President's Message
A MESSAGE FROM SAHM PRESIDENT
DAVID L. BELL, MD, MPH
My first few months as president seemed less tumultuous than expected, though it has been busy. The ability to meet virtually has created invaluable means to stay connected. However there is a general feeling that our professional lives have embraced remote meetings with a vengeance, without regard for personal time or breaks. That has created, at least for me, an overwhelming feeling of being busier than I ever have been before. In honor of taking care of ourselves, I encourage each of you to reflect on how you can take time for yourselves – mandating 45- or 50-minute meetings instead of back-to-back 60-minute meetings, as one example.
As we weather the ebbs and flows of the pandemic, my charge is to lead us to a new “equilibrium” – if there can ever be – as we determine how best to return to our in-person events and how we continue to robustly engage remotely throughout the year.
So far, our virtual engagement in 2021 has been stellar. The 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting was a tremendous success with more than 900 attendees making it our third best attended meeting ever. SAHM Virtual Chats continue to be excellent. Recently held chats covered “Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Assessing and Implementing Best Practices for Adolescent Sexual Health Services” and “An Open Forum Discussion: The intersection of the climate crisis and adolescent health.” The next scheduled chat is titled, “Supporting SAHM Members Interest in Engaging with Media, News and Social Media to Advance Teen Health.”
Speaking of engagement, we are now accepting nominations for President-Elect, At-Large Board, Nominations Committee and the Trainee Board Representative. Applications for serving on a SAHM Committee are currently being accepted as well. SAHM benefits from the volunteer service that each of you can offer. Please consider nominating yourself or a colleague.
We are excited to be accepting nominations for two of our annual awards – our inaugural Racial Justice and Health Equity award and the LGBTQIA Adolescent and Young Adult Health Research award. These awards are intended to support research and program evaluation focused on racial justice and/or health equity AND LGBTQIA adolescents and young adults, respectively.
The need to keep watch and advocate for the health and well-being of adolescents does not end. Recently, SAHM joined a coalition led by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Medical Association (AMA) on an amicus brief in support of the District of Columbia’s Minor Consent Act, a public health law protecting minors’ access to medical care. Other recent advocacy efforts have focus on juvenile justice, gender dysphoria care, mental and behavior health care, contraceptive access, and vaccines.
Earlier this year, we disseminated a member needs assessment survey. Thank you to all who responded. We heard you! Here is what I learned: Of those who responded, 70% were doctoral level, and 45% have been members for more than 15 years. The majority were clinicians and more than 50% had a primary focus of direct clinical care; 16% research; 14% teaching/training. Just over 40% were in the late phase of their careers.
This survey offers many takeaways with the caveat that nearly half of the respondents have been members for more than 15 years. As we strive to strategically increase our membership over the next few years, there are opportunities identified in this survey. If 50% of the respondents had a primary focus of direct clinical care, our newer / younger cohort undoubtedly have a greater focus on direct clinical care. Our bread and butter is our interdisciplinary and clinical audience. For me, this raises a variety of questions. How can we elevate our clinical offerings to our membership as well as market our expertise to the wider group of clinicians taking care of adolescents worldwide? While most of us heard about SAHM from a peer or colleague, is there a way to expand our reach strategically to maximize our efforts? Would wider use of social media have a greater impact on our membership? I welcome your thoughts in regards to these questions, you can share them by emailing our Executive Director Ryan Norton.
And finally, I am looking forward to seeing you all in San Diego next March! Our program committee has open calls for educational proposals, scientific presentations, and SIG meetings. The program committee is eager to see clinically-focused proposals from all our disciplines. Our program is not great without the phenomenal submissions from you. Thank you all for your continued dedication and support of SAHM and the mission we serve.
