Chair: Gary Goldbaum                                                Staff: Jessica Cafarella

Since its report to the Board in February 2002, the GME Committee has focused on: (1) producing an ACPM advocacy brochure on preventive medicine funding, (2) contributing to a Preventive Medicine Hill Leadership Day; and (3) recruiting and appointing a new Committee Chair. Current activities are outlined below.

The ACPM GME Committee assisted in the development of ACPM’s advocacy brochure, A Public Health Crisis: The Shortage of Physicians Trained in Preventive Medicine. Committee members worked with staff to develop the content and layout of the brochure. The brochure stresses that: preventive medicine physicians are uniquely trained to serve patients and communities; the need for preventive medicine is growing while the supply of preventive medicine specialists is shrinking; funding for preventive medicine training is eroding; and $22.2 million annually is necessary to meet the need for training physicians in preventive medicine. A copy of the brochure can be viewed on the ACPM web site (www.acpm.org).

The GME Committee worked with ACPM to organize and execute a Preventive Medicine Hill Leadership Day on May 16, 2002. The Hill Leadership Day was ACPM’s largest advocacy event in recent years, as preventive medicine representatives met with legislative staff in nearly 20 congressional offices responsible for health appropriations. The visits were aimed at increasing HRSA Title VII funding for general preventive medicine/public health training programs, which have long been neglected by Congress. ACPM representatives also stressed that the enhancement of preventive medicine training must be included in any strategy to strengthen our nation's public health infrastructure. GME Committee members participated in the Leadership Day and also wrote letters to their legislators to describe the current state of preventive medicine residency training in their localities.

ACPM has continued its contact with key congressional staffers following the Hill Day and has made additional visits to Congress to advocate for increased funding for preventive medicine residency training. The Senate and House Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittees are not expected to take up the L-HHS-Ed appropriation bill, however, until late summer or early fall.

GME Committee Chair Gary Goldbaum has decided to step down as committee chair as of July 2002. Dr. Goldbaum’s dedication to the Committee and hard work will be sorely missed. ACPM is pleased to announce, however, that Judy Rubin has acceded to Dorry Lane’s request to assume chairmanship of the committee following the July 2002 Board of Regents conference call.