President's Update, June 2017

John C. Morris, M.D. ATA President

ATA Election

As of this issue of Signal, I am pleased on behalf of ATA to announce the candidates for elected positions for 2017. Before listing them, I want to use a bit of space to remind and update everyone about our process for choosing candidates for the board of directors (BOD) and president.

One of the most important strengths of our organization is the tremendous diversity of our members with respect to academic and clinical discipline, including endocrinologists (both adult and pediatric), surgeons (with both endocrine and head & neck training), basic scientists, nuclear medicine providers, oncologists (medical and radiation), pathologists, internists, advanced practice providers, etc. ATA's bylaws call for the composition of our BOD to resemble that of our membership, as best possible. Each spring the BOD examines its current members, especially the members who will be completing their terms, and compares that to the current membership profile of ATA. It then directs the Nominating Committee to bring forward a ballot of candidates targeted towards achieving this goal and the committee deliberates with this in mind. For this year's election, the BOD directed the committee to bring forward 3 candidates for director which result in election of a basic scientist, a clinician, and a third candidate from members including oncologists, pathologists, pediatricians, nuclear medicine, and others not identified as endocrinologist, surgeon, or basic scientist.

Suggestions for nominees for BOD and president are received throughout the year by the Nominating Committee chair. Most suggestions come following several notices sent to ATA members in Signal and by dedicated email from the ATA office throughout the winter and early spring. All persons who are suggested as potential nominees are contacted by the office and asked about their willingness to serve in the position and, if agreeable, their names and information are added to a list to be reviewed by the committee. All suggested persons are kept in the active list for 3 years for consideration.

The Nominating Committee, this year chaired by David Steward, reviews all the suggestions and through a series of conference calls and email communications selects the candidates to be recommended to the BOD, which makes the final approval of the ballot. Please let me say here that ATA includes hundreds of talented, hard-working and dedicated members who are more than willing and capable of serving in these positions and the list of suggestions that the Nominating Committee sorts through is long and impressive – it's a challenging job.

Without further ado, here is the result of the process and names of those who will be on the ballot this year. You will receive more detailed information about the candidates with the ballot during the election process later this summer. The results will be announced as always during the annual business meeting in Victoria.

Researcher Director Candidates
Douglas Forrest, PhD
Antonio Di Cristofano, PhD

Clinician Director
Andrew Gianoukakis, MD
Megan Haymart, MD

Oncologist, Pediatric Endocrinologist, or Pathologist Director
Keith Bible, MD, PhD (Oncologist)
Thomas Giordano, MD, PhD (Pathologist)

The Nominating committee also recommends candidates for president to the BOD by way of a similar deliberation process, although there are no restrictions or suggestions for academic/clinical discipline included.  Here are the candidates:

President-elect Candidates
James Hennessey, MD
Elizabeth Pearce, MD

Congratulations to each of the nominees. Thanks to David and the Nominating Committee members for creating a strong slate for our ballot.

ATA Awards

I am also pleased here to announce the award winners for 2017, each of whom will be further honored during the annual meeting. Like the nominations above, the awardees are selected by a dedicated committee – the Awards Committee, currently chaired by Anne Cappola. Candidates for awards are nominated at large by ATA members. The ATA office continuously receives these nominations throughout the year and specifically encourages them during the winter with notices by email and in Signal. Nominations include letters of nomination and support as well as other supporting materials such as curriculum vitae and bibliographies and copies of relevant publications. These materials are compiled and reviewed by all members of the committee and through a series of conference calls and email communications consensus decisions are made about each award. All nominations are held active in the "vault" for 3 years after being received by the office. Let me here also encourage you to submit nominations for these awards when you have friends and colleagues that are deserving of recognition.

As stated above, ATA is fortunate to include hundreds of innovative, productive, and outstanding physicians, providers, and scientists and it should be no surprise that there are many deserving candidates for each award. Deciding which of many strong candidates might be most deserving at any point in time is the task of the committee, and it is both important and sometimes a bit daunting. Thanks to Anne and all the committee members for the effort required to sort through all the information and select this outstanding list of awardees. Most of these persons will be making presentations during the annual meeting in October, and each of them will be further honored by receiving their award there. You can find a description of each award here. This year's awardees are:

The Van Meter Prize Lectureship – the Van Meter has been selected and will be presented at the 87^th Annual Meeting of the ATA. This awardee is a secret until announced during the meeting only.

The Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Lectureship Award – Yuri Nikiforov as the Ingbar Award winner for 2017.

The Paul Starr Award Lecture – Quan Yang Duh as the Paul Starr Award winner for 2017.

The Lewis E. Braverman Lectureship Award – Julie Ann Sosa as the Braverman Lectureship Award winner for 2017.

The Distinguished Service Award (DSA) – Bryan Haugen as the Distinguished Service Awardee for 2017.

The John B. Stanbury Thyroid Pathophysiology Medal – James Fagin as the pathophysiology medalist for 2017.

Finally, I will add a few words about the upcoming annual meeting, our 87^th. The excitement for the October meeting in Victoria, BC, Canada, is already over the top and growing with each passing day. Already we have met or exceeded previous records for numbers of abstracts submitted, persons registered, and exhibitors. Our meeting planners are working to accommodate these tremendous numbers so that all who attend will be able to participate in the activities comfortably. The Program Committee, co-chaired by Angela Leung and Mingzhao Xing, is working diligently to review the record number of abstracts and add the final touches to the scientific program, which will be outstanding, of course. The setting for the meeting in Victoria is one of the loveliest places in the world. You don't want to miss this meeting! You may register here, if you have not done so already . See you there!

John C. Morris, III, M.D.
President, American Thyroid Association