Secretary's Update January 2020We have barely started the year of 2020, but it has already been an eventful year for the ATA. First, the development of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China is causing great distress to our members. Our thoughts go out to all colleagues in China and the sister society representatives to the Program Organizing Committee. The program planning for the 16th International Thyroid Congress in Xi'an, Shaanxi province is near completion after several years of collaboration around the world. At the present time deadlines for abstract submission and registration have been extended. The Program Organizing Committee and Local Organizing Committee in China are closely monitoring the situation and will update us at the earliest opportunity if altered plans are required. Please keep track at our web pages for the September meeting. American Thyroid Association Bulletin regarding Travel to China (PDF file, 86 KB) And now some happier events… We have a new Editor-in-Chief of our journal Thyroid® In place. We wish Electron Kebebew well as he takes the helm of our flagship journal. We know he has many new ideas for achieving further successes for Thyroid. We also pay tribute to Peter Kopp, our past Editor-in-Chief for all his efforts and achievements. Thank you Electron and Peter!
The ATA Board of Directors recently had a winter meeting to continue to roll out the activities that need to take place to achieve our 2019-2022 strategic plan. We thank all of those individuals and committees who provided their input, and we are currently setting priorities with a timeline and activity budgets to map out our plan for 2020. We will endeavor to update you with our progress. Also, a thank you to those who completed the survey regarding ATA meetings in the year that the International Thyroid Congress also takes place (2020, 2025, 2030). The results of the survey are currently being analyzed and will help inform ATA's plans for future years. The results of the survey will also be made available on the ATA website. The 14th Annual International Workshop on Resistance to Thyroid Hormone and Thyroid Hormone Action, chaired by Graham Williams and organized by Tony Bianco, will be held in Monterrey just before the Endocrine Society meeting. Past-president, Elizabeth Pearce, will be attending and introducing plenary speaker, Val Galton.
Other upcoming ATA events include the ATA satellite symposium "Personalized Treatment of Thyroid Disorders" to be held Friday, March 27th in San Francisco prior to the Endocrine Society meeting (program chairs Laura Boucai and Francesco Celi) and the Spring Meeting "Controversies in Thyroidology" to be held May 28-30 in New York City (Program chairs Whitney Goldner and Kepal Patel). Committee meetings will be organized as requested for the NYC meeting.
We are pleased to report that campaign and appeal efforts for our named funds are making progress with the dedicated work of the respective fundraising teams. The Val Galton Legacy Fund, launching this spring, will support a named lecture to recognize an ATA member who has been instrumental in collaborative research that has significantly contributed to the advancement of our clinical knowledge of thyroid conditions.
The Samuel Refetoff Legacy Fund to support trainees, research and the RTH symposium is also progressing nicely, the current donor report is online in members only - https://www.thyroid.org/members-only/.
As many of you may know, 2023 is a very significant year for the ATA, as it marks its 100th anniversary. A Centennial Task Force, ably and enthusiastically chaired by Elizabeth Pearce and Peter Kopp, will be working towards orchestrating events and memorabilia that will contribute to a resounding celebration of our Centennial. You may review much of the history of thyroid discovery on our thyroid history timeline as well as a parallel history of the ATA. Work continues on the timeline to improve references, largely done in the past 18 months by Dr. Valerie Anne Galton. Many fascinating historical events are found on the timeline, including this short history of the ATA name, membership and awards. The Van Meter Distinguished Lectureship will be the only ATA award presented at the 16th ITC in 2020.
Ending on a bittersweet note, Bobbi Smith, our beloved Executive Director, will be retiring in June. A search for a new Executive Director is actively underway. Our May meeting in New York will be Bobbi's last meeting serving in her current capacity. However, we do hope to keep Bobbi within the fold of the ATA, as she has been invited to serve as a member of the previously mentioned Centennial task force.
Jacquie Jonklaas, MD |
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