Q and A with 2026 ACGME Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Lisa R. Merlin, MD.

This award recognizes program coordinators for their in-depth understanding of the accreditation process, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and projects to improve graduate medical education programs.

Jamie Dow, EdM, is assistant director for resident education and training at the University of Florida. Her poster, Mindfulness in Neurosurgery: Improving Neurosurgeon Wellness in Training and Beyond (with co-authors W. Christopher Fox, MD, Associate Program Director, University of Florida, and Gregory Murad, MD, Program Director, University of Florida), looked at wellness in neurosurgery, which Dow says “has traditionally been considered an oxymoron.” However, as priorities among neurological surgery residents evolve and the effects of physician burnout are increasingly recognized across specialties, life balance and overall well-being have become areas of emphasis and an opportunity for program improvement.

2021 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Julie B. McCausland, MD, MS is the program director for the transitional year program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Medical Education in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She specializes in emergency medicine.

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.

This week's e-Communication includes information on the Resident/Fellow and Faculty Surveys, Review and Comment for program requirements, the Annual Educational Conference, and more.

The ACGME has issued an updated statement that supercedes all other guidance regarding early graduation from US allopathic and osteopathic medical schools and early appointment to the clinical learning environment.

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.

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.