physicians to address nutrition-related health needs in clinical practice.
Sunset Session: Common Program Requirements Major Revision Update
In the final plenary of the day, the leaders of the Task Force charged with developing the new Common Program Requirements will provide an update on the major revision process, including summary themes from public comments on the proposed revision. The presentation will also preview the impact of the major revision on the specialty-specific Program Requirements, and additional updates may be offered regarding potential impact on the fellowship version of the Common Program Requirements.
These sessions complement the conference’s dynamic schedule, which includes Full-Day Courses on Thursday, networking opportunities, and more, creating a comprehensive experience for attendees committed to advancing GME.
Join the Conversation
Whether you’re a program director, coordinator, faculty member, learner, or institutional leader, the Featured Plenaries at #ACGME2027 are designed not only to inform but to inspire action to help shape the environments where learners thrive and patient care excels.
Learn all about the conference offerings and register today on the conference website. Early Bird pricing is available through December 16, 2026 – so don’t wait!