What can and should the College do to better serve its members? What actions must we take to better fulfill our mission to represent and support preventive medicine physicians in their role as public health and health system leaders? How do we ensure current and future members value what we have to offer and engage more fully in our vibrant and varied community? How do we engage our stakeholders more effectively while building the organizational capacity to deliver what we know our members and stakeholders want and need?
As I reflect on my 25 years of experience as an ACPM member, I am reminded of the energizing experiences, inspirational mentors, and transformative impacts the College has offered on my personal and professional journeys. ACPM membership taught me, to borrow Dr. Prasad Acharya's words, to “share a commitment to building healthier, more just communities through systems change.” How effectively are we doing that for all of our members today, and what is within our power to improve the College and to prepare for the future.
Our ACPM Strategy Committee – consisting of some of our most seasoned leaders – had the opportunity to tackle many of these questions over the last few months, and we presented our recommendations to the Board of Regents during the annual Strategic Planning Retreat. The Strategy Committee looked closely at such issues as membership trends, our current services and programs, and our financial health in order to better define the strategic direction for our College. We provided a more comprehensive set of recommendations to the Board, but the essential message remains:
- ACPM must focus on its members, enliven the membership experience, offer more purposeful initiatives, and better define its value proposition to our members. This may include opportunities for engagement in health system leadership, in fostering preventive medicine innovations, and in mentoring and being mentored by our cadre of accomplished ACPM leaders.
- ACPM must bring value to our stakeholders, becoming the definitive and authoritative source of expertise on preventive medicine and population health issues, establishing a clear distinction with respect to other organizations with overlapping missions, and building more effective strategic communications and stakeholder engagement strategies.
- ACPM must establish creative new approaches to financial health, to transform our College and allow it to more robustly pursue our goals and objectives. This will require directed campaigns to build an ecosystem of partners, to develop rallying points and moonshot goals led by ACPM champions, and to evaluate and take action on our organizational structure and governance.
Ryung Suh, MD, MPP, MBA, MPH, FACOEM, FACPM
President-Elect, ACPM, and Chair, ACPM Strategy Committee