President's Pulse

President’s Pulse | September 2026

As September comes to an end and fall begins, I find myself reflecting on the major public health themes and national health observances that define this month—from National Sickle Cell Awareness Month to World Rabies Day, which falls today, September 29, and National Suicide Prevention Month.

I am sure many of you were prompted via some form of social media to remember and recognize the warning signs of those at risk and the appropriate resources such as the National 988 line.

Those prompts forced me to ask a question I now pose to you: Are we building a profession in which people are connected enough to ask for help before they reach a crisis?

As physicians, we are trained to diagnose, treat, stabilize, and solve a multitude of problems at anyone time. While inadvertently learning to suffer in silence. We can become skilled at seeing stress in others while hiding it in ourselves. That is why one of the most important things we can do for one another is also one of the simplest: connect.

What We Know

A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of studies from 20 countries found elevated suicide rates among practicing physicians compared with the general population. A 2025 JAMA Network Open analysis of residents revealed suicide as the most common cause of death in that study cohort.

More alarming is that the greatest concentration of suicides occurred during periods of transition: starting medical school or residency, changing programs or specialties, becoming an attending, taking on leadership, becoming a parent, experiencing divorce, losing a colleague, fighting a lawsuit, or simply being the person everyone expects to hold everything together.

I do not mean to sensationalize these findings. Instead, I use them to ask better questions: Where are the gaps in support? What circumstances deepen isolation? Who knows us well enough to notice when something changes?

Connection Has to Happen Before Isolation Becomes Crisis

A medical society cannot replace mental-health care, and membership in an organization does not prevent suicide. I am not and would never make that claim. But a professional society such as the Wayne County Medical Society can actively work against isolation in its membership and community.

I know firsthand – connection can be a lifeline in turbulent waters. A colleague who knows your name. A mentor who understands your story. A peer who notices that you have become unusually quiet while supporting you in that silence. It can be a medical student who knows an attending they can approach, a resident with someone outside the chain of command to call, or an attending who can say, “I’m having a difficult time,” without believing that admission makes them less capable. Those relationships do not magically appear in a crisis. They are built beforehand.

Live. Laugh. Love. Learn. Play. Work.

To live in Wayne County is to share a community with our patients, neighbors, and families. To laugh is to remember that colleagues can become friends and that connection does not always have to be serious. To love is to care for patients, families, communities, one another, and ourselves. To learn is to stay up to date on the practice of medicine to remain a trusted voice for patients and one another. To play is to make room for the whole person beyond the white coat: family, faith, music, sports, art, travel, service, hobbies, and joy. And to work is to bring our collective energy to health equity, public health, medical education, workforce development, innovation, advocacy, and the future of medicine in Southeast Michigan.

No individual physician can do all of that. Connected physicians can. The Wayne County Medical Society of Southeast Michigan does not need to duplicate every function of every larger organization. We can be the connector: convening people, amplifying good work, advocating for physicians and patients, and helping members turn their time, talent, and treasure into impact.

Independence Gives Us the Opportunity

As we enter our first year operating independently from the Michigan State Medical Society, we have the freedom to define priorities locally and respond directly to our members. But independence alone does not build an organization. Members do.

Our opportunity is to do what a local organization can uniquely do: connect physicians to physicians, trainees to mentors, medicine to Detroit and Wayne County, members to opportunities, ideas to action, and people with a need to people who have the capacity to help. We can create experiences that feel distinctly local, personal, and meaningful.

The 90-Day Challenge

For the next 90 days, I am challenging our Board—and inviting every member—to connect intentionally through two simple commitments.

Connect with one person. Invite one physician, trainee, or eligible medical professional into the Society’s community. Do more than send a membership link: tell them why you belong, introduce them to someone, bring them to an in-person event such as the Francis P. Rhoades, MD Memorial Lecture, on October 15, and show them what we are building.
Register Here!

Do one thing. Mentor a trainee. Attend a Society event. Participate in advocacy. Join a committee. Share your expertise. Introduce two members who should know one another. Bring forward an idea. Volunteer for a community initiative. Write a piece for the Detroit Medical News. Pursue civic engagement in support of medicine and patients. The goal is not perfection; it is participation—and to make membership meaningful for yourself and others.

Organizations do not change because someone writes a strategic plan. They change when people begin behaving differently. What happens individual acts become the identity, and over time, collectively what an organization is known for—and that is how we make independence matter.

Your Professional Home

If you live, work, train, or care for patients in Wayne County – if you love this community and want to make medicine better – there is a place for you here. Whether you are a medical student, resident, fellow, early-career physician, or seasoned colleague, we want to understand what you need and help you find, build, and amplify what comes next.

Suicide prevention requires many layers: recognizing risk, reducing access to lethal means, providing appropriate mental-health care, creating supportive environments, and making it easier to seek help. Underneath those strategies is something profoundly human: connection.

So, this fall, let us do more than tell people to reach out. At WCMS let’s build a community worth reaching into. Let us know our colleagues, check on one another, make room for the trainee, welcome the new physician, notice who has quietly disappeared from the room, celebrate one another, and make it easier to see and be seen.

Live. Laugh. Love. Learn. Play. Work. Connect.

One person. One action. Ninety days.

Connection is not everything. But it can be the thing that reminds someone: “I am not alone.”

Nicolas K. Fletcher, MD, MHSA
President – Wayne County Medical Society