Massachusetts Chapter College Awards

 The Massachusetts Chapter Receives the 2026 John Tooker Evergreen Award

The John Tooker Evergreen Awards Program provides recognition and visibility to chapters that have successfully implemented programs to increase membership, improve communication, encourage member involvement, enhance diversity, foster careers in internal medicine or improve chapter management. The MassachusettsChapter received a 2026 John Tooker Evergreen Award for their innovative initiative.

Navigating Medicine: A Program Series to Improve Understanding of Each Other's Experiences in Medicine

2026 Evergreen AwardsThe programs are always illuminating by enhancing our understanding of each other's diverse experiences as physicians. 

The “Navigating Medicine Series” was designed by the Massachusetts Chapter’s Health Equity Committee to share experiences focused on diversity, emphasizing equity, inclusion, and justice. The topics varied from speakers across career stage, practice type, and geography. The series then expanded to include a book club session. Most recently, a key session at the Annual Scientific Meeting was added to provide attendees with glimpses on how to design and implement clinical programs to underserved patients. Program topics have ranged from gender diversity to race and ethnicity. 

Special thanks to this program’s key contributors:

  • Judith A. Melin, MA, MD, FACP, Governor, Massachusetts Chapter
  • Carole Vincent, MD, Chair, Health Equity Committee, Massachusetts Chapter
  • The Committee Members of the Chapter’s Health Equity Committee, formerly known as the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee, have been instrumental in every program in the Navigating Medicine Series. Each program has a dedicated set of leaders from the Health Equity Committee, with guidance from the Committee Chairs and Governor.

Previous Evergreen Awards: 

  • 2025 - Annual Chapter Poster Competition: Increasing the Value for Trainees and Judges
  • 2022 - Virtual Advocacy Day at the State House
  • 2022 - Leadership Development for Women in Medicine
  • 2018 - Chapter HPPC State House Advocacy Day
  • 2017 - Mentoring Collaborative
  • 2005 - Establishing a State-Wide Electronic Health Record Infrastructure

 2025 Chapter Excellence Award-Gold Level Winner

(September 2025) We are pleased to announce that our chapter is in receipt of the Gold Level of the 2025 Chapter Excellence Award! The award recognizes truly extraordinary chapters that surpass excellence in chapter management. We are in the company of 68 other outstanding chapters. In order to achieve the Gold Level of the Chapter Excellence Award, chapters must meet 22 Bronze criteria, 12 Silver criteria and 25 Gold level activities. Criteria include such activities as having a legislative action plan or agenda, holding a volunteerism/community service activity, holding multiple stand-alone meetings, having revenue sources outside of dues and meeting registration fees, implementing a strategic plan, implementing a formal recruitment and retention plan and measuring outcomes, conducting various activities for Medical Students, Residents and Early Career Physicians. We would like to extend a special thanks to those chapter members who assisted us in all of these endeavors! For their hard work and dedication, we received this award.

Chapter Excellence Award

Massachusetts Chapter Receives the Mary Bieter Evergreen All Stars Award

Mary Bieter All Star AwardsThe Mary Bieter Evergreen All-Star Awards recognized exceptional and sustained chapter-initiated programs that supported and adapted to the Internal Medicine landscape in the United States and around the world. ACP Members were asked to review and select All-Star nominations they believed were worth of recognition. The Massachusetts Chapter received the Mary Bieter Evergreen All-Star Award for their initiative, Health and Public Policy Committee. 

Health and Public Policy Committee

Each year the committee identifies advocacy priorities based on feedback from members. Programs range from in-depth work on particular policy areas to opportunities for a member to write or call a legislator’s office to express perspectives on a timely matter. MA HPPC has grown in breadth and depth for years. Interest among members is robust. A centerpiece of the MA HPPC’s work, Advocacy Day at the State House, held its 5th successful annual experience for members, legislators, and staff in 2022. 

Numerous ways to participate are offered, from information about an upcoming legislative matter and templates to facilitate contact your legislator about it, to learning opportunities about how to advocate effectively, to subcommittees about particular advocacy matters and opportunities to lead a subcommittee. For example, Advocacy Day 2020 occurred soon after the onset of the pandemic lockdown and was rapidly converted to a virtual experience. For 2021, there was time to plan the meeting to be virtual; the Advocacy Education Subcommittee planned virtual training prior to Advocacy Day and for the day of the event. From 2020 to 2021, legislative meetings increased from 10 to 22, with geographic participation increased facilitating connections with certain legislators for the first time. Chapter participants increased from 28 (10 new) to 65 from 2020 to 2021. Trainee representation increased. MA HPPC’s Virtual Advocacy Day became the blueprint for some other ACP Chapter’s virtual Advocacy Day efforts later in 2020; those Chapters reached out to our Chapter for guidance on how to operationalize their virtual Advocacy Day, fostering cross-chapter support, communication, and collaboration.