Victor J. Bernet, MD Secretary/Chief Operating Officer

Secretary's Update, July 2017

Many people equate summer time with Summer reading lists. Thanks to Bobbi, something interesting landed on my reading list recently. It was "Recollections of the Organization and Growth of the American Thyroid Association" written by Dr. Gordon Fahrni who was ATA President in 1928. Do the acronyms AASG or AGA mean anything to you? Well the ATA was originally known as "The American Association for the Study of Goiter" then "The American Goiter Association" and finally became the American Thyroid Association as we know it.

Dr. Fahrni spends time talking about early thyroid practice to include the hazards associated with thyroid surgery especially in patients with Graves' Disease as well as the dramatic improvement in outcomes related to use of peri-operative "cold" iodine and later anti-thyroidal medications.

The AASG, and so ATA, was born in 1923 when Dr. E.P. Sloan invited a 'few surgeons" to Bloomington, IL with the first regular meeting being in January 1924. The founding ATA motto was "To bring together each year men who will present the best that has been thought, said and done in the study of goiter and its associated problems. Its aim is to establish a forum where all subjects pertaining to goiter may be presented and fully discussed."

Initially the Association is described as somewhat of a "Surgical Club" but then recruited internists, physiologists and researchers with an interest in the field of thyroid disorders. The proceedings of the annual meeting where published annually until the 1950s when membership voted to discontinue the practice. In 1930, the meeting was held in Seattle, WA and S.D. van Meter anonymously donated money to establish an annual award for the best essay on the thyroid gland. After his death, the award was renamed the van Meter Award.

In 1931, the meeting was in Kansas City and is stated as including significant participation by 3 internists, one pathologist and 3 surgeons. For many years the Association had a President with a 1 year term and "Corresponding Secretary" whom J.R. Yung served as for many years.

A membership snap shot from 1971 revealed the following representation: Internists 33%, Endocrinologists 23%, Surgeons 20%, Researchers 6%, Pathologists 4%, Biochemists < 4%, Radiologists <3% and Pediatricians 2% plus Others ~5%. Dr. Fahrini compares this distribution to "Senior Membership" in 1971 which he lists consisting of: Surgeons 75%, Internists 16%, Endocrinologists 5% and Pathologists 4%.

Today, the ATA membership is ~ 1800 strong, with members representing 13 subspecialities including ~ 250 associate members, 52.7% between 20-49 years of age, 5.2% 80+ years old and 39% female members.

Please note that this month's edition of Signal includes the 2017 ATA Election Guide. We have a great slate of candidates for 3 Director positions and for President-elect. We very much appreciate these colleagues being willing to serve the ATA, to include being placed up for election.

The ATA will again be holding a symposia in concert with the 2018 Endocrine Society meeting in Chicago: The ATA Spring Satellite Symposium 2018: The Spectrum of Thyroid Cancer, from Surveillance to Systemic Therapy. Manisha Shah and Mike Tuttle have graciously agreed to be the co-Chairs for this event and the Program Committee will begin their coordinating efforts shortly.

Finally, an update in regards to the previously announced ATA/NURSA (Signaling Pathways) project. Rebecca Schweppe, Tony Hollenberg as well as Moto Saji and the Research Committee have been hard at work with Dr Neil McKenna from NURSA. At present, negotiations appear complete with agreement to move forward with loading available and relevant thyroid hormone related datasets onto their website. This novel compilation of data is expected to be beneficial for researchers in the field of thyroid disease. Our aim is to be at a point by the annual meeting so that we can present an example to membership in order to better understand the potential benefits expected from this database and effort.

Enjoy the rest of your Summer. October and the annual meeting will be here before you know it!

Victor J. Bernet, MD
Secretary/Chief Operating Officer