Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the Dog Days of summer. It has been close to 100°F in Denver, but a dry heat. I hope you are all getting needed and well-deserved summer rest and rejuvenation with friends and loved ones.
I also hope that you all have registered for the 83rd Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association being held October 16-20, 2013. If not, why not? Julie Ann Sosa, Ron Koenig and the Program Committee have put together an outstanding scientific and clinical meeting program which will be held in the beautiful city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. San Juan is the second oldest European-established city in the Americas (founded by Spanish colonists in 1521), with many wonderful sights and an average temperature of 83°F in October. I hope to see you in San Juan this October.
ATA members and staff have been busy and productive this spring and summer. As many now know, we have recently entered into a collaborative agreement with Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. to publish Clinical Thyroidology and a new journal VideoEndocrinology. This is an exciting new direction for the ATA and you can read more about it in John Morris' Secretary's Update from the June SIGNAL. This is a tangible result from our strategic planning process from last year. In addition, I have asked the Basic Research Task Force led by Sheue-yann Cheng to explore the possibility of a research summary publication in the area of translational thyroidology. They will begin deliberations on this initiative in the next few weeks. I believe these publication initiatives are a key component of our mission to be the leading organization devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and public health.
Our guidelines development and revisions, a major leadership tool for the ATA, are continuing to move forward. Congratulations to Glenn Braunstein, Sara Rosenthal and the Ethics Advisory Committee for the recent publication of Clinical and Professional Ethics Guidelines for the Practice of Thyroidology in our journal Thyroid. This is a wonderful resource for all of us involved in the clinical practice and research in thyroidology. Tony Bianco and the ATA taskforce on approaches and strategies to investigate thyroid hormone economy and action are close to publication of the Handbook to Investigate Thyroid Hormone Economy and Action in Rodent and Cell Models. They are to be congratulated on an outstanding and thorough handbook that will be an important reference in thyroid research for many years to come. The Medullary Thyroid Cancer guidelines and Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Cancer guidelines have revisions well underway and I am confident these will be out within the next year.
The ATA has a strong and diverse membership of scientists and clinicians from many different disciplines. Our representation from the surgical specialties has grown and been very productive over the past few years, making the ATA a real leader in thyroid surgery. It is noteworthy that the American Goiter Association, the predecessor to the ATA, was started by surgeons 90 years ago. In order to broaden and strengthen our membership, we are focusing and developing participation among other specialties; currently and importantly: Pediatric Endocrinologists. Andy Bauer has agreed to lead a task force to explore what the ATA can do to provide a home for and better serve the constituency of Pediatric Endocrinologists who have an interest in thyroid disease. If you are interested in serving on this task force, contact me, Andy Bauer or the ATA office.
Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing everyone at our 83rd Annual Meeting in October.
Bryan R. Haugen, M.D.
ATA President