Dear Colleagues,
As a reminder, the President’s monthly message is now posted all month long on our new and improved website. This format should make it simpler for you to locate, read and keep up to date with the latest society and specialty news all month long!
The 2020 presidential elections are now around the corner. Many of us have voted already (and I have too), but for those that have not, now is the time. It is our right and our duty to vote- so please vote early or on election day, but please be sure that your ballot is cast. If you are comfortable doing so, please be another voice urging adult children, family members, colleagues, patients and their families to cast their ballots as well- by it by mail, in drop-off boxes or in-person. Many of us have worked quietly on weekends sending out letters urging people to vote or calling people with the same message- sincere gratitude to all that have done their due diligence in ensuring that voter turnout exceeds expectations.
Closer home, the PES elections are upon us. We have a superb slate of candidates running for the positions of President-Elect and Director, and no matter who gets more votes in either category, the PES will gain excellent additions to its Board. If you have not done so already, please remember to vote. Please note that you are also being asked to vote on certain changes to our bylaws this year. Further, the Nomination Committee has queried the Board of Directors to develop FAQs to help guide future nominees for positions on the Board. Along with Board of Directors’ job descriptions, these FAQs will be available to our membership very soon.
October is Global Diversity Awareness Month, and the PES Equity-Diversity-Inclusion taskforce has now released its statement against the Presidential Executive Order banning diversity training given concerns regarding the consequent impact on health care outcomes of the populations we serve, particularly those from diverse backgrounds. Please click here for the statement: https://mk0pesendoklgy8upp97.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PES-response-to-EO.pdf.
Further, in concert with the Training Committee, the PES has submitted a comment strongly opposing the current proposal from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would eliminate “duration of status” as an authorized period of stay for certain nonimmigrant visas (F, I, and J). This change would result in long annual reapplication processes of up to 6 months, or even longer, with significant implications for training programs with fellows on a J-1 visa.
On a happier note, the Program Committee continues to forge ahead with plans for the 2021 annual meeting, which promises to be spectacular in its content. Please be on the lookout for the call for abstracts, which is coming soon!! A new feature of the annual meeting is ‘Doc in the Box’ sessions, when experts in a content area will be available to discuss challenging clinical cases submitted by our members. A call for cases to be discussed at these sessions will be sent to our membership soon. If you have an interesting/challenging case that merits discussion, do consider submitting this for a Doc in the Box session.
Even as planning for the 2021 PES meeting moves ahead full steam, the PES Board has started to think forward to the 2022 meeting, when we will celebrate 50 years of the PES. This merits a celebration like no other, very fitting for what we hope will be our first in-person standalone meeting. Please see below for a call for volunteers for certain tasks that we need to get started on NOW to ensure a wonderful 50th year celebration for the PES.
As always, the Education Committee continues to be actively engaged in numerous activities. This is our largest committee, and its Co-Chairs (Anshu Gupta and Todd Nebesio) and members are to be commended for the tremendous work going on in this committee. Many programs under the Education Committee’s purview will, by necessity, go virtual in 2021, and new processes are being put in place to ensure their success- this includes the Board Review Course, the Fellow Spring Retreat, and the PedsENDO Discovery program (for medical students). The second session of Student Endocrinology Exposure Development (SEED), a new initiative hosted by the Education Committee to engage medical students via quarterly case presentations and career development discussion, is coming up soon (details below). Like PedsENDO Discovery, SEED aims to engage medical students early in thinking about a career in pediatric endocrinology, which we hope will strengthen our pipeline. As we begin to wind up fellow interviews for this year, many program directors face the familiar anxiety around the prospect of unmatched fellowship positions. We are in need of a robust pipeline of medical students and residents seeking a career in pediatric endocrinology, and these programs (PedsENDO Discovery and SEED) are steps in that direction. Please pass on information about SEED sessions to students completing (or who have completed) electives in your divisions, or are doing research in your laboratories, or medical students you have access to through your medical schools.
Consistent with this theme, the PES Workforce taskforce was set up last year under Erica Eugster’s tenure as President, and has been working quietly to raise awareness of challenges we face with our workforce in the face of increasing referrals to pediatric endocrine. David Allen has been leading this endeavor, and I am delighted to inform you that a perspectives paper on sustaining the pediatric endocrine workforce in now published in the Journal of Pediatrics. Access paper here: https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(20)31362-7/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_aip_email
Finally, a plea to our membership is to remind ourselves of what we enjoy most about our subspecialty and to keep this in mind particularly when medical students and residents are on electives with us. It is essential that concerns regarding WRVUs, note documentation or other issues stay within us- we are not unique in this regard; many non-procedural specialties face similar issues. As teachers and mentors, we need to imbue in our trainees the enthusiasm that led us to choose our subspecialty, and to ensure that the joy we perceive in caring for our patients comes through clearly.
As COVID-19 surges again, do remind patients and families that masks and hand sanitizers work!! And I will end with this piece from Maya Angelou: ‘You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.’
Madhu Misra
Reoccurring columns and additional news:
Call for interviewers for 2022 history!
In preparation of the 50th anniversary of the Pediatric Endocrine Society (2022), we are looking for about 10 volunteers to interview senior PES members to share their most special memories of the organization. We expect this to be a rewarding and fun-filled experience for both interviewers and interviewees. PES staff will assist with setting up and recording these interviews on Zoom. Given that 2022 will be here before we know it, we aim to have all interviews completed by September 2021 to allow adequate time to edit and collate the recordings. Email us at info@pedsendo.org if you would like to volunteer!
PES Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Initiative:
The PES EDI task force led by co-chairs Ilene Fennoy and Dorit Koren is off to a great start! Visit the EDI webpage for details, and for links that address the issue of implicit bias in medicine. https://pedsendo.org/education-events/equity-diversity-and-inclusion-initiative/
New Pearls from the Practice Management Committee
The Practice Management Committee is tasked with providing strategies, tools and information to facilitate office management and the practice of pediatric endocrinology. To this end, we hope to provide periodic “pearls” as these pertain to practice management.
https://pedsendo.org/pm-pearls/practice-management-pearls/
Clinical Scholar Awards and Research Fellowship Awards COMING NEXT WEEK!
Click below to read more. Application Coming Soon – due by November 30, 2020
CSA https://pedsendo.org/award/clinical-scholar-awards/
RFA https://pedsendo.org/award/research-fellowship-awards/
Call for Nominations: 2021 Judson J. Van Wyk Prize- Nominate a colleague. Deadline November 20
https://pedsendo.org/award/judson-j-van-wyk-prize/
New Online education! SAVE THE DATE!
November is Diabetes Awareness Month. In recognition, our PES State of the Art Series will be hosted by the Diabetes SIG:
November 20, 2020 / 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Please click here to register: https://pedsendo.org/event/pes-state-of-the-art-webinar-diabetes-sig/
Student Endocrinology Exposure Development (SEED) program
The next session of the SEED program titled ‘My Baby Has A Blood Sugar Problem’ will be held virtually via Zoom on November 13 from 4-5 PM EDT. There will be a Q/A session during which members of the student and resident subcommittee will address questions from students related to research opportunities, residency and fellowship applications (what to look for in programs, tips for application, etc.), and advocacy followed by an interactive case discussion
Please click here to register: https://pedsendo.org/seed/
Coming soon: ESPE Connects
ESPE Connect Online is taking place between November 6-14, 2020. Over this time, registered viewers can access 9 days of the very best pediatric endocrine science from leaders in the field. The specially developed program comprises of Symposia, How Do I…, Personal Opinion Future Research, Yearbook Sessions, the latest Hot Topics and Industry Sponsored Satellites. There will also be interactive live Q&A’s at the end of most of the days, meaning attendees can get their questions answered. With content released every morning at 8am (CET) and available on-demand, ESPE Connect Online allows our audience access to all of the talks at a time that suits them. What’s more, our official Congress App offers even more flexibility, with all the Meeting content available on mobile devices. To register for free and for more information, please visit the ESPE Connect Online website: https://www.eurospe.org/espe-connect-online-2020/
Visit our Mission Alliance Partner (MAP) Virtual Spotlight
We invite you to look around and get up to speed on the latest information from our partners. Once you have visited the site you will be able to enter the raffle for a chance to win $200 in PES Bucks that can be redeemed for membership dues or meeting/course registration! The more alliance partners you visit, the better chance you have of winning!
https://pedsendo.org/about-pes/mission-alliance-partners-map/pes-mission-alliance-partner-spotlight/
Fellow spotlight: October Fellow Spotlight: Dr. Alison Coren
https://pedsendo.org/member-spotlight/fellow-spotlight/october-fellow-spotlight-dr-alison-coren/
History tidbit: Franz Josef Kallmann (1897-1965) and Kallmann syndrome, submitted by Alan D. Rogol, MD, Ph.D https://pedsendo.org/historical-tidbits/historical-tidbit-october-2020/