NYACP Presidents Message

Welcome to the start of Spring! The weather is turning warmer, the flowers are starting to bloom, and the birds are chirping. This also means that daylight is lasting longer. Perhaps you will have time to get outside for a relaxing walk, or to enjoy some ice cream outdoors before sunset.

Another sure sign of the Spring season is Match Week! This year, Match Day was on Friday, March 20th – perfectly coinciding with the first day of Spring. The Match this year was once again the largest on record, with an overall increase of close to 2% more applicants than last year, and a corresponding increase in the percentage of students who matched. Internal Medicine offered 280 more positions in the Match than last year (including both categorical and preliminary), and had an overall fill rate of 95.2%, representing a 1.6% decline compared to last year. Some trends were noted by the NRMP:

• Foreign-born International Medical Graduates requiring visa sponsorship had a match rate of 54.4%, a five-year low
• IMG’s matching in Categorical positions are still most highly represented in IM, noting that 40.3% of IM PGY1 positions were filled by IMG’s
• The fill rate for Family Medicine continued to decline, with almost 900 positions remaining unfilled
• Emergency Medicine appears to have bounced back in the past two years, after significant declines in match numbers in 2022 and 2023
• Psychiatry continues to grow, with increases this year in the number of programs and filled positions, and a fill rate of 97.4%

Looking at the Fellowship situation, back on February 19th the National Resident Matching Program released 2026 data for subspecialty training programs. Across all specialties, this was the largest subspecialty match in history. Internal Medicine had 19 subspecialties in the Match, offering a total of 6,721 positions. The most competitive were Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Hematology/Oncology, Pulmonary/Critical Care, Rheumatology, and Endocrinology. The least competitive were Geriatrics, Hospice and Palliative Care, Infectious Disease, and Nephrology.

Of course, Spring also means baseball! Opening Day this year was on Wednesday, March 25th– the earliest opening day in league history. They say that “hope springs eternal”, so of course Todd is once again hopeful that this will be a better year for his beloved Mets (although the loss of Pete Alonso still hurts). In contrast, John would like to remind you that the AL East is the best Division in the MBL. After all, the Buffalo Bisons are the farm team for the Toronto Blue Jays. In the Paralympics, congratulations to the U.S. men’s hockey team, who completed a historic gold medal sweep in hockey – with all 3 final games finishing with wins against Canada. Speaking of teams doing well (in other words, not the Nets or the Rangers), the Buffalo Sabres are on a huge point streak. They are currently tied for first place in the Eastern Conference of the NHL. It looks like the 14-year playoff drought may come to an end this year! Go John! Meanwhile, the Knicks are in 3rd place in the NBA Eastern Conference and looking forward to the playoffs. So, there is definitely some excitement happening in NY sports this Spring!

Transition of Leadership at ACP! On March 23rd, ACP publicly announced the selection of the next Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, LeRoi Hicks MD, MPH, MACP. Dr. Hicks becomes the first African American physician to serve as EVP and CEO of ACP. He succeeds Darilyn Moyer MD, MACP, FRCP, FIDSA, FAMWA, FEFIM who will conclude her tenure as the longest serving female physician to lead a medical specialty society in the United States. Dr. Hicks comes to ACP from ChristianaCare in Delaware, where he is President of the Wilmington Campus. Dr Hicks is a Past President of SGIM. He is a national leader for advancing equity in health care, particularly in addressing health care disparities and the social determinants of health. He will assume his new position on July 6, 2026. You can read the ACP press release and more about Dr. Hicks here.

Advocacy Update from National ACP! Last month, the federal government eliminated the finding of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger the environment and threaten public health. This maneuver effectively ends the legal requirement for regulating greenhouse gas emissions. The ACP strongly disagrees with this determination and has joined with several other medical organizations to advocate against the administration’s actions. ACP continues to support efforts to protect the health of the public from the negative effects of greenhouse gas and climate change. You can read more about this in the latest edition of the ACP Advocate here and you can find the ACP climate change for advocacy toolkit here.

Was This Message Written with the Use of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)? No, it was not! We can assure you that this President’s message is written entirely by John and Todd, without the help of A.I. (Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t take us so long to write!) However, of course we understand that A.I. is a very hot topic in Internal Medicine, and there is a lot to learn. Fortunately, ACP has its Artificial Intelligence Resource Hub. One of the things you will find there is a course (free for members) on “Generative AI for Internal Medicine Physicians”. This is a self-paced course that should take about an hour or less, to learn about AI and specifically its impact on healthcare and the practice of medicine. Check it out!

Dad Jokes of the Month!

What’s the diagnosis for a patient who only gets sick on weekdays?
A weekend immune system.

Of all the inventions in the last 100 years, the dry-erase board must be the most remarkable.

What do you call a line of men waiting to get a haircut?

A barberqueue.

Finally, thinking some more about transitions, we will complete our term as NYACP Co-Presidents at the conclusion of the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting on April 18, 2026. We are so proud to have served you in this role. It has truly been our honor and privilege to do so. However, we also want you to know that we are thrilled and confident to leave you in the very capable hands of our next NYACP President, the Governor for Manhattan/Bronx: Dr. Michael LoCurcio.

We hope you have enjoyed these monthly messages and have found them to contain information of importance to our members. We are looking forward to seeing many of you in San Francisco during the IMM 2026. If you spot us in the halls, please come up and say hello! We’d love to hear your thoughts, or at least your favorite dad jokes!

Wishing you all our best,

Todd and John