Meet the ATA 2013 Spring Meeting Faculty

"Hypothyroidism is one of the most commonly diagnosed conditions, affecting 5-10% of all people. The American Thyroid Association's spring symposium, devoted to the treatment of hypothyroidism, highlights what we know and what we do not know about treating this common ailment. My lecture, the "Goals of Therapy and Hypothyroidism" will review what we hope thyroid hormone replacement therapy will achieve: reversal of patients' symptoms, and normalization of laboratory indices of thyroid hormone action. It is also important to realize that thyroid hormone therapy may not achieve everything that patients desire.

This session will help primary care providers align the expected results of thyroid hormone treatment for hypothyroidism with what are often unrealistic patient expectations of improved health outcomes and well-being."- David Cooper, MD

Dr. David Cooper will be the speaker of "Goals of Therapy and Hypothyroidism" during the Spring Symposium on Friday, April 26, 2013. Dr. Cooper received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine, and completed his Endocrinology Fellowship training at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He is Professor of Medicine and Radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Director of the Johns Hopkins Thyroid Clinic. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for Endocrinology at Up-to-Date. He is a former Contributing Editor at JAMA, and the past Chair of the Subspecialty Board for Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Cooper is the past Treasurer and the past President the American Thyroid Association, and is also the recipient of the American Thyroid Association's Distinguished Service Award and its Paul Starr Award. He is also the recipient of the Distinction in Clinical Endocrinology Award from the American College of Endocrinology.

Dr. Laura Boucai will be the speaker of "Thyroid Hormone Therapy in Special Circumstances: Elderly" during the Spring Symposium on Friday, April 26, 2013. Dr. Laura Boucai is a board-certified endocrinologist and internist with particular interest in thyroid diseases. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and an Assistant Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. As part of her academic career, she has spent four years as a faculty member at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she has worked with Dr. Martin Surks to better understand which factors have an impact in the thyrotropin (TSH) distribution. They found that age and race are independent determinants of the TSH level in healthy individuals, and that the availability of age-and race-specific reference limits for TSH would decrease misclassification of patients without thyroid disease. Furthermore, they propose that these TSH changes with age and race might have a genetic basis. At the American Thyroid Association Spring Symposium and Research Summit 2013 on Treatment of Hypothyroidism, I will present the results of our findings and propose a new diagnostic paradigm that will hopefully result in better care of a growing geriatric population.