Dear Colleagues:
It has been a great honor and a humbling experience to serve as your President during this past year. I have been fortunate to follow in Kelly Mayo’s footsteps in year one of the Society’s Strategic Plan 3 (SP3), which was developed under Kelly’s outstanding leadership. I am extremely proud of the Society’s accomplishments this year, none of which would have happened without the tireless efforts of our dedicated volunteers and the work of our talented and committed staff.
Health Disparities Initiatives
One of the key initiatives during my presidency has been to focus on health disparities in endocrine diseases. Under this initiative, two special projects were developed this year. First, the Scientific Statement Task Force has developed a statement on this issue. I would like to thank Sherita Golden who led the writing group that prepared this outstanding document, and Past President Bob Carey for his leadership of the Scientific Statement Task Force. The statement is being released during the Annual Meeting in Houston to further enhance the impact of disparitiesrelated programming at ENDO 2012.
The Society is planning an international Summit on Health Disparities in Endocrinology that will highlight successful researchand community-based programs to reduce health disparities and inform a long-term strategy for how the Society will make an impact in this field. I would like to thank the Minority Affairs Committee members and its chair, Steve Festin, for the work they did to tee up the work of the Inter-Committee Work Group and the entire group for their efforts to make this issue one that the whole Society can embrace.
Basic Science Task Force
To address the challenges facing our basic science members and to improve their recruitment and retention in The Endocrine Society, a task force chaired by Basic Science Vice President, Ursula Kaiser, was constituted last fall. Vice President Kaiser will present the recommendations to Council at the June meeting.
ENDO Task Force Phase II
The ENDO Task Force was created to look at the Annual Meeting from the perspective of all the constituencies (basic, clinical science, clinician-in-practice, trainee, international) and of SP3, and to create new venues for evaluative feedback. This task force is also reporting its recommendations to Council in June and implementing the approved recommendations for the planning of ENDO 2013.
Advocacy and Outreach
The Advocacy and Public Outreach Core Committee, in conjunction with the Research Affairs and Clinical Affairs Core Committees, continued to advance the Society’s advocacy agenda, which includes federal funding for research, physician reimbursement, health disparities, workforce issues, diabetes, and obesity. Through these efforts, the Society has enhanced its influence with key policy makers and raised the visibility of the field of endocrinology.
Additionally, 2011–2012 has been a tremendous year for the Society in terms of media outreach, response to breaking news, and overall media coverage. The fourth Science Writers Conference was held this year, with reporters attending from highly respected outlets including the New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, WebMD, and Readers Digest.
Education and Trainee Activities
I would like to thank the Annual Meeting Steering Committee chairs (Lynnette Nieman, Joel Elmquist, and Anthony McCall) and the committee members for planning an excellent ENDO 2012 program with outstanding content for each of our constituencies.
I commend the committees and staff who, under the direction of the Scientific & Educational Programs Core Committee, work so diligently to produce an amazing collection of high quality educational programs, such as ESAP 2011, ESAP-ITE, the Endocrine Self-Assessment Program-Maintenance of Certification, and the Pediatric Endocrine Self-Assessment Program.
The Society offers a variety of activities focusing on our trainees and young professionals. The opportunities at ENDO begin with the Endocrine Trainee Day, and continue with the Career Development Workshops, the Trainee Exchange and Reception, and the Presidential poster competition. Other opportunities include the Mentor Exchange and the Early Investigators Workshop. Additionally, the Society offers trainee awards and travel grants to help foster the career growth of young endocrinologists.
Hormone Health Network
As mentioned in last month’s letter, the Hormone Foundation is launching a new brand—the Hormone Health Network. The goal is to ensure that the Society’s investment in patient education is widely recognized, trusted, and broadly used by clinicians, and to engage patients and physicians in more effective dialogues about hormones, health, and endocrine diseases and conditions.
Publications
The Publications Core Committee has been busy monitoring and developing new forms of content delivery. A new journals app was launched, containing abstracts from the Society journals and the Annual Meeting abstracts for iPhone. Other enhancements in the publications area have been the move to a 2.0 platform on HighWire, offering easier user interface and ability to add new features, the Web page redesign, and the implementation of a new manuscript peer-review system.
International Activities
The Society’s new Strategic Plan calls for enhanced collaborations with other international societies and establishing stronger ties with the international endocrine community. With this goal in mind, we hosted a reception at the ICE/ECE 2012, in Florence, Italy, with the leaders of all the international organizations in attendance and a Global Leadership Exchange dinner at ENDO in June.
In closing, I would like to thank the Society’s leadership, committee chairs, and members, for their hard work, dedication, and passion. I leave the office of president in the excellent hands of Bill Young, who will continue to lead us through these challenging yet exciting times. I look forward to helping our Society in other ways in the future.
Sincerely,
Janet E. Hall, M.D.
President, The Endocrine Society
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