President's Update, December 2015

Antonio C. Bianco, MD, PhD ATA President

Dear ATA Colleagues,

Happy Holiday wishes to everyone. This has been a fantastic year with so much progress and accomplishments in the thyroid world. As the dust settles following the ITC meeting in Orlando, the impression I was left with was of a refreshing but intense meeting. Its success undoubtedly reflects the gigantic effort of Rebecca Bahn and the POC, CEO Bobbi Smith and the wonderful ATA office staff, as well as the contribution and engagement of the sister societies. We are now looking ahead to our next annual meeting in Denver, Colorado. The organization of the scientific program is well under way led by Stephanie Fish and Peter Arvan; and of course we look forward to an exciting program. In addition, our executive team has been busy revising and finalizing our committee leaders and membership. Currently ATA's work is carried out by 26 committees and task forces including over 300 members, representing all constituencies and interests. These groups will be having conference calls and completing work by email throughout the year, and most will begin that work almost immediately. Thank you to all who serve ATA in this way. The updated committee list will be available on our website for your interest.

As you know, about a year ago the ATA board of directors and several key committee members went through a retreat in Jacksonville FL, with the idea of revising and updating our organization's strategic plan for the next several years. Among many important recommendations, a key point was for the ATA to focus on patient education and patient engagement. The desire to improve patients' lives is what ultimately drives many of us to study the thyroid gland. With new technologies and experimental approaches, we have observed an acceleration in the speed with which scientific progress is achieved. Thus, informing and educating the public and patients about new developments in thyroid diseases has become a significant challenge.

Thanks to the amazing work led by Alan Farwell and the team of Clinical Thyroidology for Patients, the articles published in Jerry Hershman's Clinical Thyroidology have reached a large number of patients and public interested in understanding more about recent discoveries in diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease. However, more is needed. There are approximately 20 million individuals in the US alone that suffer from thyroid diseases. Making sure these individuals understand what they have, what the treatment options are, and receive the best treatment available is a responsibility that the ATA shares with their physicians.

We have seen in the last few years a remarkable progress in diagnosis and treatment of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer. This has been crystalized in the publication of the new Guidelines for Management of Thyroid Nodule and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer. It is important that we develop strategies and work with the many patient advocate groups ensure that the wealth of information contained in this document is easily accessible and understandable to the public and patients. Think about the millions of individuals with hypothyroidism and how diagnosis and treatment for this condition has evolved in the last few years. Again, the ATA will be creating mechanisms to ensure that the information contained in the recently published guidelines for treatment of hypothyroidism is easily accessible to the public and patients.

I hope each of you has a Happy New Year.  See you in 2016 at an ATA meeting!

Antonio C. Bianco, MD, PhD
President, American Thyroid Association