ACOG meeting to focus on diversity, equity, challenges in women’s health

Key takeaways :

• The ACOG annual meeting will take place May 19 to May 21 in Baltimore.
• The meeting will feature panels and sessions on mental health, mifepristone and working in turbulent and challenging times.

The ACOG Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting will have a heavy focus on overcoming current challenges, including diversity, equity and inclusion, in women’s health.

This year’s ACOG meeting will take place from Friday to Sunday at the Baltimore Convention Center and marks the 70th annual conference. The meeting comes at a time of turmoil and uncertainty for many obstetricians and gynecologists, according to Meg Autry, MD, FACOG, immediate past chair of the Scientific Program Committee at ACOG. The meeting this year will have a theme of “Excellence in Action,” which invites members and attendees to place themselves in the narrative of confronting the numerous challenges of the moment, noted Autry. There will also be a focus on engaging meeting attendees through turning passion and purpose into tangible outcomes and tools to aid in advancing their practice, career and profession.

“A commitment to prioritizing patient needs, providing the highest level of evidence-based care, and continuing education to develop and refine expertise will be demonstrated and celebrated at this year’s meeting,” Autry told Healio.

This year’s meeting will feature more than 350 abstracts that represent the latest research spanning women’s health. In addition, there will be a presidential panel, “Minding Our Mental Health: Resilience Amid Turbulence.” Another important session, according to AnnaMarie Connolly, MD, FACOG, chief of education and academic affairs at ACOG, is “Demystifying the Mifepristone Decision,” which will include the latest updates on the status of the mifepristone abortion drug.

“ACOG will offer members an opportunity to support and inspire one another while also immersing themselves in new research and exploring sessions covering the full scope of obstetric and gynecologic clinical practice,” Connolly told Healio.

The meeting will also include an endowed lecture series covering a wide range of areas, including latest updates in clinical science on cancer screening and prevention in women, updates from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, strategies addressing substance use disorder in women, addressing health equity in obstetrics and gynecologic care, and utilizing clinical case scenarios and social media to help advocate for racial equity in women’s health, according to Constance Bohon, MD, FACOG, chair of the Scientific Program Committee at ACOG.

The meeting’s keynote address, titled “The Long Arc to Reproductive Freedom and Justice,” will be delivered by Michele Bratcher Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California Irvine School of Law, to provide a better understanding of current and historical U.S. reproductive laws, including American slavery and eugenics, and examine the intersections of race, class and LGBTQ concerns in contemporary reproductive health, rights and justice.

This year’s meeting will also feature programming that will address how to establish a practice that meaningfully addresses diversity, equity and inclusion as well as technical issues, including contract negotiation, transitioning to a first job, and billing and coding. Other sessions will focus on advocacy, which will demonstrate what it is like working with legislators to effectively advocate for several priorities rooted in evidence-based medicine, such as unimpeded access to reproductive health care, Medicare payment solutions, improved maternal health outcomes, and diversity, equity and inclusion in practice.

“Varying formats will be used for information exchange from education talks to engaging presentations to interactive breakout sessions to traditional lectures,” Connolly said. “Additionally, the critical networking that occurs at ACOG among specialists and subspecialists is unparalleled, allowing those practicing in the field to learn, grow and support each other together.”