PRESIDENT’S REPORT G. Joseph Beirne, DO, FACOEP-D

Hello ACOEP family! As I write my last article as president of the college, it is a beautiful Fall day here in St. Louis. Sunny, low 70s, low humidity, a day that made me reminisce about my last three years in leadership of the college. I became president-elect in 2019 at the Scientific Assembly in Austin, Texas. During my two years as presidentelect, I learned the “job” of what being the president of our college would entail. In February 2020, Bob Suter (who was president at the time), and I attended the AOA mid-year meeting in West Palm Beach, Florida. There, we met with AOA leadership and presented our case regarding the creation of a remedy to allow AOBEM-boarded diplomates, who are also EMS medical directors, to take the EMS subspecialty exam (formerly called CAQ-EMS). This was a long, uphill battle, but I am happy to report that we were successful in our appeal to AOA leadership! Just a few weeks ago, AOBEM released the eligibility criteria for the examination. During my tenure as one of the leaders of our college, this was one of my proudest moments.

March 2020 changed all of our lives. A new disease called COVID made us rethink our roles as not only emergency physicians, but as true warriors on the front line battling this terrible disease. We led the charge against COVID, we were there every day and never backed down. We won many of those battles. We also lost colleagues, friends, patients and family members. COVID changed how our college functioned — how were we going to continue our Spring conference and scientific assembly? How would we survive?

Survive we did. Each day brought challenges and small triumphs. Each victory became a building block for the foundation of our success as a specialty and as individual physicians. We were the first EM organization to offer virtual CME conferences. After Spring 2020, Fall 2020 was just as successful. As we moved into 2021, both conferences were virtual and were just as successful. We thrived as a college and continued to provide to you, our members, our ACOEP family, with cutting edge CME that included the most up-to-date information on COVID. This past April, we had our first in-person conference and also offered the virtual option. Moving forward, both of these options will continue to be beneficial for our members, and we plan to continue this.

When I took the presidential oath in October 2021, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with my year as president. As most of you know, our presidential term was two years. When I took office, our bylaws were transitioning to a one-year presidential term, and I would have been the last president with a two-year term. However, I made the decision to limit my term to one year. Our board of directors is composed of a unique blend of physicians who practice in academic centers, community hospitals and the military. These people, who I have had the honor to work with, are all future leaders of our college. If I had not limited my term to one year, this would have created a situation where many of these wonderful physicians would never have had the chance to lead the college. To deny that chance

PRESIDENT’S REPORT G. Joseph Beirne, DO, FACOEP-D

TRANSITIONS TO THE FUTURE

I WANTED EACH PERSON IN THE MEMBERSHIP TO REALIZE THEY ARE A VALUABLE PART OF OUR COLLEGE, AND THEIR TALENT AND KNOWLEDGE ARE NEEDED FOR OUR SUCCESS.”

to my colleagues on the board was unacceptable to me. For that reason, I chose to only serve a one-year term.

So, what did I want to do with my year as president? I wanted to increase the transparency of the college to our members, make all of the board available for questions and concerns. I wanted each person in the membership to realize they are a valuable part of our college, and their talent and knowledge are needed for our success. Many years ago, when I became a new attending member of ACOEP, I never thought I would one day lead this college. Over the years, many former board members and past presidents of our college became close friends and mentors to me. I saw their work and efforts to keep ACOEP at the forefront in emergency medicine. Their passion and spirit ignited a flame in me that continued to grow. In that same sense, I wanted each of you, our members, to recognize and welcome that passion to be leaders of the future. My year as president has taught me many lessons — the most important of which is this: be a leader and help others realize they can be leaders as well. This creates in each of us the ability to understand that our ideas, our dreams and our passion for our specialty will make our college bigger and better. I told myself many times over the years “the answer to the question is no, if you don’t ask the question.” Never stop thinking, never stop dreaming. The next great idea often comes from those “ah ha!” moments each of us have. That is how we become leaders and mentors to our next generation of physicians.

In closing, I have had the honor to work with the very best group of physicians who serve on the board of directors! Our board is a team that thrives on new ideas and always succeeds. All of the successes we have had as a college are because of this board that it has been my honor to lead and be a part of. As I transition to immediate past president, I will turn the reins over to Tim Cheslock, who will be our new president. Tim’s counsel and advice during my year as president has been invaluable, and I end my term knowing ACOEP will be in the very best hands! I want to thank Bob Suter, who as immediate past president, was a source of tremendous knowledge and wisdom for me when I succeeded him. Last, a very sincere thank you to our board of directors. I consider my year as ACOEP president one of the most rewarding accomplishments of my career. None of this would have been possible without all of you! –•–

OUR BOARD IS A TEAM THAT THRIVES ON NEW IDEAS AND ALWAYS SUCCEEDS.”