President's Message
President’s Message
By Paritosh Kaul, MD, FSAHM
SAHM President
It continues to be a challenging time for adolescents and young adults. They continue to face issues of poverty, war, health disparities and unmet sexual and reproductive needs. The recent Supreme Court ruling here in the U.S. has been an additional struggle for them and those of us who take care of them. I have some reflections on this ruling and have shared my thoughts.
As an organization, we have responded to this issue. Our advocacy committee under the leadership of Laura Grubb, has issued multiple statements regarding this important issue. They have worked with other organizations to strengthen our advocacy for AYA. Our committee needs to be lauded for their work, quick turnarounds and openness to feedback. Details regarding their work are provided here. We also have exciting news regarding a new role within SAHM. Abigail English, JD, a SAHM Past President, has been appointed as Senior Policy Fellow.
We continue to build on our partnership and foster relationships with other organizations. This helps to amplify our voice for AYA and our field. I would like to acknowledge the work of SAHM Liaisons to other organizations. These are Anna Brittain to Center for Disease Control (CDC); Laura Grubb to Committee on Adolescence in the AAP; Elizabeth Barnert to National Commission on Correctional Health Care; Amy Middleman as Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) liaison; Sarah Pitts and Cynthia Holland as Council of Pediatric Research (CoPS); David Bell on Coalition to Expand Contraception Access (CECA); and Oriaku Kas-Osoka and Richard Chung to the Pediatric Academic Societies. On behalf of SAHM and all of us, thank you for taking additional responsibilities.
Nicholas Westers, our Director of Programs, and his committee are busy planning an amazing annual meeting for March 7 – 10, 2023. in Baltimore. The meeting theme is Collaborations in Adolescent Health: Improving Clinical Care Through Translational Science. Please save the date and mark your calendars for March 7-10, 2023. I hope to see each one of us in Baltimore. Please remember, you must renew your SAHM membership before you register for the Annual Meeting to get the member rate.
Our board has been working hard and has already met twice since the annual meeting. I am grateful to be working with an amazing board that is passionate and committed to the health and well-being of AYA. A special shout out to Student Trainee Council. Their work includes assistance in applying for adolescent medicine fellowship, sessions at the annual meeting and all fellows’ virtual learning sessions. The series kicked off on July 29 and the remaining informative and fun networking sessions are scheduled for Sept. 30, 2022; March 31, 2023, and June 30, 2023, at 1-2 p.m. CT. Thank you to Nicholas Szoko, Olga Myszko, Alex Golec, Ginny Claire Kim, Marian Catalan and Amy Paul for their leadership and work for our organization.
What about you, dear friends? How have you been doing? Have you had a chance to pause and take care of yourself? We need a cultural shift in how we value providers’ well-being and as a mechanism for adolescent health professionals to thrive in the field and move the field forward. We need to develop/practice/teach knowledge, skills and resources to nurture individual resilience, build our own wellness and bring joy in our field-adolescent health. To help us all connect and share best practices, SAHM will be bringing back our informal Virtual Chat series in fall 2022. Please join us to recharge.
I conclude with a Sanskrit verse, “Together may we two Move (in our Studies, the Teacher and the Student); Together may we two Relish (our Studies, the Teacher and the Student), Together may we perform (our Studies) with Vigor (with deep Concentration), May what has been Studied by us be filled with the Brilliance (of Understanding, leading to Knowledge), May it Not give rise to Hostility (due to lack of Understanding), Om Peace, Peace, Peace.”
With Gratitude,
Paritosh
