From the Editor

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Joseph Conigliaro, MD, MPH, Editor in Chief, SGIM Forum

Thirty-three years ago, this past June, I graduated medical school. I was the first and only child of eight siblings to attend college and one of only two physicians in my family. I started residency knowing that I wanted to do academic general internal medicine after spending an elective month as a fourth-year medical student with Drs. Alan Goroll and John Stoekle at Mass General. I really had no idea what I was getting into. I was introduced to SGIM as a second-year resident but didn’t attend a meeting until I was a third-year resident. I’ve already written about the effect the first meeting had on my career as well as what the meeting has meant to me over the last 30 years. As an SGIM member, I have served on the National Meeting Program committee, taskforce and committees, and most recently as Forum editor in chief and ex-officio council member.

My tenure as Forum editor in chief has come to an end and this is my last editorial. Serving as editor in chief for the SGIM Forum over the last three years has been a thoroughly rewarding and enjoyable experience—a highlight of my relationship with the Society and with you. Thank you for trusting me with your articles, thank you for trusting me in curating them and presenting them, and thank you for allowing me to express myself every month and share my thoughts and opinions. I want to specifically thank Forum’s managing editor and design editor, Frank Darmstadt and Howard Petlack respectively, both of whose professionalism and attention to detail taught me how to put out a first-rate publication every month. Also, Francine Jetton—SGIM’s communication director—SGIM staff, and Council served as both a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. Thank you to my associate editors, whose tireless edits to get me copy, sometime at the 11^th hour, filled Forum with outstanding content. Finally, thank you to Rosemarie Conigliaro—fellow SGIM member, friend, colleague, and wife—for putting up with my late nights because “I gotta get the Forum out.”

In the last three years, Forum underwent a refresh with a new color scheme and logo to match that of SGIM. We refined the department of “Humanities” to “Breadth” to better capture the full spectrum of creative expression of our members. And, most recently, we published the first-ever special issue of Forum on COVID-19, an extraordinary collection of articles about a single disease or syndrome and its staggering impact on all of us. All that and the regular contribution of extraordinary material from the Society’s membership.

I leave the Forum in the able hands of Dr. Tiffany Leung, who has been an associate editor for the Forum over the last four years and a regular contributor of wide-ranging and informative content. Dr. Leung’s vision for the Forum, including how best to use the online platform and make ample use of social media, will take Forum to the next level.

Your mountain is waiting—SGIM and the Forum are needed now more than ever in these uncertain times. What effect will the COVID-19 pandemic have on our country and health care in general? I want to end this editorial by encouraging you to support the Society, one that truly represents the interests of academic internists. Membership brings access to a diverse group of like-minded individuals with the expressed vision “to cultivate innovative educators, researchers, and clinicians in academic general internal medicine, leading the way to better health for everyone.” Keep active through membership, attendance at national and regional meetings (even virtually), and participation in interest group and committee work. Submit articles about your work, opinions, and thoughts to Forum. Consider service to the society by applying for selection to the editorial board or as an editor in chief of Forum when those positions are available in the future. Serving the Society in those roles, for me, has been a blast. I look forward to all of us having new opportunities to serve SGIM in the future.

Thanks!