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Mississippi Governor's Newsletter April 2021

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Samuel C. Thigpen, MD, FACP, ACP Governor

Samuel C. Thigpen, MD, FACP, ACP Governor

 


Governor's Message

What a difference a year makes! The last 13 months have been a time none of us will forget, full of all sorts of lessons, extraordinary circumstances, unexpected grief, medical accomplishments, and much more. As everyone knows, in-person meetings quickly became out of the question in 2020, but in just 8 weeks we'll be back in person again meeting with the Alabama chapter in Meridian. Our scientific meeting is June 11-13, and I hope that many of you will be able to attend.

At the end of March, several of us had a chance to tour The Riley Center, which is our meeting venue, as well as other sites in Meridian, including the Children's Museum, the Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience (MAX), and one of Meridian's famous restaurants, Weidmann's. The facilities and the food are top notch, and speaking as someone who has been a Mississippian all his life, it made me very proud to live in our state. We were all impressed and also excited for everyone else in our chapter to experience the city, the venue, and the museums in June.

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Our online chapter meeting hub, where you can register for the meeting and reserve your hotel room, is now open on the ACP website at this link:

2021 MS/AL ACP Scientific Meeting Hub

Please visit the link to see our outstanding agenda assembled by our Program Chair Dr. Jessie Lavender. We have two and a half days of fantastic speakers and topics pertinent to your everyday practice. Up to 16 CME hours are available at the meeting, as well as MOC points through our ABIM SEP module presentation on Sunday and through a quiz you can take after the meeting on the remainder of the meeting's content. We will have abstract competitions, drawn from a record number of submissions to our meeting, for our student members and for our resident/fellow members as well.

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Meet Our New Executive Director

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At the start of January, we welcomed our new Executive Director, Christi Long, to the Mississippi Chapter. Already Christi has had a significant positive impact on the operations of our chapter, helping us prepare for our upcoming chapter meeting, revise our bylaws, and communicate with the national ACP office. Christi has worked with associations on local, state and national levels, and counts it a privilege to have learned the ropes of association management in the trenches.

Christi currently serves as executive director of the Medical Society of Montgomery County; the Alabama Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery; the Alabama & Mississippi Chapters, American College of Physician; and the Alabama Cancer Congress. She works with each organization's board of directors in matters of governance, finance, membership, advocacy, communications, programs, and events. In all of her work with our chapter and other medical associations, Christi believes that by addressing issues relevant to the medical community, promoting physician well-being and encouraging collaboration among colleagues, we can improve the quality of care delivered to patients.

In addition to believing one should complete each task with joy, with excellence and to completion, Christi is a lover of people, coffee, podcasts, live theater, good books, old stamps, smooth jazz, paper of all sorts, cupcakes and college football. She is a member of the Alabama Council of Association Executives and a small group leader in her local church. Christi and her husband celebrated 23 years of marriage this year. Her greatest honor has been raising two delightful children.

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Development for Chapter Meeting

Our chapter meeting cannot happen in the way that it does without the support of vendors. Our Development Committee, led by Dr. Charletta Scott, is actively working on gathering vendor support for our time in Meridian. If your practice or hospital, or a business with which you are familiar, wishes to support the meeting, please contact Christi Long at mississippi.acp@gmail.com She can provide you with the vendor prospectus, which includes the cost of a booth. This is a great opportunity to recruit potential future employees and also to get your name in front of many prospective customers.

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Chapter Bylaws

Our Mississippi Chapter Bylaws Committee is revising our bylaws to be current with best practices and procedures for ACP chapters. These revisions will be shared with the chapter prior to approval by the Board of Regents, likely later in this calendar year. Our most recent revision was in 2004, and since that time, there has been increased participation by councils of student members, resident/fellow members, and early career physicians. In addition, we want to ensure that there is opportunity for members across the state to increase their engagement and pursue involvement at the Governor's Advisory Council level. You will hear more about the bylaws as the revisions are completed.

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Final Thoughts on Spring 2020 BOG Resolutions

If you have any final thoughts on our Spring Board of Governors Resolutions, please send them directly to me at sthigpen@umc.edu or post them on our online forum at this link. You must be logged in to post on the forum. The Board of Governors meeting is April 26-28, and any thoughts shared by members at this point will be part of my contribution during the actual business meeting rather than in the governors' online discussion that precedes the meeting.

Going forward, I do encourage everyone in the chapter to read the resolutions each Fall and Spring and give them some thought. Much of the policy that is referenced in ACP press releases or that is published in The Annals of Internal Medicine comes, at least in part, from resolutions written by chapters. If you either agree or disagree with the resolution, it is important for your governor to know that so your voice can be represented. I know that many of our membership have supported some of the good things that ACP has done for the practice of medicine. However, I also know that many of our members believe the ACP has reached outside of the scope of internal medicine on several occasions. It is very important that these opinions are shared with the College's leadership so that you, the dues paying membership, are getting the value you expect for your investment in the organization.

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Student Internal Medicine Interest Night (IMIN)

Be on the lookout for more information about Internal Medicine Interest Night (IMIN), an event that will promote engagement in the ACP for our state's medical students. This event, originally planned for 2020, was postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic. It will take place near the beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year. More details to come as a final date and location are designated.

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Next Newsletter

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In a couple of weeks you will hear a final word from me and also hear from Dr. Otis Gowdy, who will begin his term as Mississippi Chapter Governor on Sunday, May 2nd. Dr. Gowdy and I have met several times over the course of this year to facilitate a smooth transition, and he is excited to begin his term. I am confident that our chapter is in good and capable hands under his leadership. In the meantime, I hope that all of you are well and that you will take the time to browse our chapter's scientific meeting hub and register for a fun and educational time in Meridian.

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