Despite the current climate and health challenges around the world, I remain amazed at our members’ herculean resilience, unwavering contributions to society, and commitment to advancing, uniting, and growing the endocrine community. A sincere thanks to each of you, our most valued members.
The Hormone Health Network (HHN), our public education arm, has continued to embody these principles by creating timely, accurate, relevant information that has helped millions of patients and providers worldwide.
Supporting Patients in a Pandemic
As the compounding effects of COVID-19 impacted communities around the globe, HHN immediately recognized the need to lead the way during the health crisis by pulling together our collective knowledge to help fill gaps for patients. Along with curating resources to support members, the HHN committee leaders swiftly created educational resources to bring “factual” information about the pandemic to the forefront. Additionally, important upgrades were made to the flagship tool Find an Endocrinologist directory, including options for members to indicate telehealth availability within their practice and the point of care language preferences.
Hormone.org Leading the Digital Way
For more than two decades, hormone.org has provided science-based, member authored, reliable patient information. In June of 2019, this site went through a massive overhaul. Beyond a refreshed look and enhanced layout, its improved search engine optimization included a mobile-friendly interface and augmented the experience for global members. Meaningful results were immediately observed — mobile users increased 27%, traffic from organic search increased 21%, global traffic increased 12%, and an overall average of 6 million unique visitors annually.
Despite the current climate and health challenges around the world, I remain amazed at our members’ herculean resilience, unwavering contributions to society, and commitment to advancing, uniting, and growing the endocrine community. A sincere thanks to each of you, our most valued members.
Last month, hormone.org received the bronze recognition award from the Digital Health Awards for its engaging design, depth of content, and great translation services. The Digital Health Awards is a program organized by the Health Information Resource Center, a clearinghouse for professionals who work in consumer health fields. The goal of the Digital Health Awards is to recognize high-quality digital health resources for consumers and health professionals.
Kudos to the leadership of Caroline Davidge-Pitts, MD – Mayo Clinic, chair of the HHN committee, our HHN committee volunteers, and staff that continue to make hormone.org the premiere public education portal for endocrine-related diseases and conditions!
Patient Engagement Advocacy Activities
The Society has also been engaging patients in several advocacy activities in recent years.
We have hosted a joint Hill Day and Congressional briefing with the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition (DPAC), with each group including patients, physicians, and scientists. We participate annually in the Rally for Medical Research (organized by the American Association for Cancer Research) that pairs Endocrine Society members with patients for Congressional visits. We have collaborated with JDRF, ADA, and other diabetes patient advocacy groups on various legislative and regulatory efforts.
HHN offers opportunities for patients to engage in advocacy campaigns through a number of modalities. We invite you and them to join us at: www.endocrine.org/advocacy/take-action!
#InThisTogether
Gary D. Hammer, MD, PhD
President, Endocrine Society