2026 NYACP Annual Meeting Faculty

AI in Medicine: Skeptic vs. Advocate

Jitendra Barmecha, MD, MPH, MACp
Sr. Vice President, chief Information and digital Strategy officer
St. Barnabus Health

Dr. Jitendra Barmecha began his clinical and healthcare leadership career at St. Barnabas Hospital (SBH Health System) as Chief Medical Resident after completing three years in the Internal Medicine Residency Program.

In 2001, he joined Partners in Health - a Medicaid Managed Care health plan affiliated with SBH and was subsequently appointed the Medical Director in 2005. While continuing to manage the medical management of the health plan, he was appointed the Chief Medical Officer of Union Community Health Center (UCHC). In 2006, he was appointed as Medical Director - Case Management at SBH Health System overseeing utilization management, discharge planning and assisting CDI, Denials & Appeals Program.

In 2011, as Vice - President of Medical Informatics & the Chief Medical Informatics Officer, he assisted in SBH & UCHC Ambulatory Care's application for Level 3: Patient Centered Medical Home designation. He implemented and integrated the Allscripts electronic health record in the emergency department, acute care, ambulatory care including behavioral health and pharmacy into a single database thereby achieving Stage 1 meaningful use of the Electronic Health Record (EHR).

Presently, as CIO and SVP of Information Technology & Clinical Engineering, his team is preparing for an upgrade of electronic health records to comply with Stage 3 Meaningful Use of EMR and MACRA/MIPS reporting requirements. He is involved in upgrading the systems technical infrastructure; ensuring clinical information systems and patient monitoring devices are well integrated into the electronic health records for the future. As a chair of the clinical committee and a board member, he provides clinical leadership to the Bronx Regional Health Information

Exchange (RHIO) & Bronx Regional Informatics Center. Dr. Barmecha continues to practice medicine as a hospitalist and enjoy bedside teaching.

Women's Health Panel: Postmenopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy

Sarah berga, MD
Professor and chair, Dept obstetrics & gynecology
Jacobs SOM & biomedical science at buffalo suny

Discussion on:

• Understand the physiology of the perimenopausal transition to menopause and beyond;
• Highlight the concept that not all estrogens and progestins are the same;
• Review the rationale for hormone use at perimenopause and beyond 

Sarah L Berga, MD is Professor & Chair, Dept Obstetrics & Gynecology, Jacobs SOM & Biomed Sci, Univ at Buffalo SUNY. Following a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard, she completed a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology at the UCSD.

Her research foci include stress-induced reproductive compromise and hormones and brain health.  Clinical interests include IVF, infertility, hypothalamic amenorrhea, PCOS, and hormonal management of perimenopause and menopause.

Updates on Inpatient Medicine

brian markoff, md, facp
chief of the division of hospital medicine
mount sinai st luke's hospital new york, ny

Dr. Markoff is currently the Chief of Hospital Medicine at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His interests include Quality Improvement and High-Value Care. He was an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley where he received an AB (with distinction) in Biology.

He received his MD from the University of California, San Francisco and went on to residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis. After his chief year, Dr. Markoff helped start the hospitalist group at the UC Davis Medical Center. He went to the Mount Sinai Medical Center in 2002 and served as the Associate Chief, Division of Hospital Medicine and the Associate Program Director for Quality, Internal Medicine Residency program until May 2016 when he took his current position.

Update on Inpatient Medicine

Donna morrison, md, facp
internist, optum medical
governor, hudson valley region, nyacp

Dr. Donna Morrison graduated from Cornell University Medical College and completed her internal medicine residency and Chief Residency at Mount Sinai Hospital. She then worked at Montefiore Hospital, where she served as an Associate Program Director for the medicine residency program, faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the Medical Director of the on-site academic internal medicine practice. She subsequently opened an internal medicine office for Mount Kisco Medical Group (now Optum/Caremount) in her hometown of Briarcliff Manor, where she has served on the departmental steering committee, with additional committee work on clinical quality assurance, the EMR, and controlled substance management.

At NYACP, Dr. Morrison is the Governor for the Hudson Valley Region, and she previously served as District President. At national ACP, in addition to serving on the Board of Governors, she is Vice Chairman of the Medical Informatics Committee.

Internal Medicine in the Future: From Science to Collegiality

isaac opole mbchb, phd, macp
professor, hospital medicine, kU Medical center, university of kansas
immediate past president, ACP

Isaac O. Opole, M.D., MBChB., Ph.D., MACP, is Immediate Past President of the American College of Physicians, representing internal medicine physicians, related subspecialists, and medical students.

He has practiced Hospital Medicine at the University of Kansas Health System for the last 19 years, and currently serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Ruth Bohan Teaching Professor of Medicine at the Kansas University Medical Center. Dr. Opole has been a Fellow of ACP since 2008. Fellowship is an honorary designation that recognizes ongoing individual service and contributions to the practice of medicine. He was elected into Mastership at ACP in 2024. Election to Mastership recognizes outstanding and extraordinary career accomplishments.

In addition to being a Fellow of the College, he has held multiple national and regional leadership positions within the ACP, including serving as the President of ACP Services and Chair of the Board of ACP Services PAC, and has been a member of the ACP Board of Regents for the last four years. He was previously Governor of ACP’s Kansas Chapter from 2016-2020, and served the ACP in various capacities and committees, including the Governance Committee, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Subcommittee, Restoring the Story Task Force, Ethics, Professionalism, and Human Rights Committee, National Awards and Mastership Task Force, and the Global Engagement Committee.

Dr. Opole has been recognized with many awards including the Chapter Laureate Award, the Chapter Excellence Award in both 2017 and 2018 and was awarded the John Tooker Evergreen Award for innovative multi-chapter strategic planning in 2017. 

Dr. Opole has been a life-long clinician-educator, focusing on building a strong clinical foundation amongst his trainees through curricular and institutional enhancements to improve patient and educational outcomes. Outside the clinical realm, Dr. Opole is also passionate about Global Health and health disparities and is a champion for advocacy in healthcare. 

Dr. Opole studied at the Nairobi School and is a graduate of the School of Medicine, University of Nairobi, Kenya. He completed his graduate doctoral degree at the University of California, Irvine and medical residency at the Kansas University Medical Center. 

BOARD OF DIRECTOR NAME 3

lawrence phillips, Md, macp
Cardiologist, nuclear medicine, nyu langone cardiology associates

Dr. Phillips specializes in nuclear cardiology, using advanced imaging techniques such as single photo emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) to diagnose and manage patients with a wide range of cardiovascular conditions. These technologies are pivotal in modern cardiac care, allowing for precise and early detection of heart disease. My role as the director of nuclear cardiology has enabled me to expand these programs and integrate them into comprehensive patient care strategies.

Throughout my career, I have been committed to education and mentorship. As the senior associate program director of the cardiovascular fellowship program at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, I have the privilege of guiding the next generation of cardiologists. Teaching is a passion of mine, and I strive to instill both knowledge and enthusiasm for the field in my students.

My journey into medicine began at age 8, driven by a passion for science. This early interest evolved into a love for medicine and the opportunity to build meaningful connections with patients. My focus on cardiology was solidified early in medical school, when I was drawn to the specialty's unique blend of acute care and long-term patient relationships. My involvement in medical societies, including leadership roles with the American Heart Association and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, reflects my commitment to advancing the field and providing personalized care.

AI in Medicine: Skeptic vs. Advocate

ashwin sawant, MD
Assistant clinical professor, medicine, hospital medicine
medical director, AI-readdy mount Sinai (air-ms)
data -driven and digital medicine
icahn school of medicine-hospital medicine

The Five "Hot New" Drugs on the Market

Gerald smetana, md, macp
professor of medicine, harvard medical school
beth israel deaconess medical center

Dr. Smetana is a general internist in the Division of General Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a Professor of Medicine, Emeritus at Harvard Medical School. He received his college degree in biochemistry at UCLA and his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco, where he graduated Alpha Omega Alpha. He then completed his medical internship and residency at Beth Israel Hospital (now known as Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) in Boston.

He was one of the first clinician educators to join the faculty in the Division of General Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess after completing his residency and has remained in this role ever since. For 38 years, he was an active teacher-clinician with a large academic primary care internal medicine practice and played a central role in the teaching of medical students, medical housestaff, and senior physicians. Colleagues have repeatedly recognized Dr. Smetana as one of the Best Doctors in America in a peer survey.

He founded the medical consultation service at Beth Israel Deaconess and continues to be active in the field of perioperative medicine. He is the co-author of a systematic review and guideline on preoperative pulmonary evaluation for the American College of Physicians (ACP). He has written numerous book chapters and systematic reviews in the peer-reviewed literature that provide guidance to clinicians on the value of historical features in the diagnosis of common medical conditions and on evidence-based approaches to perioperative risk reduction. Dr. Smetana has published a total of approximately 200 articles, chapters, and online monographs. His peer-reviewed works have since been cited by authors of more than 7000 subsequent publications.

He is the co-editor of textbooks on perioperative medicine and evidence-based medical history taking, served as a deputy editor at JGIM, was an editor for the Beyond the Guidelines series in the Annals of Internal Medicine for 10 years, and chaired a Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) task force on the research agenda for general internal medicine. His textbook on Evidence Based History Taking in the McGraw Hill Lange series remains widely read by medical students in training and is required reading for Introduction to Clinical Medicine courses at many medical schools.

He is the recipient of the SGIM national award for scholarship in medical education and is also an active member of the American College of Physicians. On behalf of the ACP, Dr. Smetana has participated in national panels charged with developing performance measures for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and for standards for perioperative care. He has been selected as a Master of the American College of Physicians (MACP), and honor reserved for members who have demonstrated “integrity, impact in practice or in medical research, or other attainments in science or in the art of medicine.”

Dr. Smetana speaks widely at grand rounds and continuing medical education settings and has received numerous teaching awards for these contributions. He has directed continuing medical education courses for Harvard Medical International in Switzerland, and for the CDC and Beth Israel Deaconess in Vietnam. He was a course director for Current Clinical Issues in Primary Care, a series of primary care CME conferences attended by nearly 30,000 clinicians each year. He was the co-director of the Harvard Medical School course: Prevention in Primary Care Practice; Pearls and Pitfalls, for 12 years.

Lecture and writing interests include preoperative medical evaluation, headache and migraine, evidence-based management of hypertension, diagnostic dilemmas in primary care, primary care management of depression, and critiques of new medications for primary care practice, in addition to all aspects of outpatient primary care internal medicine.

Dr. Smetana particularly cherishes his role as a primary care doctor for many patients over much of their adult lives, teaching in front of large audiences, writing on topics of importance for clinicians, mentoring junior faculty, learning from and collaborating with colleagues around the country with shared interests, editing manuscripts to help others, and his role as an editor for the Annals Beyond the Guideline series.

His hobbies include playing guitar, songwriting and recording, travel, photography, history, and learning about cultures by becoming a student of the world.

In April 2025, Dr. Smetana retired from his clinical practice of 38 years. He remains active in scholarly work, retains an active medical license, and an honorary staff position at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is a Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, at Harvard Medical School.