The Endocrine Society is pleased to welcome its president for 2015 — 2016, Lisa H. Fish, MD, FACP, who took office March 9. An endocrinologist at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, she sees patients dealing with a wide variety of endocrine issues, from thyroid disease to osteoporosis. Her interests include diabetes, osteoporosis, thyroid and adrenal disease in pregnancy, and hormone abuse, with a particular interest in diabetes issues during pregnancy.
“I am honored to have been elected president of the Endocrine Society,” Fish says. “It is a great privilege to serve in this capacity, and I look forward to working with the talented staffand members as we approach the 100th anniversary of the Endocrine Society.”
Fish succeeds Richard J. Santen, as the Society continues its rotation of presidents who represent its core constituencies: basic researchers, clinical researchers, and clinical practitioners. Fish has been a clinician for more than 20 years. After receiving her medical degree from Brown University and training in internal medicine and endocrinology at the University of Minnesota, she went to San Diego and did a year of diabetes work at the University of California, San Diego before returning to Minnesota. “I worked for 20 years at a large private clinic,” she says, “and then about three years ago moved to the Minneapolis county teaching hospital, where I see patients and teach medical students, residents, and fellows.”
Fish first joined the Society nearly 25 years ago, and since then, she has been very active and involved, serving as a member, chair, or liaison to various committees, including the Clinical Affairs Core Committee, the Hormone Health Network Committee, the Hormone Abuse Task Force, the Advocacy and Public Outreach Core Committee, and many others. In those roles, she helped influence and shape clinical endocrinology. For instance, while serving on the Hormone Health Network Committee, she played a pivotal role in helping the foundation become a leading source of hormonerelated health information for the public through its patient-oriented website, bilingual fact sheets, and Clinical Guideline summaries. Fish has also served on council and as vice president, in addition to winning many Society awards, including the Sidney H. Ingbar Distinguished Service Award and the Distinguished Physician Award.
Fish’s dedication to her work is apparent, and she says it’s the challenges and the rewards that come from overcoming those challenges that first drew her to endocrinology. “I love figuring out what is wrong and why,” she says, “and endocrinology is full of disorders with mechanisms that have been worked out and are treatable. It is a very rewarding specialty and keeps me constantly challenged.”
As president, with all of her experience and love of a good puzzle, Fish is starting an initiative to serve young patients with diabetes in areas where education and treatments are scarce. “I am starting a social responsibility program called Endo Cares in which we provide services of education, medications, and ongoing involvement to improve the care of young people with diabetes in underserved areas,” she says. “We will be starting in 2016 with diabetes camps in several countries and plan to involve all segments of our society in the program.”
Fish envisions a bright future for the Society, one in which it at once expands and focuses, and helps shape the future generations of endocrinologists. “The Endocrine Society is strong and growing, with over 18,000 members in over 120 countries,” she says. “We want to continue to strengthen our international programs, to focus on obesity as an important clinical area, to work on knowledge integration of our extensive written materials, to develop the curriculum for endocrine fellowship training, and to continue to improve our endocrine publications and scientific and clinical meetings.”
Fish also sees opportunity for more collaboration with other endocrine organizations, since everyone in that field is working toward the same goal. “We want to build strong partnerships with other endocrine organizations both in the U.S. and abroad and to work closely with them in the many areas where we can accomplish more as a united voice,” she says.
Lisa H. Fish, MD, FACP
President, Endocrine Society
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