Thanks to Minneapolis - Had a great meeting at SGIM 2010!

This was my 9th meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine, which is the national academic organization for General Internal Medicine in the US, and this meeting is the largest meeting for this medical specialty in the world.

Here are the American cities I've been to because of SGIM, all of them for the first time. This is one way to make sure I get to know many sides of our neighbour to the South.

1999 - San Francisco
2001 - San Diego
2002 - Atlanta
2004 - Chicago
2005 - New Orleans
2007 - Los Angeles
2008 - Pittsburgh
2009 - Miami
2010 - Minneapolis

SGIM has always had a significant Canadian membership, and most meetings have had a strong Canadian contingent, from both the Toronto area and the Western provinces. in fact, there have been 2 meetings held at Canadian sites (Vancouver, 2003 and Toronto, 2006), but I didn't make it to either of them. The first was during the SARS epidemic, and it was all hands on deck in Toronto, so I couldn't travel (nor could I risk taking the virus to the convergence of American General Medicine accidentally). And of course, when it was held in my own city, I could never make the time to go.

This is a pity, because I have consistently found these meetings to be excellent opportunities to learn about the American medical system, with all the frustrations that my colleagues express, as well as all the dedicated, imaginative, and passion-driven work that they do to deliver excellent primary care under the circumstances of their own system. It would have been great to be able to do this when my SGIM friends were on "my" side of the border!

On that note, it was exciting to be present at the first meeting since President Obama's health care reform bill was signed into law. There was a mood of optimism about the future, and Dr. Elliott Fisher gave a great plenary address, urging all present to see the challenges ahead as the "glass half full". This replaced the frustration and resignation that I have observed at previous meetings. Could it be that in my practice lifetime, the United States' health care system will actually serve all its citizens, in a just, equitable and comprehensive way? If they ever get the whole country's citizenry looked after the way the VA takes care of their vets, the Canadian system will have a lot to envy.

This year's meeting fulfilled my usual expectation of having great interactions with exceptional people, learning a great deal, and leaving with my head bursting with ideas. For the first time I took on leadership responsibilities for the meeting, as Chair for the Web-based Innovations in Medical Education category of submissions, and delivered 2 types of educational activities: One being a precourse, and the other being part of the annual Update in Medical Education. These deserve separate blog entries of their own.

And, I met some great new contacts who will be very helpful to me in the coming year, when I am responsible for the nascent Portfolio program of the undergraduate medical program at the University of Toronto. These new contacts, with whom I have significant overlap in interests (given that we kept running into each other at the same workshops!) were people that I automatically connected with on both a personal and professional level. I am VERY excited about the possibilities that these interactions will bring.

And the city of Minneapolis was a very pleasant surprise. So I'm making a blog entry for it as well.

Next year's meeting will be in Phoenix, Arizona, and I will again be on the Program committee. I'm looking forward to continuing to build my career in close association with SGIM!