I am very pleased the College’s 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting was a big success. Louisville provided an exciting backdrop to the meeting. The educational programming, whether in person or through our Livestream Program, was outstanding.
I was honored to be installed as College president on Nov. 13 and I’d like to recognize our 2022-2023 officers:
- President-elect: Gailen D. Marshall, Jr., MD, PhD, FACAAI
- Vice President: James M. Tracy, DO, FACAAI
- Treasurer: Cherie Y. Zachary, MD, FACAAI
I’d also like to welcome our newest members of the Board of Regents:
- Jeremy S. Katcher, MD, FACAAI
- Travis A. Miller, MD, FACAAI
- Meagan W. Shepherd, MD, FACAAI
- Vinh Nguyen, MD (Jr. FIT Rep)
There are many areas I believe are important to the future of the allergy/immunology specialty. I am fortunate to have been involved with both of my predecessors’ initiatives to emphasize advocacy and promote the value of fellowship-trained, board-certified allergists. In my view, they all point to one overarching goal that we all share. As a newly minted program director, but one rooted in more than 20 years of community practice, creating a College that sustains the future of our specialty is my primary focus.
How do we get there? There are many ways to support this, but main tenets include:
- Continuing to support the pipeline of talented candidates for fellowship.
- Supporting our programs and program directors to train a well-qualified future workforce.
- Emphasizing education and lifelong learning for our community (practices).
- Creating an environment where allergy practices can have the opportunity to both educate and attract talented candidates to the field.
在未来的一年,我想帮助利益ted community allergists to create medical educational opportunities in their own practices – for medical students, residents, and possibly fellows, if their local training program agrees. This important work not only raises both the visibility of our specialty, but also creates an opportunity to ensure we continue to have an excellent candidate pool, and one that is increasingly diverse. For allergists who become involved in teaching, it also creates a special opportunity that may lead them to realize a passion for education, in addition to enhancing their own learning. Further, we know that working with learners in any phase of medical education increases professional satisfaction and, as a side benefit, reduces burnout.
I also believe in continuity of initiatives from president to president, as each goal does not stand alone. Therefore, I will be continuing to promote the importance of our Advocacy Council (under the direction of Drs. Warner Carr and Jim Sublett), which is key to keeping us properly credited and reimbursed for the work we do; and emphasize the importance of fellowship training and board certification, which underscores the quality that we as allergists bring to our patients (an initiative of Immediate Past President Dr. Mark Corbett). I will be working with President-elect Dr. Gailen Marshall to identify practice opportunities and synergies for clinical research and scholarly activity, in addition to asking us all to support the important work of the Community Grants Initiative of the ACAAI Allergists’ Foundation.
I’m looking forward to working together to support our collective future.
Kathleen R. May, MD, FACAAI
ACAAI President
