Who are you?

The membership of the American Thyroid Association has been steadily growing over the past few years. Most of the new members are at an early stage of their professional lives, which augurs well for the future of the association. Our Membership Committee, ably led for many years by Dr. Virginia Sarapura, deserves much credit for encouraging fellows and young thyroid experts to join the ATA. We have also become more diverse, as people from disciplines other than endocrinology have been joining us in larger numbers.

One of the main themes arising from our recent Strategic Planning Retreat was that we should strive to represent, serve and communicate with our membership more effectively. What do our members expect from the ATA? Are we reaching the various communities efficiently? Are we adequately tapping the many talents of our members to empower the organization?

For these initiatives to be effective, we need to have a good understanding of the professional role and interests of each member. We would like to know how you would like us to communicate with you, what you think of our journals, and how you prefer to receive and read them. Our wonderful ATA staff can be remarkably flexible. I will illustrate this with an anecdote. One of our very esteemed Emeritus Members, who I will not name, does not receive emails. So… guess what? He receives Clinical Thyroidology and SIGNAL … by FAX!

One of the first tasks that will preoccupy Bryan Haugen this summer in preparation for when he takes on the presidency of the ATA in the fall will be to review the membership of all committees, make new appointments and select new Chairs. He will want to be inclusive, and groom new people so that they can grow into leadership positions. So, please update your Members Only profile (see the sidebar for directions), tell us who you are, what your primary professional role is, what you believe you can contribute to the ATA, and how we can better serve you – through this committee service survey or by email to atamembership@thyroid.org.

Finally, there is a general consensus that the governance of the ATA should draw from all sectors. To even the playing field, we have now charged the Nominating Committee to construct ballots to ensure that the Board of Directors maintains a proper balance of leaders representing all disciplines, by opening designated Director slots for particular constituencies.

A final reminder. Don't miss the ATA Annual Meeting this year in Quebec. The program looks great, and the venue is magnificent. Hope to see you all there.

With best wishes,

James A. Fagin, MD
ATA President