2026 FUTURE Poster Submission

The application submission process has closed.

Dates to Remember

June 3, 2026 – Notification to applicants

July 30–August 1, 2026 – FUTURE

Poster Guidelines and Sample Abstracts

Download the following PDF files.

• 2026 Poster Guidelines and Tips
• Sample: Applicant Verification Letter
• Sample: Short Abstracts
• Sample Full Abstract: Clinical Inquiry
• Sample Full Abstract: Community Project and Educational Program
• Sample Full Abstract: Research

Eligibility Requirements

The submitter must be considered the primary author and must be the person to present onsite, if selected. They must also be:

• Eligible to attend FUTURE
• Willing to pay for and attend the conference
• A student or resident member in good standing of the American Academy of Family Physicians

Not a member? Join now. New or lapsed memberships may take one week to process. Please plan accordingly, as late applications will not be accepted.

Poster Categories

• Research – Summarize the results of a well-defined basic or clinical research project, including a hypothesis, dependent and independent variables, tests for measures of association, succinct discussion of data, etc. All work should be original. Projects may involve observational or interventional studies. If project involves human subjects, documentation of approval or exemption from an institutional review board (IRB) is required. This is the only category eligible for onsite peer review.
  
• Clinical Inquiry – Present a clinical scenario with discussion of an actual patient presentation or review of current evidence-based recommendations for a clinical topic. A clinical case presentation must include an introduction, case description, discussion of current practice guidelines for management of the patient, and conclusions. An evidence-based review need not be based on an actual patient presentation but must provide a systematic review of the best current research evidence to answer a clinical question. The presentation should provide an evidence-based answer on a topic relevant to family medicine and common practice and include an evidence summary, recommendations from others, and clinical commentary. 
• Community Project – Describe personal experience working on a community-based initiative to improve the health of a specific population (e.g. providing adolescent AIDS education, working with school nurses to develop asthma action plans, establishing a health care program for the homeless, etc.) Student/resident applicants must have served in a leadership role in the planning and execution of the project. The description should include an evaluation of the project. If project involves human subjects, documentation of approval or exemption from an institutional review board (IRB) is required.
• Educational Program – Describe an educational program or curricular innovation that has been evaluated for its impact on medical student or resident training. Student/resident applicant(s) must have played a substantive role in the creation, implementation, and/or evaluation of the target program. This may have been done in collaboration with faculty. Applicant needs to state specifically the role played in the program. If project involves human subjects, documentation of approval or exemption from an institutional review board (IRB) is required.

Submission Requirements

• Only one poster application per author is permitted.
• The subject of the poster must be of value to family medicine and within the scope of family medicine.
• All projects must be completed at the time of application. Incomplete projects will not be considered.
• The project or research described in the application must reflect work done while the applicant was a medical student or resident.
• The subject of the poster presentation may be based on coursework or an extracurricular activity.
• Entries may not be taken from previously published papers. Those that are currently under review or will be submitted for publication in the future are acceptable.
• Authors of accepted entries must be AAFP resident or student members. The primary author of each accepted poster must be willing to pay for and attend FUTURE 2026.

Full Abstract Requirements

Applicants must include all information outlined for each category below — five-page maximum, excluding the Reference page if applicable. Please bold each section header in your abstract for easier reading.

Research (See example)

• Project description
• Objectives/purpose
• Methodology
• Applicant’s role in project
• Results
• Conclusions/discussion

Clinical Inquiry (See example)

• Introduction
• Case description
• Discussion of practice guidelines
• Conclusions/discussion
• References (Reference page may be in addition to the five-page maximum)

Community Project and Educational Program (See example)

• Project/program description
• Objectives/purpose
• Methodology
• Applicant’s role in project/program
• Results
• Conclusions/discussion

Judging Criteria

Poster judging is a two-tier process.

1.    First-Round Judging

• Applications will be peer reviewed and judged on the following criteria
  • Relevance to family medicine
  • Originality/innovative nature of project or question
  • Project description/statement of purpose and goals
  • Evidence-based nature of content
  • Validity of conclusions
  • Impact on future work
  • Visual appeal   
• Based on scores from first-round judging, 40 posters will be selected for display only.
• In addition, 10 posters from the Research category will be selected to present their poster onsite.
   

2.     Onsite Poster Presentation (Research only)

• Onsite judging for the top 10 Research posters will be held on Thursday, July 30 or Friday, July 31. Authors will have three minutes to present their poster and will be evaluated on the following criteria:
  • Relevance to family medicine
  • Design
  • Display
  • Presenter’s skills
• Primary author of the top 10 Research posters will be required to staff their display during select hours on July 30 or 31 at FUTURE.

Posters on Display

Posters will be printed by the AAFP and displayed on easels in a designated area at FUTURE. The top 10 Research poster authors will be invited to give a brief oral presentation onsite for peer review.

The 40 display-only poster authors will participate in a 45-minute Poster Author Q&A on July 30 or 31.