www.fmec.net

October | 2026

The FMEC held its 42nd Annual Meeting at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, NJ from September 24-26, 2026. This was FMEC’s second largest meeting ever, with nearly 1,200 attendees and over 450 sessions and posters. Read more in the 2026 Annual Meeting Wrap Up, and find the printed program, CME certificate, awards booklet, and more at the Post-2026 Annual Meeting webpage.

Annual Meeting attendees can download their CME certificates at https://www.fmec.net/post-2026-annual-meeting. Instructions on how to record and self-report credits are on the certificate.

Poster Presentation Winners Announced

A total of 131 posters were accepted for presentation at the meeting. A team of volunteer judges, led by Drs. Britt Gayle of the FMEC Board and Rachel Rosenberg of the Host Committee, assessed posters for their relevance and importance to family medicine, visual impact, clarity of message, readability and other factors. Congratulations to our three poster presentations below, and thank you to all the judges and poster presenters for another fantastic poster session.

First Place: “An Invisible Toll: The Impacts of the Preclinical Medical School Experience on LGBTQIA+ Students,” Ezra Felder, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine; Samantha Temucin DO, Jefferson Abington; Paige Varin DO, Cooper University Health; LeeAnn Tanaka DO, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

Second Place: “The Voice Behind the Screens: A Qualitative Study of Remote Medical Interpreters During Serious Illness Conversations,” Joyce Zhang BS, Thomas Jefferson University/Sidney Kimmel Medical College; Kaitlyn Williams MS, Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine; Kathleen Mechler MD, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital

Third Place: “Cut the Fluff: A Resident-Led Quality Improvement Initiative to Reduce Note Bloat and Documentation Burden,” Sayeri Dutta MD, Karan Sharma MD, Mayur Rali MD, Zeeshan Khan MD, St. Joseph Hospital

Help FMEC Reach More Medical Students!

We’re starting to raise money now for our 2027 medical student scholarship program! Medical students in the FMEC region are eligible for scholarships that cover their Annual Meeting registration, meals, and lodging. Please consider donating to the Nik Zervanos, MD, Student Scholarship program to help FMEC bring these students to learn about family medicine and meet your residency programs. FMEC accepts donations of any amount from individuals, residency programs, hospitals and health systems, medical societies and more.

The FMEC 2027 Annual Meeting will be held September 9-11, 2027 at the Hilton Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD. The Call for Submissions will be available in early December, with a deadline in late January 2027.

Space will be limited at the Residency Fair, and like in 2026, FMEC will close registration once we reach our limit. Guarantee your participation – and spend your year-end funds – now. FMEC can “bundle” your invoices for Residency Fair booths, faculty and resident individual registrations, and Partnership dues. We can also invoice your program at specific times during the year, whether registration is open or not, to meet your fiscal calendar. If you would like to guarantee registrations for 2027 and/or need special handling of your payments to FMEC, contact Shayla Rammel at shayla.rammel@fmec.net. 

The FMEC Educational Leadership and Conference Management Fellowship is a 1-year experience for a resident or early career faculty member. The Fellow will work with the FMEC Planning Committee, Board, and staff to design, organize, and execute the FMEC Annual Meeting. The experience maps to the 6 ACGME Core Competencies; fulfills residency scholarly requirements; and offers high-level networking opportunities with program directors, department chairs, clerkship directors and others at the FMEC’s 220+ residency programs and 60 medical schools. Read the full description at FMEC Educational Leadership Fellowship and submit your application materials to Scott Allen at scott.allen@fmec.net by November 6, 2026.

Sign up now for these QI Projects for ABFM credit, Faculty Development, and More

Supporting Young Breast Cancer Survivors (YBCS), Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Patients, and their Families: The next phase of this multiyear project is a fully-developed, turnkey Performance Improvement project focused on improving support services and educational resources for cancer survivors and their families. Learn how to identify eligible patients; assess survivorship care needs; coordinate care with oncology and community resources; provide psychosocial support and education; and more. Circulate this YBCS PI Project Flyer to your colleagues to find out who’s interested. Fill out this no-commitment interest form to get more information: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YBCS_PI.

Promoting Early Relational Health and Positive Parenting Learning Collaborative: Run by FMEC and the Mount Sinai Parenting Center, this collaborative will provide you with new curriculum modules on sleep, toilet training, discipline and more; a video series and handouts for parents on key issues in English and Spanish; reflections/observation forms and strategies to provide residents with patient/family encounter feedback; and more. This is an excellent faculty development exercise, with faculty training and coaching to support teaching residents about child development to enhance your residency program’s curricula. Circulate this Early Relational Health PI Project Flyer to your colleagues to find out who’s interested. Fill out this no-commitment interest form to get more information: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/EarlyChildQIProject. 

Residency programs who complete either project will not only receive Performance Improvement credit and valuable tools, but they will receive a complimentary professional or resident registration for the FMEC 2027 Annual Meeting.

New Webinar: Protecting Clinical Reasoning in the Age of AI

Join FMEC and AMBOSS on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 from 11:30am to 12:15pm Eastern for “Protecting Clinical Reasoning in the Age of AI.” Speakers include Dr. Sara Kalkhoran, Senior Editor, Family Medicine, AMBOSS and former Faculty at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Darrell Randle, Senior Editor, Family Medicine, AMBOSS, and former Mayo Clinic consultant, Anesthesia chair CommonSpirit, Medical Director University of Minnesota. This 45-minute webinar will examine the need to teach residents a structured approach to the safe and responsible use of AI in clinical practice, with a focus on protecting clinical reasoning. The session will explore how AI can scaffold reasoning, supporting hypothesis generation, data prioritization, and reflective calibration, while avoiding the black-box answers that bypass the critical cognitive work of clinical reasoning. Please register to receive the link to participate.

Young Breast Cancer Survivor Webinars

The FMEC’s five‑part webinar series to help family physicians better understand and support young breast cancer survivors (YBCS) has completed, and recordings are posted for viewing and CME credit. Speakers were excellent, and sessions addressed survivorship support basics, lifestyle, diet, exercise, intimacy, mental health, and real life scenarios from cancer and primary care experts. Share this with the nurses, NPs, and PAs on your care team so they can help provide support to YBCS patients. Visit Young Breast Cancer Survivorship Series to view the webinars. The recorded sessions have been approved by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) for AAFP Prescribed credit; see full CME credit details on the FMEC project page.

Join FMEC’s New Innovation Workgroup

FMEC is strengthening its work to help novel approaches to challenging healthcare issues come to life and to foster and grow new ideas. A new group, led by FMEC Board members and past leaders, is forming to help promote and integrate innovation into FMEC activity. Fill out the FMEC Innovation Workgroup Interest Form for more information. (If you cannot complete a Google form, email scott.allen@fmec.net to express interest.)

FACTS About Fertility Virtual Conference

Join FACTS About Fertility for their annual virtual conference, Bridging the Gap, on Friday-Saturday, November 20-21, 2026. The FACTS Virtual Conference is a convenient and trusted way for medical and health professionals to expand their clinical knowledge in reproductive health and for students and residents to learn from top experts in the field. Speakers and sessions will include Joseph Davis, DO, The Gap Between IVF & Root Cause Approaches; Craig Turczynski, PhD, Male Reproductive Physiology; Alison Ermisch, PhD, Ovarian Physiology; Melissa Buchan, RN, Connecting the FABM Educator & Clinicians; and Ashley Womack, MD, Hysteroscopy. You can purchase the conference recording for an additional $50 when you register, if you are unable to attend the full event. Visit the FACTS conference website to see the full schedule and see information for exhibitors, sponsors, and scholarships.

New Course on Osteoarthritis

The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) offers learning opportunities that support the professional development of healthcare and public health professionals. NACDD’s new course targets healthcare professionals who care for adults with osteoarthritis and are looking to align their efforts with public health strategies. Linking Evidence-Based Strategies and Community Resources to Transform Osteoarthritis Care is structured as an interactive, book-style resource that equips healthcare teams to use evidence-based screening, diagnosis, counseling, referral, and community-care strategies. To access the free course, visit the NACDD Learning Catalog page and click Register, then create a free account by selecting Become a Member. After you register, you will see an order confirmation page with an Access My Courses button leading directly to the NACDD Online Learning Center. If you need help with logging in, contact Member Services at members@chronicdisease.org. To explore all of NACDD's online educational offerings, visit the NACDD Learning Catalog. 

STFM Opportunities

The STFM Faculty for Tomorrow Resident Scholarship provides family medicine residents with the opportunity to attend the full-day Faculty for Tomorrow Workshop for Residents and the STFM Annual Spring Conference. The workshop is ideal for residents interested in careers in academic family medicine. They will learn from experts and connect with peers to develop the knowledge and skills needed to succeed and thrive as new faculty. Applications close October 27, 2026. Apply using the form linked below. Read more and apply at the link above.

The Curtis G. Hames Research Award honors those individuals whose careers exemplify dedication to research in family medicine. The award recipient is selected by a committee representing STFM, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, and the North American Primary Care Research Group. Nominations are due November 8, 2026.

The STFM Research Paper of the Year Award recognizes a research paper published in a peer-reviewed journal the previous July 1 through June 30. The first author must be an STFM member. The STFM Research Committee bases the award selection on the quality of the research and its potential impact. The winning paper will be presented at the STFM Annual Spring Conference. Nominations are due November 8, 2026.

SAVE Borrowers: Your Repayment Plan Deadline May Be Approaching

The SAVE Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan has ended, and affected borrowers are being notified that they must select a new repayment plan. Borrowers generally have 90 days from the date of their notice to make a selection, which means deadlines are now approaching for many borrowers who received notices earlier this summer. Borrowers should check their SAVE notice or servicer account to confirm their individual deadline for selecting a new repayment plan. There are multiple options depending on when your loan was disbursed, and for borrowers pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), repayment plan selection is especially important. If you are currently enrolled in SAVE, review the notice from your loan servicer and do not wait until your deadline to evaluate your options. Our partners at Navigate can review your loan history, compare the repayment plans available to you, and help determine which option best supports your repayment and forgiveness goals. Use the link above for customized guidance built around your unique financial situation.

Joining FMEC as an individual or institution gives you discounts! Programs who are FMEC Partners receive $300 discounts on their Residency Fair booths, and individuals who join, or receive complimentary memberships through an FMEC Partner organization, receive $50-75 discounts on registration. Join or renew now and get discounts on the 2027 Annual Meeting!

Also, institutions that join at the Silver ($2,500) Partner level and above get access to the FMEC’s Special Edition newsletter to post their job and fellowship openings. That’s one fee for an entire year of posting job ads! Read more about Special Edition and share the information with your recruiting department in this FMEC Special Edition Overview. Job hunting? Check out the July 2026 edition of the FMEC’s Special Edition newsletter.

A selection of upcoming family medicine and primary care meetings, nationally and in the FMEC region. If you have a meeting to be listed, please email jennifer.stamper@fmec.net.

• Oct 20-24, 2026 – AAFP FMX, Nashville, TN
• Feb 5-7, 2027 – STFM C Conference on Medical Student Education, Anaheim, CA
• Feb 23-26, 2027 – ADFM Association of Departments of Family Medicine Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT
• Mar 3-5, 2027 – AFMRD Residency Leadership Summit, Dallas, TX
• Mar 31-Apr 4, 2027 – ACOFP Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY
• May 1-5, 2027 - STFM Annual Spring Conference, Chicago, IL
• Jul 15-18, 2027 - (DPC) Direct Primary Care Summit, Kansas City, MO
• Jul 30-Aug 1, 2027 - AAFP FUTURE 2027, Kansas City, MO
• Sep 9-11, 2027 – FMEC Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD
• Sep 13-15, 2027 – STFM Conference on Practice and Quality Improvement, Denver, CO
• Jan 27-29, 2028 – STFM Conference on Medical Student Education, New Orleans, LA
• Feb 15-18, 2028 – ADFM Association of Departments of Family Medicine Annual Conference, Austin, TX
• Apr 29-May 3, 2028 - STFM Annual Spring Conference, Philadelphia, PA
• Aug 28-30, 2028 – STFM Conference on Practice and Quality Improvement, New Orleans, LA