What a remarkable week in Denver – It was a treat to meet with so many passionate and trailblazing ACPM members and preventive medicine physicians, honor new ACPM Fellows, and engage with residents at our annual meeting in Denver.
There were so many inspiring sessions, panels and discussions that elevated the value of the preventive medicine field and the prevention strategies and efforts that will certainly define the future of our health care ecosystem. As a College and community, we need to be vigilant about upstream interventions and act on the pressing topics discussed during Preventive Medicine 2022.
We closed the conference today by honoring our new class of Fellows and ACPM award winners, including our inaugural Board of Regents Scientific Excellence Award winners: Dr. Eunice Neely, for explaining Black-White differences in maternal hypertensive disorder findings; Dr. Christopher Snitchler, for his study on sepsis hospitalizations among active component service members; and Dr. Erin Winkler, for her presentation on length of maternity leave and maternal health in the U.S. military.
We hope you will keep an eye on future ACPM newsletters and social media posts to learn more about these incredible physician leaders, other awardees and new fellows. (Please consider becoming an ACPM Fellow.)
The final plenary session of the conference covered one of the most interesting and vital public health issues on the horizon – that of cannabis use and its impact on public health. During her presentation, Dr. Gillian Schauer, Research Scientist at the Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute at the University of Washington, stated there is still much research needed and we must continue to work toward better understanding of the potential health risks tied to the use of cannabis – and hemp — as well as work on developing good evidence-based policies.
Attending and organizing a major conference can be an exhausting, but incredibly rewarding, affair. The conference planning committee, leadership and ACPM staff invested nearly a year in planning and preparation for this important week. The days at the conference often start early, end late, and leave little room to slow down.
And yet, every year after the Preventive Medicine Conference, whether online or in-person, I head out the doors with a spring in my step, inspiration racing from neuron to neuron, ready and reinvigorated for what’s to come. This speaks to the quality of the conference, but more so to the quality of the people. ACPM’s members and preventive medicine physicians are a special, incredibly impressive group. It is an honor and a pleasure to work with them to continue to advance the profession.
We hope you’ve followed the important conversation held at Preventive Medicine 2022 on social media using #PM2022. For more information, please visit us online, here.