Secretary's Update, November 2015
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| Victor J. Bernet, MD Secretary/Chief Operating Officer |
This message not only represents my first to ATA members as your new Secretary/COO but also is the first Signal Newsletter to be published following the very successful 15th International Thyroid Congress. It is appropriate at this time to thank Rebecca Bahn and the entire Program Organizing Committee for a job well done as well as big kudos to the ATA Office staff for pulling off such a large meeting in such flawless fashion. The ITC affords the important opportunity to interact professionally and socially with members from our sister societies and we appreciate the active participation of those ETA, LATS and AOTA members who were in attendance. There were 2455 registrants (2371 on-site attendees) at the 15th ITC representing 88 countries, who were joined by Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and several other Disney friends at the opening ceremony. I noted many-a cell phones out to record the activities and personally am looking to acquire a photo or video of Bob Smallridge walking up the aisle with Pluto!
Having been drawn to the ATA through the Fellows' Track championed by Chip Ridgway, I personally celebrate the success of the E. Chester Ridgway Trainees Track which hosted 438 fellows from 35 countries. This effort was very capably led by clinical co-chairs Andrew Gianoukakis and Stephanie Fish, basic co-chairs Douglas Forrest and Theo Visser, and the ATA Trainees and Career Advancement chair Whitney Goldner. We offer great thanks to the approximately, 40+ ATA and sister society members who acted as faculty for this track. We hear from the participants how much they appreciate these efforts and I believe such trainee focused activities are essential to the ATA's long term health and growth.
This Fall like every Fall, brings leadership changes to the ATA. We thank Bob Smallridge for his thoughtful leadership as ATA President this last year and welcome aboard Tony Bianco as our new President. John Morris has completed an extremely successful term as ATA Secretary/COO. We, the ATA, have been truly blessed to have John's leadership and guiding hand these last 4 years. We look forward to having John remain on the board as President-elect. As has been announced, Greg Randolph's election as President-elect of the AAO-HNS precipitated a need for him to resign from his duties as ATA Secretary. On behalf of the ATA, I congratulate Greg on his new office and thank him for his excellent service to the ATA! Dave Sarne has graciously accepted his appointment to resume duties as ATA Treasurer. We appreciate Dave's willingness to serve again and know he will do an excellent job, but also understand that he must feel a bit like Michael Corleone who in Godfather III stated " Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in." We also note and thank Hossein Gharib, Martha Zeiger and Erik Alexander for their dedicated service on the ATA Board. We look forward to working with our new Directors Rebecca Schweppe, Andy Bauer and Sally Carty.
While much has been achieved by the ATA over its nine decades existence, it is essential that we regularly reassess how we meet the needs of stakeholders in the ATA. We held a strategic conference in January 2015 for that exact purpose and your ATA leadership is actively pursuing the areas of opportunity identified during that process. Of note, our membership is a committed group with our more than twenty committees, task forces and guideline groups being very active and productive.
Our three journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology and VideoEndocrinology are capably led by Peter Kopp, Jerry Hershman and Gerry Doherty, respectively. All appear to be thriving and of note Thyroid's impact factor is rising and presently at 4.493. The much awaited Thyroid Nodule and Thyroid Cancer Guidelines will be appearing in print in January 2016. (A toast to Bryan Haugen and the rest of the guidelines committee!) ATA guidelines are one of our most important efforts and we greatly appreciate the labors of all our guideline members!
Of course, all our efforts as the ATA only come to fruition through the hard work and dedication of our office staff led by Executive Director Extra-Ordinaire Bobbi Smith. Thank you Adonia, Sharleene, Kelly, Josette, and warm welcome to the newest team member Meryem Karad.
I am looking forward to the potential of the year ahead as there are more great things for the ATA to achieve. Have a feeling it will be a busy year and we will all be in Denver at the 86th Annual Meeting before we know it!
Victor J. Bernet, MD
Secretary/Chief Operating Officer