Secretary's Update - April 2013

I am writing two days before our Spring Symposium & Research Summit in Washington and already the meeting is a great success. Both the research summit on Thursday afternoon (April 25) and the clinical symposium on Friday are well subscribed and the program entitled "Treatment of Hypothyroidism: Exploring the Possibilities" will be outstanding. Thanks to program chairs Jacquie Jonklaas, Ken Burman, and Tony Bianco as well as the ATA staff who have developed, planned, and executed the meeting expertly. I hope that by the time you read this I will have already seen you at the Westin City Center Hotel.

Coming soon is the first issue of a Chinese version of THYROID. Since my last update Mingzhao Xing has agreed to join this effort as an Associate Editor for the Chinese edition to assist Editor-in-Chief Peter Kopp and the Chinese Editor Teng Weiping. Mingzhao's strong clinical and investigational background as well as his command of the Chinese language will be an important part of the success of the overall project. Publication of the journal in Chinese is supported by Merck and our Publisher Mary Ann Liebert. As we reported two months ago, a Chinese Thyroid editorial board has been selected which will be led by Dr. Weiping of The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning and they will be working closely with Peter Kopp and Mingzhao on the publication. We are excited to see this project begin and congratulate all involved in bringing it forward. It will serve to enhance our international relationships with our colleagues in China and hopefully bring a number of them to ATA membership and to participation in our meetings.

Programming for our 83rd Annual Meeting, October 16-20, in San Juan, Puerto Rico is being completed. All invited speakers are now set and the call for abstracts opened on April 10 and closes on June 26. The short call abstract call will open on August 27. You can review the Meeting Agenda on our website and appreciate the outstanding clinical, basic, and translational science that we will enjoy in sunny San Juan, Puerto Rico. Program committee chairs Julie Ann Sosa and Ron Koenig and I invite you to mark your calendars (October 16-20).

Most of the work of ATA is done by the extensive network of committees and task forces, which involve efforts by many of our most active members. My quick count of our committees and task forces finds that we have 30 such groups that involve around 350 of our members and staff. Committee chairs and members generally serve 3 year terms, the most obvious exception being the chairs of the Program Committee for the annual meeting which change each year. It should be no surprise for me to say that perhaps the most important job of our president, which begins before taking office, is to set the chairs and members of these most important teams. Our President-elect, Hossein Gharib, is starting this process now. Please review this list on our website and consider helping ATA with our broad mission and numerous activities by serving on a committee or task force that is of interest to you. Hossein asks for your self-nomination and suggestions of names of other colleagues for his consideration during the process of setting these memberships for next year. You may send your comments to him via the survey link in this issue of SIGNAL and online through members only.

Thanks to N. David Charkes, Emeritus Research Professor of Nuclear Medicine Professor of Medicine (ret.) Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia the ATA has received over 350 books to add to the Sawin Collection (with further contributions from John Stanbury and others). The story of his gift and his encouragement is here.

Best wishes for the summer season.

John Morris, MD
Secretary/Chief Operating Officer