Empowering Physician Leadership at ACOI 2025

When you think of leadership, what comes to mind? Maybe a skillful colleague, or an inspiring historical figure. Maybe it brings up more conventional roles – a CEO, a Chief Medical Officer. Or maybe it’s something abstract to you, but that you’d like to define and even live out more fully.  

Leadership, of course, comes in many forms, and embodies a rich tapestry of qualities, traits, and roles. It’s not at all limited to traditional ideas and definitions. Likewise, great physician leadership encompasses an entire world of approaches. How can we expand our concept of leadership to include this range of potential leaders and their ways of being? How can we give it shape in everything we do?

The theme of ACOI 2025, The Power of Physician Leadership: Innovate, Influence, Inspire, will help us answer these questions. This theme will give us room to explore what we know about leadership, expand our definition of it, and examine how we can use it well in the osteopathic internal medicine profession.

With a world in constant flux, we need high-quality, collaborative, and innovative leadership to be present to the challenges at hand. Physicians are in a unique position to take on this responsibility, and help shape a better future for colleagues, fellow care professionals, and patients alike. That is part of the inherent value of physician leadership: being able to chart a new path forward as well as guide others along that path. Now more than ever, osteopathic internal medicine and medicine in general demands high-quality physician leaders, and a culture of strong physician leadership. Our profession’s success and future thriving depends on it.

This is also where innovation, influence, and inspiration come into play. When we seek to improve practices and systems, be proactive with what’s within our control, and encourage those around us, we promote a version of leadership that’s positive, forward-thinking, and even transformational.

I’m looking forward to exploring these ideas with all of you in Marco Island, Florida, this October. Be sure to register today for the Annual Convention. It promises to be a wonderful opportunity to connect, learn, and grow together. And as we’ll see, it will also be a chance to learn how to show up as leaders in our careers, communities, and practices of care in ways that are true to us and our values.