From the President
Dear Colleagues,
It is a great honor to begin my presidency as this truly represents one of the highlights in my career. Many of you may be unfamiliar with my background so I would like to give a brief introduction. I was raised in the shadow of the Mayo Clinic where my father was on staff, making my decision to pursue a career in medicine a natural one. Following my training in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, our family moved to Bethesda, Maryland where I spent two years at the Naval Medical Research Institute, a move determined by my Berry Plan military commitment. This move ended up establishing the pathway to my fellowship and ultimately my faculty position at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
I am pleased to announce the theme of my presidential initiatives is “Planning for Our Future.” I would like to frame this using the words of Abraham Lincoln: “The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
In this context I have identified four major objectives as the focus of my presidential initiatives:
- Facilitate development of the next generation of allergy and immunology educators and investigators
- Enhance advocacy for and visibility of allergy and immunology
- Expand the scope of practice for the allergy and immunology specialist
- Increase efforts to develop leaders in allergy and immunology
Facilitate Development of the Next Generation of Allergy and Immunology Educators and Investigators
I am introducing an initiative that the AAAAI support one or more third or fourth year fellows-in-training (FITs) who have already initiated a clinical or basic research project. This initiative will enable talented FITs to continue their research during a critical time in their career development and should increase the pipeline for future allergy and immunology faculty. It will also complement the increased research grant support for young faculty proposed by the AAAAI Foundation.
Other established AAAAI programs, such as the highly successful Chrysalis program that introduces medical students and pediatric and internal medicine residents to our specialty, also deserve continued support to strengthen the future of allergy and immunology. In response to encouragement by Anthony S. Fauci, MD, FAAAAI, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), I propose the Board of Directors consider re-initiating a senior FIT/young faculty hypersensitivity school. In remarks to the Board last November, Dr. Fauci singled out this program as extremely successful in facilitating productive academic careers in allergy and immunology.
Enhance Advocacy for and Visibility of Allergy and Immunology
To further enhance the visibility of our specialty, I propose to more actively engage lay organizations to work together with the AAAAI in critical lobbying efforts. We also need to team up with these organizations to strengthen the visibility of the allergy and immunology specialist both in the public eye and among leaders in the healthcare enterprise. Furthermore, I would like to encourage reinvigoration of the community based allergy and immunology teacher initiated by Linda Cox, MD, FAAAAI. This program presents another opportunity to increase our specialty’s visibility and enhance the range of teachers available to medical students, residents and FITs.
Additionally, I propose continued enthusiastic support of the AAAAI Office of Practice Management that has evolved into a critical resource for the practicing allergist/immunologist. This activity has been greatly strengthened by the AAAAI’s decision to engage both Hart Health Strategies and Washington Health Advocates. These two complementary groups actively monitor and champion relevant issues impacting our specialty at the legislative, regulatory and funding level in Washington, DC, and work extremely effectively with members of the Office of Practice Management.
Expand the Scope of Practice for the Allergy and Immunology Specialist
We are all aware that the extraordinary level of discovery in allergy and immunology has already produced changes in clinical practice and these changes will only increase. Meanwhile, within our field there remain a number of unmet or under-met practice areas including drug hypersensitivity, untoward reactions to biologics and others. Taken together, these areas represent new practice opportunities for the allergy and immunology specialist, a conclusion reached at the most recent AAAAI strategic retreat.
To address this I am appointing a task force to identify those areas and develop a strategy to successfully integrate these into clinical practice. I also propose the AAAAI develop a program of “career enhancement” awards, with the objective of enabling interested practitioners to partner with a center or practice that has put in place a program that expands the scope of allergy and immunology practice.
Increase Efforts to Develop Leaders in Allergy and Immunology
I am proposing the AAAAI develop a strategy facilitating success among the current and next generation of allergy/immunology division and section leaders. This initiative will complement the very successful AAAAI sponsored program supporting training program directors. We have already constituted a task force to bring proposals in this regard to the Board of Directors. The second prong of increasing leadership development is publicizing and fully supporting the next stage of the AAAAI Leadership Institute currently under the direction of James T. Li, MD, PhD, FAAAAI. The objective of this program is to provide participants with a clearer concept of the principles of leadership and organizational change and to foster a greater awareness of leadership opportunities within the AAAAI as well as other relevant professional organizations.
Although not an all-inclusive list addressing every challenge facing the allergy and immunology community, I am confident my set of initiatives provide a framework that will prove advantageous to both practitioner and academician.
Ultimately, our specialty must be agile and prepared to respond to a host of challenges. Only if we are willing to embrace change can we create our own future; if we fail, our future will be dictated by others. I look forward to working with you to help insure the future of allergy and immunology remains in our hands and continues to be an exciting and rewarding field.
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Fleisher, MD, FAAAAI
AAAAI President