Maria Papaleontiou, MD

Chair’s Corner – August 2023

Dear ATA Women in Thyroidology Colleagues and Supporters,

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice summer! The ATA’s Women in Thyroidology (WIT) continues to be busy with several activities and we are all particularly excited to be celebrating the ATA’s centennial anniversary in Washington, D.C., next month.

I am pleased to share that we have continued our virtual Coffee Hour / Webinar Series with two stimulating events so far in 2023: 1) an hour focused on “The lives of women thyroidologists around the world ” featuring Gabriela Brenta, MD, PhD (Argentina), Haixia Guan, MD, PhD (China), Rebecca Sippel, MD (USA) and Christine Spitzweg, MD, PhD (Germany) (moderator: Maria Papaleontiou, MD) and 2) an hour focused on “The pathway to transformational leadership” featuring Nancy Carrasco, MD, PhD, Jacquie Jonklaas, MD, PhD, Ms. Amanda Perl and Julie Ann Sosa, MD (moderators: Toni Beninato, MD, and Rachel Pessah-Pollack, MD). Both these events generated lively discussion, promoting sharing of ideas, advice and support. Thank you to everyone who joined these important discussions in supporting the mission of WIT. For those who were unable to join us live, I invite you to view the archived recording.

I also cordially invite you to join us on Saturday, September 30th, 2023, at 8:50 am at the ATA Annual Meeting and Centennial Celebration for our WIT session which will feature distinguished guest speaker Marie Bernard, MD, the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity at the National Institutes of Health. This session will also highlight pioneer women from the last century in keeping with ATA’s centennial theme.

We are also delighted to congratulate several dynamic and exceptional women who won awards to be presented at the upcoming ATA annual meeting; the highest number of women ever to receive ATA awards in one year: M. Regina Castro, MD (Past WIT President), who received the Distinguished Service Award; Anne Cappola, MD, ScM, who received the Valerie Anne Galton Distinguished Lectureship Award; Rosalind Brown, MD, who received the Lewis E. Braverman Distinguished Lectureship Award; Carol Spencer, MD, PhD, who received the John B. Stanbury Thyroid Pathophysiology Medal, and Lisa Orloff, MD, who received the Woman of the Year Award.

We would also like to congratulate Sarah Hamidi, MD and Vera Tiedje, MD, PhD early-career women who will receive the Women Advancing Thyroid Research Award at the annual meeting. I would like to continue to encourage our ATA colleagues to nominate highly qualified and deserving women for ATA awards and leadership positions, as we work towards diversity, equity and inclusion.

Furthermore, I also want to urge you to consider a contribution to the Valerie Anne Galton Fund currently at 56% of its fundraising goal, which supports the Valerie Anne Galton Distinguished Lectureship Award, the first ATA award named in honor of a woman. Dr. Valerie Anne Galton is a pioneer with outstanding contributions to the field of thyroidology and a role model to women worldwide.

Finally, I would like to extend a special thanks to our talented WIT council for their dedication, hard work and enthusiasm towards our initiatives this year, the ATA leadership and staff and the ATA community as a whole for your support and excitement in promoting WIT’s mission. If you are interested in volunteering for a WIT workgroup, please let me or Carrie Prewitt know.

Warmest regards,

Maria Papaleontiou, MD
Chair, ATA Women in Thyroidology 2022-2023