Sarah Turbow, MD, MPH, FACPM
Chair, ACPM Graduate Medical Education Subcommittee
Happy new (academic) year! July is one of my favorite times to be in academic medicine. We have celebrated the accomplishments of our graduates and sent them off to the next stage of their careers, and we are now welcoming a new class of residents. The enthusiasm and excitement that incoming preventive medicine residents bring is an incredible yearly reminder of everything I love about our specialty.
We have much to celebrate this July. 2026 marked our second year participating in the NRMP Match, with 41 incoming residents matched into 21 PH/GPM programs. Several PMR programs welcomed new leadership, including Boston University and Loma Linda University. Critically, advocacy from ACPM and preventive medicine programs over the past year halted dramatic proposals to cut federal preventive medicine funding and helped ease gridlock, allowing programs supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration to remain funded and onboard residents without delay. We also celebrated the appointment of Dr. Paul Jung, a board-certified preventive medicine physician and ACPM Fellow, as Deputy Surgeon General.
That said, our programs continue to face real challenges. Many are perennial — limited funding and low awareness of the specialty among medical students chief among them. These obstacles are not new, but a new academic year brings renewed energy to work towards solutions. This year, ACPM’s Graduate Medical Education Committee will focus on sharing best practices across programs and continued funding advocacy, among other priorities.
As the incoming chair of the GME committee, I remain hopeful about what we can accomplish with the support of ACPM and one another. If you are a program director, resident, or student who wants to get involved, I encourage you to join an ACPM committee or section. Progress on these challenges depends on the collective effort of our community, and I look forward to working alongside you all this year.
