Embracing Change Along with the Change of Seasons

John_Newell-Price

By John Newell-Price, MD, PhD, President, Endocrine Society

The seasons are a-changing, with fall coming to those of us in the northern hemisphere and springtime to our members and friends in the southern hemisphere. It’s a wonderful time of year, as students in the north return to class, and students in the south start to look forward to summer vacation. For many colleagues, the academic year is well underway with delivery of the education essential to train the next generation of scientists and physicians.

This turning point in the calendar also gives us an opportunity to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re headed.

The Society, for its part, continues moving forward on a wide range of initiatives. Among these I would like to highlight areas where our volunteer leaders and dedicated staff have been working hard in recent months to extend our global outreach, create new joint clinical guidelines, recognize our members for their outstanding achievements, and develop new and innovative meetings.

Let me bring you up to date on some of these efforts.

All Around the World

The Society is making significant strides in its new focus on international collaboration and global outreach. Several recent achievements come to mind.

First and foremost is our partnership with the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) to produce joint clinical guidelines.  These are produced to the highest ‘GRADE’-compliant standards, founded on evidence-based systematic reviews around key questions of clinical need and equipoise. Guideline development at each society is overseen by a clinical committee, and all guidelines are subject to a rigorous review process before being published.  Guidelines represent a huge amount of work to those involved, and to these dedicated individuals I offer my heartfelt appreciation

The first joint guideline  “Diagnosis and Therapy of Glucocorticoid-induced Adrenal Insufficiency,” was released in May 2024 issues of the Societies’ respective journals, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism and the European Journal of Endocrinology, and presented at both the ESE meeting in Stockholm in May 2024 and at ENDO 2024 in Boston, ensuring the widest possible visibility to members of both societies, and clinicians and APPs in general. This guideline is designed to help management of a very common clinical problem – patients who have or are at risk of developing glucocorticoid-induced adrenal insufficiency .  

Our presence at international conferences is important to show our commitment to serving endocrine research and clinical communities around the world. Roughly 35% of our 18,000 members are from more than 120 countries on six continents.

Our societies aim to publish a new joint guideline each year to maximize outreach as well as to cover potential differences in clinical practice between Europe and the United States, while considering the wider global context.

This commitment to global partnership was underscored by the robust attendance at our Global Endocrine Leadership Coalition (GELC) meeting at ENDO 2024. More than 40 leaders from 27 international societies gathered for the in-person meeting to discuss a wide range of possible collaborative efforts. This is a very exciting initiative for our organization and the whole field of endocrinology.

Also on the international front is the upcoming 36th Brazilian Congress of Endocrinology and Metabolism (CBEM 2024), taking place October 11-15 in Recife, Brazil. Several of us from the Society are making an official visit to this important conference with our peers from Brazil.

Our presence at international conferences is important to show our commitment to serving endocrine research and clinical communities around the world. Roughly 35% of our 18,000 members are from more than 120 countries on six continents.

Recognizing Achievements

Seasonal change also coincides with the announcement of our Laureate Award winners. Many congratulations to our truly deserving, inspirational and impressive 2025 awardees!

The winners will receive their awards at ENDO 2025, taking place July 12-15, in San Francisco, Calif.

Laureate Awards recognize endocrinologists for seminal research, meritorious service, leadership and mentorship, innovation, international contributions, public service, translation of science to practice, and lifetime achievement. 

Visit the Laureate Awards webpage for details: https://www.endocrine.org/awards/laureate-awards).

Innovative Meetings

The new season also is a time for meetings. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped organize and deliver our highly successful Endocrine Board Review and Clinical Endocrinology Update meetings earlier this month, where, at the time of this writing, there were hundreds of attendees registered for EBR and CEU 2024. 

As mentioned in my letter last month, we also have two brand new meetings in the near future.

The 1st International Conference on Steroid Hormones and Receptors (SHR 2024) will be held October 15- 18 at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Albuquerque (and is detailed on page XX). The agenda is packed with exciting topics, from advances in steroid hormone action in biology and medicine to their roles in biology, chemistry, pharmacology, oncology, neurology, metabolism, cardiovascular biology, and endocrinology. The effects of steroid hormone and receptor functions on various cancers also will be a focus of this meeting (Learn more at: www.endocrine.org/meetings-and-events/shr-2024.)

This meeting will quickly be followed by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Virtual Summit, to be held November 8-9. We’ve all heard about the potential of AI to transform various aspects of our lives. The summit will explore the transformative potential of AI to revolutionize patient care and shape the future of medicine, as well as what it means specifically for healthcare providers, professionals, researchers, technologists, industry stakeholders, and educators. (Learn more at: www.endocrine.org/meetings-and-events/ai-summit.)

So let the seasons change. At the Society, we embrace change and always seek new opportunities.