Secretary's Update - October 2012

The members and staff of ATA mourn the recent passing of ATA member Aldo Pinchera, MD, Professor Emeritus of Endocrinology at the University of Pisa, Italy, and a longstanding and widely respected member of the ATA. Aldo was a leader in the discipline of thyroidology—with extensive expertise in areas ranging from thyroid autoimmunity, endemic goiter and iodine metabolism and deficiency, thyroid cancer, and parathyroid disorders to calcium metabolism to obesity. In the weeks to come, you will likely see numerous memorials to Aldo, each one recognizing the remarkable number of awards and honors he received as well as his service on many international committees, societies, and task force groups that he led or contributed to as a member. Aldo was a close friend and colleague of many and a devoted member of ATA who came to every meeting possible. His quick wit and generous smile always had a way of making one feel at ease and welcome. Many in our society who were fortunate enough to attend this year's ETA meeting in Pisa enjoyed a special lecture by Anthony Weetman that was presented in Aldo's honor. For those who could not attend, a highlight of the lecture were the remarks on Aldo's many noted accomplishments and the standing ovation to follow. Little did we know at the time that it would be his last such honor. On the day we learned of his passing, Ian Hay shared the photo shown here Also with Ian, ATA Past President Jim Fagin, Nancy Carrasco, Christine Spitzweg and myself that was taken just outside the lecture hall at this year's Annual Meeting in Quebec. You can see by his face how much he enjoyed being there and, in our faces, how much we enjoyed his friendship. The ATA is currently planning a tribute to Aldo during next year's ATA meeting in Puerto Rico, where his presence will be greatly missed

As mentioned in the annual report at the annual meeting, one of the strategic priorities of the ATA under ATA Past President Jim Fagin was to strengthen programming and other opportunities for the basic science cohort of our membership. Several initiatives have been or are being implemented toward this end. A primary example is the ATA's support of the satellite meeting on Thyroid Hormone Resistance held prior to the ATA Annual Meeting, where we urged all who participated to also attend our Meeting. In the year to come, we also intend to adjust the registration costs of the ATA Annual Meeting for basic scientists to encourage their attendance and ensure that cost is not a barrier to their participation. In addition, we will bolster the ATA Annual Meeting Program Committee with strong basic science representation , thereby ensuring a stronger basic science component to the Meeting itself. Our Board recently approved the establishment of a Research Affairs Task Force to assist us in the development of this plan and ATA President Bryan Haugen is at work on initializing the group. Sheue-yann Cheng, of the National Institutes of Health, has agreed to chair this task force and is currently completing its membership roster. Once assembled, the work of the group will begin immediately. As always, we welcome your continued commentary and suggestions to be included in these ongoing efforts.

Another strategic priority of the ATA is to support the research of promising and important thyroid investigation through targeted funding. Last year, the ATA was able to contribute almost $300,000 to this research area. These funds are derived, in large part, from ATA endowments and from important contributions from ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors', Inc. that are specifically directed toward funding thyroid cancer research projects. This year, we were contacted by and successfully negotiated an endowment contribution from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation of $406,000; this major gift has been received and deposited with our financial advisor, Barry Garber, at Deutsche Bank. These funds will be designated for use by the donor specifically for research focused on thyroid and pregnancy. We anticipate this endowment will generate sufficient funds by 2014 for issuance of an RFA and funding research awards, which will be managed through our Research Committee.

After a one-year hiatus, the ATA will hold a Spring Symposium, "Treatment of Hypothyroidism: Exploring the Possibilities," on April 25-26, 2013, at the Westin City Center in Washington, D.C. In keeping with the format of other ATA spring meetings, the focus will be narrower than our Annual Meeting and include both research and clinical programming surrounding a current topic of high interest in thyroidology. Jacquie Jonklaas and Ken Burman, along with other members of the Hypothyroidism Task Force, are deep into the planning process for this meeting. The preliminary agenda focuses on clinical and research topics in hypothyroidism and thyroid hormone analogues. It will include a half-day of basic science topics on Thursday afternoon, followed by a full day of clinical presentations on Friday. Please mark your calendars for this.

Please note that the Annual Dues request will be coming soon. This year you will receive a 5% discount if you return your membership dues payment by December 15, 2012. ATA membership dues have not increased in the past three years, except for small increases to match increases in the cost of the Thyroid journal subscription from our publisher. In view of the increasing pressures from declining support of industry, as well as expected inflation, we must match these pressures with an increase in our membership dues to maintain the excellent support we enjoy from our office and staff, as well as to continue to support our research programs, guidelines activities, the efforts of all our committees and task forces, and patient-focused initiatives. The increase will be only 5% if paid by December 15, 2012 and a 10% increase if paid after that date.

I'd like to take a moment to thank Jim Fagin for his dedicated service as ATA President over the past year. I have very much enjoyed working with Jim and have found him to be as strong a leader and advisor as he is a scientist. He has been exceptionally involved in numerous issues and efforts of the ATA during his tenure and will continue to work on many of these over the next year as Past President. I am looking forward to working more closely with our new ATA President Bryan Haugen, who is already active with many ATA items. You will hear more from him next month. Finally, I wish to welcome Susan Sherman and Jim Hennessey to the ATA Board of Directors, Greg Randolph as ATA Treasurer-Elect and Hossein Gharib as President-Elect.

Best Regards,

John Morris, MD
Secretary/Chief Operating Officer