By: Keith T. Kanel, MD, MHCM, FACP – 2025 ACMS President
On a summer’s day earlier this year, I spent an afternoon with the history of the Allegheny County Medical Society. I wanted to learn about why we do what we do.
Settling into the expansive reading room of the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, archivist librarians brought me some of the 41 musty boxes containing the assembled Bulletins of ACMS dating back to 1866. It was remarkable reading. It told the story of how the physicians of Pittsburgh built a medical community and public health system, responding to epidemics, two world wars, the birth of our first (and second!) medical school, the advent of health insurance, the big local health corporations, transplantation, managed care, underserved populations, and the digital revolution.
A common thread was that ACMS was always the bedrock center of physician life and unfailingly rose to meet the moment. Our legacy is to be in a constant state of reinvention, guided by generations of volunteer physician leaders.
When I began my term as ACMS president in January 2025, we had familiar challenges. Rising rates of physician burnout. Unenlightened oversight by state and local government. A health care industry occasionally placing profits over patients and threatening the doctor-patient relationship. A digital communication revolution that misinforms as often as it includes, potentially eroding the core humanness that defines our everyday work.
Led by its phenomenal 2025 Board of Directors and chairman Raymond Pontzer MD, ACMS once again stepped up, listened to membership, and took action. During this incredibly busy (and occasionally exhausting) year our portfolio of accomplishments is truly amazing, including:
- Membership remained robust, and in 2025 ACMS officially became the largest of the 63 county medical societies in Pennsylvania.
- In April 2024, ACMS launched its new Physician Wellness Program to combat burnout and stress, offering completely discrete, immediate, and anonymous behavioral health support to any regional physician or medical student in need. Dozens of practitioners have received up to four one-on-one sessions with licensed therapists at no charge. The program was funded entirely with ACMS dollars and has already become a model for other medical societies. In 2025, that program grew and expanded. Partnerships were created with the major hospital systems to help support Physician Wellness in the County.
- To help ACMS truly serve as the voice of the physician, a new Advocacy Task Force was created in 2025 to monitor and communicate to membership breaking legislative developments. Working with our colleagues at the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PAMED), we proactively track issues important to our membership, such as supporting efforts to ban non-compete clauses in physician contracting and preserving sensible patient safety parameters on non-physician scope-of-practice.
- To fight misinformation on vaccine policy, ACMS forged a new relationship with the Allegheny County Immunization Coalition as their 2025 fiscal sponsor. This legacy grassroots organization, previously funded by the Center for Disease Control, literally takes preventive health to the streets and into the schools. Our physicians are excited to begin working with a great new community partner.
- For the first time, the Allegheny County contingent to the October 2025 PAMED House of Delegates in Hershey was the biggest at the convention, surpassing Philadelphia County. Our 20 elected representatives spoke passionately of changes they would like to see in health policy
- To help our Allegheny County physician-trainees succeed in launching their professional careers, our board voted to pay the 2025 PAMED portion of membership dues for 741 medical students, residents, and fellows (ACMS membership remains free for student and resident members).
- The ACMS Women Physicians Committee grew in 2025, with a vibrant presence and sold-out social events.
- ACMS was honored to be the only national county medical society invited to present at the October 2025 meeting of the Federation of State Medical Boards in Washington, DC. ACMS joined the Massachusetts Medical Society and Oregon Board of Medicine in offering perspectives on looming trends in physician unionization.
- Upgrading our communications for a new age, ACMS overhauled the ACMS Bulletin, published regularly since 1911, to a new quarterly journal debuting in early 2026, to be accompanied by an expanded digital platform.
- ACMS again hosted the physicians of Allegheny County at the 2025 Distinguished Awards celebration at Acrisure Stadium in November. The fundraiser netted a record $43,000 for future programming.
- Through our ACMS Foundation, we awarded $245,000 to 15 exceptional community-based organizations which join us in addressing social determinants of health within Allegheny County. Among grantees identified at our October 2025 meeting were Global Links, Jeremiah’s Place, Sojourner House, Light of Life Mission, The Neighborhood Resilience Project, and others.
And it feels like we are just getting started!
My personal thanks go to our amazing Boards of Directors for both ACMS and the ACMS Foundation, who gave selflessly of their time throughout the year. Special thanks go to the 2025 ACMS Executive Committee, including board chair Raymond Pontzer MD, president-elect Kirsten Lin MD, treasurer William Coppola MD, and secretary Richard Hoffmaster MD. Lastly, nothing happens without the diligent and enormously professional ACMS staff team: executive director Sara Hussey, vice-president Nadine Popovich, operations coordinator Melanie Mayer, finance manager Elizabeth Yurkovich, and membership manager Haley Thon.
I personally look forward to the 2026 presidency of Dr. Kirsten Lin, who will, as it has been for 160 years, lead us forward in meeting the challenges ahead for ACMS physicians and our patients. No doubt it will be another exciting year.