The ACGME, Association of American Medical Colleges, and American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine are launching an initiative to create a common set of foundational competencies for use in undergraduate medical education programs in the US.

This groundbreaking event brought together 90 leaders in graduate and undergraduate medical education, practicing physicians, and disability advocates to address persistent barriers and develop strategies for improving physician education and training in caring for patients with disabilities.

The creation of ACGME Global Services demonstrates the two-pronged approach in fulfilling the ACGME Mission across borders, separating accreditation (ACGME-I) from advisory services (Global Services) to protect against any actual or apparent conflicts of interest.

2023 David C. Leach Awardee Dr. David Ray Velez is a PGY-5 resident in surgery at the University of North Dakota.

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.

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.

2020 Debra L. Dooley GME Program Coordinator Excellence Awardee Jennifer M. Shipley is a program coordinator in neurology at the University of Florida.

2023 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Lead Awardee Dr. Susan Kirk is the designated institutional official and associate dean for graduate medical education at the University of Virginia.

2022 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Dr. Michael Aylward is the program director for the internal medicine-pediatrics program at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.

The ACGME is excited to welcome the graduate medical education (GME) community to Orlando, Florida for the 2024 Annual Educational Conference.