2023 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Dr. Alec O’Connor was the program director of the internal medicine residency program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry for the last 10 years; he recently transitioned into the associate program director role for the same program.

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.

At the 2021 ACGME Annual Educational Conference, Athena Gonzalez and her team presented their poster, Strategies for Optimizing Fit Testing for Residents and the Evolving Role of the Program Coordinator, about their work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure residents were wearing properly sized and fitted masks and respirators, even as supplies changed.

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.

2023 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Dr. Richard G. Ellenbogen is the program director and department chair for neurological surgery at the University of Washington.

A Q and A with Dr. Cassandra Fritz of the internal medicine residency at Washington University in St. Louis, which is being recognized with a 2025 ACGME Barbara Ross-Lee, DO Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award.

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.

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.