Governor’s Corner
Chris Knight, MD FACP
I want to focus this column on plans for our Annual Chapter Meeting in the fall. As many of you are aware (thanks to those who responded!), we sent out a survey looking at alternative options for the Chapter Meeting. The need for change is simple–the costs of the current 2-day format at Bell Harbor are impossible to sustain. Although we’ve had good attendance at our last couple of in-person meetings, it hasn’t matched pre-pandemic levels. Also important, there’s been a heartwarming but expensive shift from fully trained, practicing internal medicine physicians to resident and student trainees–at our last meeting more than half of those in the room were trainees, speakers, or other non-paying guests. Even though I was optimistic at the time based on how full the room felt, the actual revenue from meeting registration fell far short of costs. The bottom line: if we were to have a similar loss in 2025, it would be hard for the Chapter to pay its bills.
In discussing this with Council and our leadership team, we thought another two-day meeting at Bell Harbor was too risky, so we considered four alternatives:
-
- A two-day meeting at a smaller venue that would be less expensive.
- A hybrid meeting that had one virtual day and one day at Bell Harbor.
- An entirely virtual meeting.
- Increasing registration costs for the two-day Bell Harbor meeting.
When we looked closely at the first option, we realized that we would actually have to exclude trainees from the meeting to fit in a smaller venue and (because we would lose the Bell Harbor contract) it would be hard to grow the meeting if people wanted to come back to in-person, so we decided that wasn’t the way to go. The other three options were what you saw on the survey.
The results of the survey were clear: one-day virtual/one-day in person was both the first choice for the majority of those who responded and was the choice with the lowest number of people who said they wouldn’t attend at all, so that is the plan for 2025. We will have one in-person day at Bell Harbor that will include the Doctors’ Dilemma (Jeopardy™️) competition, oral and poster abstract presentations, and workshops along with the big plenary talks. We will have one virtual day that will include the business meeting, oral abstracts, and more talks. A lot of questions are still open, especially whether to have our in-person meeting on Friday or Saturday, when to do the virtual day, and what to do with the pre-courses in this new format. Thankfully, our two Program Chairs, Drs. Delaney Goulet and Nina Tan, are already working on a phenomenal lineup for this meeting.
For myself, I’m really excited to try this–I’m looking forward to a concentrated in-person experience that will bring us together for all the can’t-miss moments of the meeting combined with a virtual day that provides our signature educational quality in the more relaxed virtual space. My biggest hope is that this step will bring us closer to a true hybrid meeting, in which virtual attendees will be able to engage with speakers and teaching content as fully as if they were in the room.
We’re working hard on planning this meeting as we speak–it’s a big change and there’s a high risk of unintended consequences. If you have specific feedback/suggestions/ideas for how to implement the meeting, please send to me directly [governor@washingtonacp.org] and I’ll forward to the members of the planning committee. Many thanks to all of you for your support of the Chapter over the years and for joining us on this new adventure!
Thanks!
Chris Knight, Governor || Washington Chapter – American College of Physicians
clknightfacp@fastmail.com
Save the Date! 2025 Annual Chapter Meeting
November 7th: In-Person at Bell Harbor International Conference Center (Virtual Available)
November 8th: Virtual for All
Our 2025 Annual Meeting Co-Chairs Delaney Goulet, MD and Nina Tan, MD are excited to welcome you back for one day at Bell Harbor for our 2025 annual meeting, and one day virtual. Please note the date is for the 2nd weekend in November which is different than what it has historically been, and in a format that is different than what it has historically been.
On November 7th, we will be in-person at Bell Harbor International Conference Center including the same engaging content in plenary sessions, workshops, our annual Doctors Dilemma competition, posters and abstract presentations, an awards reception, and time to network with other fellow physicians. This program will be offered hybrid so if you cannot make it in-person, you can still hop on virtually.
On November 8th, we will be virtual only for all and will still provide the same plenary sessions and innovative workshops concurrently across different breakout rooms, our annual business meeting and abstract presentations.
Registration will offer full conference which consists of 1-day in-person and 1-day virtual, or virtual-only for both days.
We are working on hosting watch parties on Saturday, November 8th, so even if we are virtual only there may be an option to still gather with your colleagues and connect in locations across the State. More on that soon!
We had a highly successful WA Annual Chapter Meeting in November 2024, held at the beautiful Bell Harbor Convention Center with a live virtual option for all plenary sessions.
The event began with well-attended online pre-course sessions, providing valuable educational content ahead of the main meeting.
The main meeting kicked off with: Cardiology Updates by Dr. Khaira. We had an educational talk on Beyond Metformin: Advancing Diabetes Treatment by Dr. Subramanian. There were informative workshops on Metabolic Disease covering Fatty Liver Disease and Obesity Updates. Women’s Health Update by Dr. Allen was a major highlight, addressing a crucial topic at an opportune time.
Day 2 started off with Infectious Disease Update by Dr. Bryson-Cahn, providing key insights into emerging challenges. A Dynamic & Immersive Plenary on Long COVID by Dr. Anita Chopra. ACP Laureate Award this year was presented to Dr. Anita Chopra for her outstanding contributions.
The meeting featured stimulating talks on various topics, including opioids, ADHD, and a workshop on cannabis. Attendees also engaged in hands-on workshops covering: Complex Care, Patient-Centered Notes, Narrative Medicine and Advocacy & Refugee Healthcare. A standout session was the CGM Workshop led by Dr. Carl Wysham, offering immersive training on continuous glucose monitoring. The plenary on Dermatology pearls for primary care by Dr Bergstrom was very informative.
The prestigious Annual John Vassall Lecture on Equity & Justice was delivered by Dr. Laxminarsimha (Simha) Reddy, MD, focusing on Health Equity for Unhoused Patients—a deeply impactful and thought-provoking session.
This year’s Jeopardy Contest, hosted by Dr. Mack Holmberg, was a crowd favorite, keeping participants and the audience engaged with challenging and entertaining clues. The all time favorites were also presented as Medical Myths by Dr Paauw, and Drug updates by Dr Chris Knight.
A Heartfelt Thank You.
We extend our deepest gratitude to all the faculty members for their time, effort, and dedication in delivering high-quality educational sessions. A special thank you to our attendees for their participation, feedback, and engagement—your contributions made this meeting a resounding success!
We appreciate your commitment to Internal Medicine and look forward to welcoming you all at our next chapter meeting in 2026!
2024 Doctors Dilemma & Abstract Competition Winners
We had near record participation in our Chapter’s annual Medical Student and Resident Case Vignette Abstract Competition and a record number of posters presented at the annual meeting! We also had nine wonderful oral presentations interspersed throughout the meeting. As usual, it was hard to pick just one winner per category. This year, our awardee for Top Medical Student abstract was Megan Taylor from the University of Arizona (and a member of our Washington ACP Chapter) with her abstract on a case of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Presenting as Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. Our awardee for the Top Resident poster abstract was Dr Bhavjeet Kahlon from the Washington State University Internal Medicine Residency with her abstract on a case of Acute Esophageal Necrosis and Herpes Esophagitis: Questioning a Possible Connection. For our Oral Presentations, we have an Honorable Mention, Dr Thomas Weiss with the Madigan Internal Medicine Residency and his instructive case titled A Case of Pancytopenia that is not what you Zinc (and that isn’t a typo!). And for our Top Place Oral Presentation, Dr MaKenna Stavins from the University of Washington Internal Medicine Residency was our awardee for her talk “Drop Attacks and Dizziness as an Atypical Presentation of Eagle Syndrome in Primary Care: A Case Report.” We look forward to seeing Dr Stavins represent our chapter at the National Meeting in New Orleans next April. Congratulations to all of our abstract participants and their mentors!
2024 Washington Chapter Awards
We have so many amazing Chapter members – in this unprecedented and historically challenging year we celebrate the following individuals:
Albert M Brady, MD FACP
Alvin J. Thompson Internist of the Year
Anita Chopra, MD FACP
Washington Chapter Laureate Award
Kim O'Connor, MD MACP
Kemi Nakabayashi Chapter Service Award
Deepthi Mani, MBBS FACP
Hospitalist of the Year
Amish Dave, MD FACP
Community Service Award
Dan Yang, MD FACP
Clinician - Educator of the Year
Erin Bauer, MD
Golden Apple Award
Robert DeGregorio
Douglas S. Paauw MD Outstanding Student in Internal Medicine Award
Elson S Floyd College of Medicine
Raphael Abramov
Douglas S. Paauw MD Outstanding Student in Internal Medicine Award
Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences
Tarun Gandhi
Douglas S. Paauw MD Outstanding Student in Internal Medicine Award
University of Washington School of Medicine
Council of Student Members Update: Mentorship Program!
We are excited to provide an update on our new mentorship program, which launched in October 2024 with 14 physician mentors and 38 medical students from PNWU, WSU, and UW. Participants were organized into groups, each led by 2 mentors and consisting of 5 to 6 mentees. We have received excellent feedback thus far – mentors are enjoying connecting with students and reflecting on their experiences, and mentees are gaining valuable insights into the diverse career paths within Internal Medicine. As a result of the mentorship program, we have seen an increase in the number of student ACP members. We look forward to collaborating on additional opportunities to increase student engagement with ACP and provide support throughout their training. We would like to thank all our mentors and mentees for their participation in this program! We hope you have found this experience valuable and hope you will join us in the spring for a program-wide virtual get-together. This will be an opportunity to meet other ACP members, share stories, and host a Q&A for students with our mentors. Details to come! If you have any questions, feedback, or wish to become a mentor or mentee, please reach out to Joslyn Johnson, Council of Student Members Chair, at jLjohnson@pnwu.edu.
Joey Parker’s Teaching Corner
Around this time every year internal medicine residents receive their “In-Training Exam” score back. This is essentially a practice board examination, and measures pure medical knowledge in addition to test taking strategies. For some, this is a big awakening as there is a correlation with PGY level percentile and being at risk for failing the ABIM examination at the end of residency. While those at risk of failing their ABIM examinations need individualized plans, here are 2 of my favorite strategies I share at this time of year: 1) The best residents aren’t studying for a board examination, they are studying to be great doctors. If all we are studying for is an examination, once that exam is over the learning stops. We want to raise up lifelong learners. 2) The best learners and performers in any field are obsessed with the process more than the results. Instead of having the goal of passing a board examination, make it an obsession to do 10 practice questions each day, read 2 articles each week, and listen to 1 podcast each week. Success in any arena is never the goal, it’s always the result of doing what’s necessary every single day.
WA ACP Board Review Course is Back!
Talks include numerous audience response questions so attendees can self-assess knowledge and reinforce patient care skills with clinical problem-solving and evidence-based practice. Sessions will be recorded so attendees can review again short-term after the course.
Recordings of all sessions will be available until September 1st after the live course. You do not need to present at all of the live course to have access to the recordings. Please note: CME credits will not be available for this year’s course.