APA Focus
The Official Newsletter of the Academic Pediatric Association

Volume 48, Issue 6 December 2011
Doctor_Child
Communications Director's Message

Happy Holidays! In the current issue of APA Focus you'll hear from Benard and others about our recent APA Strategic Planning Retreat. The purpose of the retreat was to create a plan for the APA for 2012-2017. We focused on the following areas: Career & Professional Development, Member Service & Growth,Organizational Structure, Policy and Advocacy, & Health Care Delivery. Retreat work groups, composed of former and current board members, research network leaders, SIG chairs and leaders from our partner organizations, developed goals and objectives for each of the four focus areas. The groups discussed a variety of strategies for disseminating our work and the value of APA membership to like-minded colleagues and institutional leaders. Last spring, Sara Slovin (APA Fellows SIG Co-Chair) developed an excellent one-page brochure for fellows about the APA. With input from board members, Chris Stille has revised the brochure and it's now ready for prime time! Please feel free to share this terrific document with your friends, colleagues, academic partners and institutional leaders. Based on many of your suggestions and a few new ideas generated during the Strategic Planning Retreat, the APA will be exploring methods for asynchronous electronic communication (i.e., wiki's and discussion boards). We would love to hear your thoughts about how the APA can best support your SIGs, Regions and members in general. I will be setting up a conference call for members interested in participating on the new APA Communications Committee in the near future. Please let me know if you would like to join the committee!

HHTYAY (Happy Holidays to You and Yours)

Barry Solomon
Communications Director
Academic Pediatric Association
bsolomon@jhmi.edu

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President's Message

The Creativity Cycle and the Fallow Season: Strategic Planning for the APA's future.

The fallow season is upon us. In those [olden] times when most folks were farmers, they would rest after the harvest and during the cold, dark winter, storing up their energies for the thaw and warmth of the next spring. Alas, for better or for worse, the fallow season no longer means a rest for the weary. Perhaps this is just as it should be since this is the season during which we sow the seeds, and till the soil for the spring PAS meeting. And it is at PAS that we reap the benefits of our work. Nevertheless, it would be nice to plan a "fallow season" for our creativity cycle, during which we sit back and appreciate the fruits of our creative labors, if only for a short time. Just like the soil needs to rest, lest it get depleted of nutrients and energy to produce rich crops, our creativity needs rest to regenerate and reflect on what has been accomplished. There was a time in my professional life, years ago, when I looked forward to January as my own personal fallow season–dark, cold and less hectic, a time with a somewhat slower rhythm when I would be able to focus myself and attend to parts of my personal and professional life that needed loving attention, a time when I would reflect and begin to plan creating anew. No longer… Each day there are 100+ emails to read and answer, research projects and educational developments to attend to, patients requiring focused thought and action, and many wonderful new and exciting APA projects to work on. This new 365–day–a–year creativity cycle is exhilarating and productive. Every now and then, though, I mourn the loss of that fallow season, and long to sit back and ponder and appreciate. Here's hoping some of you, my colleagues, have kept at least a little of that fallow season for yourselves.

I am "dating" myself (I am a proud baby boomer after all) when I say that one of my favorite songs is a Judy Collins song from the 1970s called "Fallow Way". She wrote the music and lyrics herself and here is a sample–beautiful–in appreciation of the fallow season:

I'll learn to love the fallow way
When winter draws the valley down
And stills the rivers in their storm
And freezes all the little brooks
Time when our steps slow to the song
Of falling flakes and crackling flames
When silver stars are high and still
Deep in the velvet of the night sky

Well, the fall and winter has not and will not be a fallow season for the APA. In addition to planning actively for the spring regional meetings, and PAS activities in Boston (APA SIG meetings, APA Committee meetings, invited science presentations, workshops, research presentations, etc), as well as the ongoing work of our core activities, we brought together present Board members, past Board members, SIG chairs, Region chairs, NCS and Educational scholars, YIA recipients, young members, and others for a two-day strategic planning session in late October. Our guiding principles were based on your ideas from the Value of the APA Survey that you filled out this past year (see Janet Serwint’s article in this issue of Focus). It was an extraordinarily productive two days. You may recall that our last strategic planning session was five years ago and led to many important changes, improvements, and new programs in the APA. The result of this year's strategic planning session was the following four goals and four associated taskforces to transform the ideas from the strategic planning meeting into an action plan for the APA:

  • Advancing the career and professional development of our members. Possible areas of activity include:
    • Providing and enhancing mentoring programs.
    • Creating "ESP" (Educational Scholars)-like programs in research, health care services, and policy and advocacy. We have already planned a Research Scholars Program that will be rolled out this winter and spring. Stay tuned.
    • Fostering networking and connectivity among our members and between our members and members of other like-minded organizations.
    • Reaching out to our younger members.
    • Reaching out to non-pediatrician colleagues.
    • Creating a pipeline for the organization through outreach to medical students, and residents.
    • Recognizing excellence of our members to support their career advancement, and seeking ways to enhance academic generalism.
    • And of course, continuing to support our core programs that focus on career and professional development, such as the New Century Scholars, the Educational Scholars Program, the Young Investigator Award programs, existing awards, accreditation of Academic General Pediatric Fellowship Programs, Research Networks such as CORNET, PRIS and BORN, the Educational Guidelines Project, and our journal, Academic Pediatrics.
  • Serving our members better and growing our membership. We want to make sure that we are meeting the needs of all of our members. We also want to continue to grow, since more members will give us the strength and depth to do more for more. See Chris Stille's and Dave Jaffe's discussion of our successful membership growth this year in this issue of Focus. Possible areas of activity include:
    • Optimize our services to members through the use of data. We need good information about our members and from our members in order to serve them better.
    • Identify and meet needs of the diverse member constituencies across the career lifespan, including diversity of discipline, subspecialty interest, age, gender, and race/ethnicity.
    • Communicate what the APA is doing better to our members and to the pediatric community.
  • Enhancing our policy and advocacy activities. We have a great Public Policy and Advocacy Committee that is active in advocating for children and for our professional pipeline. Click on "APA Advocacy in Action" on the front page of our website to see some of the important issues that we have been advocating for. However, we have not found a functional method of policy development in order to state what we believe in. This is an important task ahead. Possible areas of activity include:
    • Stimulate policy development within SIGs, Committees, and Regions.
    • Engage members in a dialog regarding organizational values. We want to encourage our members to shape the future of the APA and create a "grassroots" method for policy development. We want to consider different types of policies (external policies, white papers, resolutions, statements of principle) and involvement of members in the approval process.
    • Improve the process to identify key issues to champion regarding equity for all children both nationally and globally and clarify our role in a global health agenda. We cannot focus enough on improving the lives and lifetime trajectories of children. That is both the underlying purpose and ultimate goal of our organization. Everything else we do must lead back to this agenda.
  • Improve/change our organizational structure to better support our core programs and core activities. Possible areas of activity include:
    • Strengthen SIGs and Regions. These are the lifeblood and sinew of our organization. Consider modification of the board to better support SIGs and Regions.
    • Ensure adequate staff infrastructure to support the activities of the Board, membership and organization. Develop an overall strategy for communications and technologic support for the organization. Make asynchronous learning and communication available to our members.
    • Re-evaluate the Health Care Delivery Committee and consider a change of focus, including a stronger focus on quality improvement scholarship, innovations in health care and health care reform, and the provision of health care in academic settings.


What is next? The taskforces will be working hard on producing action plans over the next several months. After that, we will be communicating with you, our members, about the plans for the future of the APA, involving you and getting your guidance. The PAS meeting will be an important opportunity for us to be discussing these action plans, and we will be meeting with Committees, SIGs and our members in as many venues as possible. If there are any necessary by-laws changes, we may be presenting them for a vote at the annual membership meeting at PAS.

A final thought…

In some ways, this strategic planning process is a wonderful example of a "fallow season." Yes, it is superficially full of activity, but the activity is really a stop in the road. Stop, and look at what we have accomplished. Stop, and consider where we need to go next. Stop, and listen to the blossoming of new ideas in our hearts. Stop, and share our thoughts and rejuvenate our purpose. Stop, and start the cycle of creativity once more.

Best wishes to you and your families for a joyous holiday season and a healthy and successful new year.

Benard Dreyer
President
Academic Pediatric Association
bpd1@nyumc.org

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President Elect's Message

Jaffe A message to our 2000th Member

As I returned, energized from our recent APA Strategic Planning Meeting, I learned that we had just welcomed our 2000th member to the APA! By all accounts, this is an historic high point in APA membership, and I am so thrilled that this happened in conjunction with our work on strategic planning. A major focus of planning was on serving the APA membership in new and creative ways. So I wondered who our 2000th member might be. To get a clue, I looked at the most recent membership application list, where you, our 2000th member are undoubtedly lurking.

Perhaps you are the pediatric resident, who might be interested in the Pediatric Resident or Women in Medicine or Continuity SIGs or the New Century Scholars Program or in attending or networking at regional or national meetings or participating in CORNET, our continuity clinic research network. Perhaps you are the Fellow in Pediatric Emergency Medicine or Hospital Medicine, who might apply for a Young Investigator Award or present research at a national PAS meeting or join the Emergency Medicine or Hospitalist SIG or one of the many topic oriented SIGs, such as Injury Control, Environmental Health, Tobacco Issues or our newest SIG on simulation. Maybe you are the Assistant Professor in General Academic Pediatrics or Hospital Medicine with a focus on education who might be interested in the Educational Scholars Program or one of the many educationally focused SIGs. Or, maybe, you will benefit from the networking within the APA that will help with promotion and national recognition. Perhaps you are the postdoctoral fellow or the general academic pediatrics fellow who would be a good candidate for the new Research Scholars Program that will be offered for the first time next year. Perhaps you are the associate professor or division chief who could serve as a mentor in a scholars program or join in some of our exciting new mentorship opportunities. Yes, the APA will even be experimenting with speed-mentoring! Perhaps as our 2000th member you will find a way to become an active member of one of our Committees: Education, Research, Public Policy/Advocacy or Health Care Delivery. I look forward to meeting you at the next PAS meeting as you stand by your poster or up on a platform sharing a scholarly project with colleagues from all over the world and proudly wearing your APA new member badge.

These examples only begin to cover the wealth of APA services available to members new and returning. The APA is vibrant, teeming with activities to help members serve children and children's health throughout our careers. It is also evolving, most recently evidenced by our strategic planning retreat during which more than 30 present and past board members and leaders gathered to renew our strategic plan with a goal to strengthen and expand the value APA adds for all of us and the children we serve. (Lots more to come about this!)

So to you, our 2000th member, I say welcome! What a wonderful time to join the APA. Dig in, join a SIG or two or five, join a committee, apply for an award, become a scholar and bring your friends and colleagues!

David Jaffe
President Elect
Academic Pediatric Association
jaffe@kids.wustl.edu

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Past President's Message

The APA Board recently held a strategic planning meeting to plan for the next 5 years. It was an exciting time and Benard Dreyer will be providing more information on the strategic plan. However, on behalf of the Board I wanted to share with you a brief overview of the results from the Value of APA Survey since your responses helped us with the strategic planning of our organization. Thanks to all of you who participated both in offering input into the survey and also completing the survey.

The survey objectives were to:

  • Determine the demographics of our APA members
  • Identify functions that our members value to help guide future decision making
  • Identify membership needs for additional innovative activities

The survey was disseminated by email with a web link through the APA list serve. Eight reminders were sent out and the completion rate was 626/1901= 33%. While lower than we had hoped, this response rate was higher than past rates of 17-31%.

Here is a summary of the results:

Demographics of respondents 626/1901

  • Female gender
  • Ethnicity - Hispanic
  • Race:
    • Caucasian
    • Black
    • Asian/Pacific Islander
    • Other
 64.6%
4.9%

85.9%
4.2%
8.4%
1.7%

Age (years)

  • 22-34
  • 35-44
  • 45-54
  • 55-64
  • >=65
13.4%
30.0%
27.0%
22.8%
6.9%

Respondent Degree

  • MD
  • MPH, MCI, MBA, MPP
  • PhD, ScD, DrPH
  • RN
  • DO
  • Other
94.1%
28.8%
6.8%
0.3%
1.5%
8.6%

Respondent Rank

  • Instructor/Lecturer
  • Asst. Professor
  • Assoc. Professor
  • Professor
  • Professor Emeritus
  • Not applicable
5.5%
35.5%
25.0%
26.0%
1.5%
6.5%

Professional Activities - Average amount of time spent in each area

  • Patient care
  • Education
  • Research
  • Administration
  • Public Policy
32.1%
28.2%
29.0%
25.0%
8.9%

The survey asked about the value of different APA activities. Six hundred twenty six members responded and the results presented include the percentage who ranked that activity as very high value (% very high) in addition to the rating average from a Likert scale of 1-5 with 5 representing the very highest value.

Activity
Membership
Networking at PAS
PAS research presentation
PAS workshop
Academic Pediatrics Journal
APA list serve
APA website
APA newsletter
% "very high"
32%
44%
35%
33%
37%
26%
21%
19% 		Rating Average
3.95
4.39
4.25
4.22
3.87
3.49
3.27
3.13

Members were asked to note their Involvement in APA Activities. Here are the results:
Educational Scholars Program

  • Scholar     9.2%
  • Faculty    10.8%

New Century Scholar

  • Scholar
  • Faculty
 1.4%
7.0%

Young Investigator Awards (YIA)

  • Applicant
  • Recipient
  • Reviewer
 25.3%
12.9%
17.9%

Research Network Participants

  • CORNET
  • PRIS
 18.5%
9.3%

BORN network was just developed at time of survey

Other Activities

  • Attended APA leadership conference
  • Attended PEEAC (only 2009 meeting)
  • Academic Pediatric Journal
    Editorial Board
    Submitted manuscript
    Published manuscript
    Reviewer
  • SIG Chair
  • Regional Chair
  • APA Board of Directors
 28.3%
7.8%

8.5%
46.0%
33.7%
43.2%
23.3%
18.2%
9.9%

Participant in PAS Activities


PAS workshop

  • Presented workshop
  • Reviewed workshops
 51.5%
32.0%

Research Abstracts

  • Presented research abstract
  • Research abstract reviewer
 75.4%
54.2%

Presented Invited Science 12.7%

The next set of responses addressed membership needs and suggestions for innovative activities

Which should APA implement regarding communication strategies?

  • Social networking
  • Web based conferences
  • RSS (really simple syndication )
  • Discussion board
  • Podcasts
  • Wiki
  • Blog
 44.6%
41.7%
36.0%
34.4%
32.7%
29.7%
18.4%

Financial Strategies to Enhance Membership

  • Cost share dues with other organizations
  • Offer life- long APA dues
  • Reduced meeting registration for members
  • Opt out not to receive journal
  • Scholarships for travel to PAS

General Ways to Enhance Membership

  • Reach out to departmental chairs and division chiefs- APA membership should be automatic
  • Dues renewal letter that can be put in promotion packet
  • Reconnect with community providers
  • More mentoring programs
  • More relevance to senior faculty
  • Conference calls with specific themes- as APPD did
  • Certificate for framing of membership- ribbons recognizing duration of membership

Strategies for Membership Specific to Medical Students and Residents

  • Provide free membership
  • Create a Medical Student SIG
  • Enhance Resident SIG

Regional Issues: 26% of respondents stated they had attended a regional meeting in the past 3 years. Of those who had attended a regional meeting, 30% stated they received moderate, 12% high and 8% very high value from involvement in their region.

Suggestions to Enhance Regions

  • Define purpose of regions
  • Link PAS research submissions to regions
  • Activities year round
  • Share strategies for success
  • Send letters to local institutions re regional meetings
  • Put regions on PAS badges to enhance visibility
  • Initiate regional professional activities
    *Regional visiting professors
    *Extension of fellowship curriculum to regions
    *Expand mentorship to regions
    *Train the trainer leadership conferences

Suggestions to Enhance SIGs

  • SIG webinars
  • "Robust" SIG support
  • Have workshops be developed by SIGs
  • Present research abstracts at SIGs
  • Targeted learning by SIGs
  • SIGs to have online material
  • Support for SIG list-serves

The survey asked members about mentoring activities within the APA and areas in which to strengthen mentoring. Here is a summary of the responses and the order in which they were listed. Keep in mind that this rating doesn't reflect the number of members who responded to each activity.

Mentoring Opportunities within APA

  • SIG involvement
  • Educational Scholars Program
  • Leadership meeting
  • Young Investigator Awards
  • Research Networks
  • PAS workshops
  • New Century Scholars
  • Committee work
  • Region Involvement

Comments on ways to enhance mentorship

  • Need for more formal structure for mentorship/ distance mentorship
  • Mentor match program -Consider tracks for junior, mid-career, later career
    -Outreach to junior faculty, fellows/ residents
    -Tracks by education, research, advocacy/public health
    -Need for ongoing, longitudinal relationship
    -Mentorship outside own institution
    -National mentorship bank
  • Assist new APA members to identify mentors
  • Mentorship workshops
  • Help junior members understand role as a mentee
  • Innovative venues: world café, speed mentoring, etc
  • Include non-physician members
  • Personal outreach to members, some don't know how to get involved
  • Consider mentorship that doesn't require attendance at PAS
  • Advertise mentorship opportunities
  • Social gatherings for mentorship- coffee, dinners

Survey Limitations

  • Response rate of 33% so results may not be generalizable to all membership
  • Respondents more likely to be active in our organization
  • Challenge of interpretation of value versus number who answered question

Conclusions

  • Overall endorsement by our members who responded that they value the APA
  • Members suggested additional innovative ideas to:
    • *Increase membership/prestige of our organization
    • *Communication strategies
    • *Enhance Regions
    • *Enhance SIGs
    • *Increase Mentorship

The APA Board and other members will be working on the strategic planning which will address and incorporate many of the ideas raised in the survey. So stay tuned and please keep your ideas coming!

I would also like to acknowledge the core survey development team which included Benard Dreyer, Judy Shaw, Chris Stille and Jennifer Padilla.

In response to the results from the survey, we are offering an exciting opportunity for mentoring at the 2012 PAS meeting. Our inaugural activity will include an APA sponsored dyadic speed mentoring session followed by a small group discussion between the mentors and mentees. The event will take place on Saturday, April 28, 2012 from 12:00- 2:00pm and 60 mentees and 60 mentors will be included.

APA members who are within their first 10 years of an academic faculty position will be invited to participate as mentees. The mentee will be asked to rank choices 1-3 from a list of mentorship tracks (see below). Then each mentee will be matched to a track and have the opportunity to meet for 10 minutes each in a dyadic discussion with 6 different faculty members. After the speed mentoring activity, the entire small group (the 6 mentors and 6 mentees) will meet for 30 minutes. The purpose of this discussion will be to debrief on the experience and share more ideas about future mentoring opportunities.

The mentorship tracks will include the following:

  • Advocacy
  • Balancing research and clinical duties
  • Basic science research
  • Career development
  • Clinical Research
  • Community based research
  • Curriculum vitae review
  • Educational scholarship
  • Health Services Research
  • Leadership skills
  • Public Health
  • Qualitative Research
  • Quality Improvement scholarship
  • Scholarship from Everyday Work
  • Teaching Skills development
  • Work-Life Balance

So stay tuned. An email through the APA list -serve will be going out in December to invite mentees to participate and to recruit mentors for this activity.

As always, I welcome your comments or suggestions.
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Janet Serwint
Immediate Past President
Academic Pediatric Association
jserwint@jhmi.edu

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Membership and Region Chair's Message

Value: What is the equation for APA members?

Happy holidays! Greetings from sunny and warm Denver where we are decorating outside in t-shirts while the skiing slowly improves in the mountains.

The past few months we have been reviewing the data from the survey that many of you completed earlier this year, and much of the discussion related to membership at and after our strategic planning retreat has been focused on maintaining and enhancing the value of membership. The well-used health services equation, "value=quality/cost", seems to apply here as well as anywhere. We have many different constituencies in the APA, for which the variables in this equation are different: inpatient, outpatient, and emergency clinicians; early, mid-career, and established faculty; and generalists and "generalist subspecialties". Far too many ideas to enhance each side of the value equation were discussed to describe here, but we've been considering the needs of each constituency. Look for specifics in the months to come.

While we were concentrating on this, we quietly passed a much sought-after milestone for the APA. Remember about 12 years ago, when Mort Wasserman, Membership/Regions Chair, coined the "2000 members by 2000" slogan? Well, last month we did it! In fact, as of this writing our membership stands at 2026, so we can safely claim "2011 by 2011". Patience pays off, and thank you! Dave Jaffe, President-Elect, waxes rhapsodic on this historic milestone elsewhere in this newsletter; it's well worth a read!

Region Chairs have been busy planning regional meetings for this academic year. Acknowledging the increasing cost of attending in-person meetings, usually greater than the cost of membership itself, several innovations have emerged! Two pilot projects stand out, not surprisingly being undertaken by regions in the great "breadbasket of North America": one is to have one or several web-based meetings as an alternative to an in-person meeting, and another is to have a web-connected meeting where members travel to one of two video-linked sites by car, eliminating the need for air travel and hotel while preserving the value of meeting colleagues face-to-face. Other new activities include conference calls on specific educational topics, and recognizing the work of emerging scholars at region meetings by having a poster session dedicated to student and resident projects.

Hope to see you in Boston in May!

Christopher Stille
Membership/Regions Chair
Academic Pediatric Association
Christopher.Stille@childrenscolorado.org

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Election Results

On behalf of the APA nominating committee, the election results are in!
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all the candidates…

President Elect
David Keller

Research Committee Chair
Cynthia Minkovitz

Chair of Workshops and SIGS
Sue Bostwick

Nominating Committee
Tumaini Coker
Dan Rauch

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APA New Members

Welcome to all of the new APA Members!


Jamilet Alegria
Lilliam Ambroggio
Julia Aquino
Sarah Armstrong
Katherine Auger
Nadia Bajwa
Melinda Bender
Lisa Benz
Nathan Beucke
Kathleen Bradford
Matthew Broom
Nicole Brown
Linda Brown
Rebecca Carmody
Kevin Carney
Heather Carpentier
Lisa Clewner
Michelle Dalal
Janhavi Dalvi
Meghan Davignon
Shanlee Davis
Alaina Davis
Stephanie Anne Deutsch
Clement Donahue
Cara Doughty
Rianna Evans
Gregory Faris
Lindy Fenlason
Leslie Field
Kelly Fradin
Claire Ganal
Allison Gault
Subharati Ghosh
Kathleen Gibbs
Sharon Green
Emily Gregory
Rakhi Gupta
Sabeen Habib
Elizabeth Hanson
Joni Hemond
Kristin Hendri
Lacy Hobgood
Ruth Hwu
Joani Jack
Aarti Kapoor
Daniel Kelly
 Jeremy Kern
Mary Kohn
Anson Koshy
Melissa Kuo
Josephine Lau
Morgan Leafe
Carol Lewis
Hannah Lichtsinn
Czer Anthoney Lim
Philip Malouf
Pierre-Joseph Marie-Rose
Alisa McQueen
Niraj Mistry
Julia Morinis
Mary Murray
Radha Nandagopal
Nidhya Navanandan
Kevin Nelson
Rahul Panesar
Joanna Parga
Emmanuel Ramirez-Enriquez
Kimberly Randell
Christopher Russell
Anne Russo
Stephen Sandelich
Daniel Schumacher
David Sheridan
Andrew Sherman
Rayzel Shulman
Amanda Soong
Ganga Srinivas
Kathryn Stroup
Ramsey Tate
Candice Taylor
Irina Topoz
Rachel Umoren
Joyee Vachani
Erin Van Scoyoc
Elisha Wachman
Susan Walker
Sowdhamini Wallace
Elizabeth Weinstein
Daniel West
Deborah Weyer
Daniel Williams
Chang Wu

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Upcoming Conferences

Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2012

PAS2012
PAS 2012
April 28 - May 1
The Hynes Convention Center
Boston, Massachusetts

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APA Leadership Meeting 2012

Leadership Meeting 2012
5th Annual APA Leadership Meeting 2012
July 18-19
Cincinnati Marriott
at RiverCenter



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Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) 2012

PHM2012 PHM 2012
July 19-22
Northern Kentucky Convention Center

Call for Abstracts
Click here to Submit
Submission Deadline:
Wednesday February 1, 2012 5pm EST





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Committees
Health Care Delivery

Faculty Set for Health Care Delivery Committee Topic Symposium at 2012 PAS

Join us in Boston at PAS on Saturday April 28th, 2012 for the Health Care Delivery Committee's sponsored topic symposium Health Care Delivery: Transforming Our System from Fragmentation to Integration. Our speakers will be Thomas Klitzner from Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, Doug Thompson from Saint Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Charles Macias from Texas Children's Hospital, Houston and Richard Antonelli from Boston Children's Hospital. The session will address models for successful health care delivery and using integration to deliver accountable care.

Jane Knapp
Health Care Delivery Committee Chair
jknapp@cmh.edu

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Research

APA Athena
With generous support from the Aetna Foundation, the APA Board of Directors is delighted to announce the 2012 award cycle of the Academic Pediatric Association Aetna Foundation Young Investigator Awards Program. This program provides three awards of up to $13,500 each for pediatric research by junior faculty, fellows, or residents addressing one or more of the three Aetna Foundation priority areas of: 1) obesity, 2) racial/ethnic healthcare equity, and 3) integrated healthcare. One award will be devoted to research in each of these priority areas. Preference is given to projects that have the potential to lead to further studies.

Please visit: Aetna Young Investigator Awards for more information

Glenn Flores
Research Committee Chair
 Glenn.Flores@UTSouthwestern.edu



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Core Activities
CORNET
CORNET

It's almost time for a new calendar for each of our desks. And with the end of 2011 just a few days away, it is a perfect time to reflect on the value and joys of membership in the APA and, more specifically, CORNET!

Many of you have been involved in CORNET projects throughout the past year. The most recent project which has completed data collection is PreSIP, the Preventive Services Improvement Project. This collaborative project was completed on November 12, 2011 with a total of 21 pediatric practices from across the country working together in a quality improvement program to implement the Bright Futures guidelines.

CORNETwas represented very well by the physicians, residents and staff of these four Continuity Clinics:

  • CMC Myers Park Pediatrics, Charlotte, NC
  • Children's Hospital Primary Care Center, Boston, MA
  • University of Iowa Department of Pediatrics, Iowa City, IA
  • Danis Pediatrics of St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO

Results from the project are now in the analysis phase with dissemination of findings to follow shortly. Congratulations and thank you to all of the members of these continuity clinics for their successful participation and hard work in implementing practice change over a 12 month period. Any questions about this or similar projects can be directed to CORNET's PreSIP Project Team member Bill Stratbucker at william.stratbucker@helendevoschildrens.org.

The AIM-HI adolescent immunization study in collaboration with Dr. Peter Szilagyi is well underway . Studies such as these not only provide insight into the practices of the participating sites, but also strategies to improve health care for the children we serve.

Plans are already underway for us to meet at the 2012 PAS meeting in Boston. We hope to arrange an opportunity for all of our CORNET sites to convene, and also invite any Continuity practices to join us. This will be a wonderful time to meet each other, catch up on CORNET news, consider developing future research projects and strategize on CORNET's direction in the future. We'd love to hear from each of you about topics you want to hear more about and even some fun ways to facilitate working together! Our interactions with each other offer the best opportunities for both personal and professional growth!

The members of the Executive and Steering Committees would like to wish all of you a very happy, healthy and joyful new year. It truly has been a delight working with you and we look forward to many more exciting projects! These ideas arise from your everyday practice of general pediatrics!

So as we reflect on a wonderful past year, let us also begin to consider new ways in 2012 that CORNET can strive to meet the challenges of pediatric residency education and improve the health care for the children in our practices.

All of our best wishes to you, as you are CORNET!

Marilyn C Dumont-Driscoll
CORNET, Chair of Membership
dumonmd@peds.ufl.edu


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Educational Scholars Program

The Academic Pediatric Association's Educational Scholars Program has just completed review of 36 applications for Cohort 5 scholars. We have selected 18 scholars to join the program in May 2012. This is a strong group that includes 9 generalists, 5 hospitalists, and 4 subspecialists. A fascinating group of project titles is listed below:

  • Evaluation of a Curriculum Designed for Medical Students Completing Their Core Pediatrics Curriculum on an Attending-Only Hospitalist Service
  • Improving 3rd Year Medical Student Family Centered Verbal Presentation Skills Through a Novel Role Play Curriculum
  • Pediatric Rheumatology Learning with Curriculum-Embedded Formative Assessment
  • Boot Camp: A Clinical Refresher for 3rd Year Medical Students
  • Development, Implementation and Evaluation of A Novel Faculty Development Curriculum For InterACT, A Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship
  • The Resident Teaching Rotation: Developing Objective Outcome Measures
  • Characteristics of Effective Self-Assessment for the Purpose of Improving Learning
  • Effective Educational Strategies for Rapid Evidence Adoption of UTI Management Guidelines
  • Bridging the Gap: Improving International Medical Graduates' Interpersonal and Communication Skills
  • Assessing the Use of Digital Technology on Family and Trainee Education During Family Centered Rounds
  • Development and Evaluation of Entrustable Professional Activities in A Community Health Pediatric Residency Training Program
  • Implementation of a Monthly Mock Code Curriculum to Improve Resident Comfort Level and Performance of Resuscitation Skills
  • A Streamlined Pediatric Residency Curriculum for Hospitalist Teaching and Evaluation
  • Design and Evaluation of a Practical Curriculum in Pediatric Endocrinology for Pediatric Residents
  • Using Objective Structured Teaching Examinations (OSTEs) as a Tool for Faculty-Directed Faculty Development
  • Comparison of 3 Distinct Inpatient Resident Coverage Models
  • Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Partially Individualized Advocacy Curriculum for Pediatric Residents
  • Patient Safety Curriculum: Improvement in Healthcare One Learner at a Time

Hearty congratulations to our new cohort, which will be led by Lindsey Lane and advised by a new team of ESP faculty advisors.

Meanwhile, we are gearing up for recruitment of our next Cohort. The application website will open on July 1, 2012, and the deadline for online submissions will be October 1. To apply to this 3-year program, scholars complete an application, including a 2-page project proposal, and undergo a rigorous selection process. If you want to apply, now would be a good time to choose a mentor and begin planning your project. Applicants must submit a letter of support from their supervisor that commits to payment of an enrollment fee of $5000 and permission for the scholar to devote 10% FTE to the program over 3 years (May 2013 - May 2016).

The ESP is a great way for academic pediatricians to refine their skills in educational scholarship and join a community of other dedicated educators, without doing a separate fellowship or degree program. The purpose of our program is to help faculty with a strong commitment to education build careers around scholarly activities related to teaching, learner assessment, curriculum development, and educational administration and leadership. Methods in educational evaluation and research are a special focus of our curriculum. All scholars are guided in developing a well-crafted educator portfolio to support their future applications for promotion and advancement.

The ESP offers didactic and interactive activities at the PAS meeting each year. Scholars also complete self-directed modules between PAS meetings, and practice scholarship hands-on through completion of a mentored educational research or evaluation project. All participants who complete these required activities, including a peer reviewed publication or presentation on their completed project, receive a Certificate of Excellence in Educational Scholarship from the Academic Pediatric Association.

Since 2006, 31 scholars have graduated from the ESP program. Our current group of 41 scholars includes hospitalists, general and emergency medicine pediatricians, and a variety of subspecialists; many are residency program directors or associate directors. The ESP is supported by a faculty of 35 pediatric educators. Our hard working Executive Committee includes: Connie Baldwin, ESP Director; Maryellen Gusic, Co-director for Research; Latha Chandran, Co-director for Curriculum and Evaluation; Elisa Zenni, Chair of the Faculty Advisor Committee; and our Cohort Leaders, Mary Ottolini, Teri Turner, and Lindsey Lane. These volunteers devote many hours to the ongoing success of this program.

To learn more about the Educational Scholars Program, go to:
http://www.academicpeds.org/education/education_scholars_program.cfm.

Connie Baldwin
Educational Scholars Program Chair
constance_baldwin@urmc.rochester.edu

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Regions
Region I

Greetings Region I folks:

2 important items in this newsletter:

  • Save the Date for our Regional Meeting *
    Coming to you MARCH 2, 2012!
    This is plenty of notice, so:
    • hold the date in your calendar
    • start preparing your abstracts
    • get your trainees ready
    • drum up support at your institution
    • don't take those snow tires off
    Location is still TBD, and suggestions are welcome!

  • Please welcome our new co-chair, Melissa Held! Melissa is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, where she is the director of Pediatric Undergraduate Medical Education. After undergrad and medical school at Cornell, Melissa did her pediatric residency at Yale, and stayed on for a fellowship in infectious disease. Melissa's research interests are in professionalism in medical student education and in sign-out procedures. Melissa, also a member of COMSEP, APPD, and the AAP, has an 8-year old girl and 4-year old boy, but still somehow finds the time to take tap classes! Please welcome her energy and enthusiasm!

See you in March!
Melissa, Marcia, and Ada

Region Co-Chairs:
Ada Fenick
ada.fenick@yale.edu

Melissa Held
mheld@ccmckids.org

Marcia VanVleet
mvanvleet@WIHRI.org

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Region II

Region II has had a busy start to the fall. We would first like to congratulate all of the applicants for our Region 2 Young Investigator Grant. All of the submissions were excellent examples of the enthusiastic and important work of our regional members. We are excited to announce that this year's grant was awarded to Dr. Mario Cruz for his proposal "The efficacy and utilization of an intimate partner violence program at a pediatric hospital." We look forward to hearing about the progress of this project. Thank you to our regional chair of the young investigators grant award program, Dr. Ellen Johnson Silver, for all of the time and hard work she put into organizing this year's grant program.

We are looking forward to our upcoming regional meeting. The meeting will be held on March 9th, 2012 in New York City at Weill Cornell Medical Center. We have been planning an exciting day and once again will be joining up with Region 3. After a review of all the suggestions from our needs assessment, we are planning workshops in grant writing, clinical reasoning and advocacy. We are also excited to announce our key note speaker Dr. Jane Aronson, CEO of the World Wide Orphans Foundation. She will speak to us about global challenges of the healthcare needs of orphans and her inspiring work. We look forward to seeing all of you there! If you'd like to be involved and just aren't sure how to do so please send us an email. If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please feel free to e-mail us.

Region Co-Chairs:
Jennifer DiPace
jed9008@med.cornell.edu

Allison Gorman
agg9003@med.cornell.edu

Brian Lurie
Brian.Lurie@atlantichealth.org

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Region IV

Things in Region IV are going very well, and we've had lots of new members over the past 6 months.

Planning is well underway for the annual Region IV meeting to be held at the Omni Hotel in beautiful and fun Charlottesville, February 25th and 26th. Martha Hellems from UVA and Colleen Kraft from Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute are planning a terrific meeting.

This will be an opportunity to meet with colleagues from the across our region to share your research, educational initiatives and clinical programs.

  • Dr. Chuck Willson from East Carolina University will be talking about Medical Home for Children with Complex Medical Needs as the keynote address.
  • Bob Hall Associate Director of the AAP Department of Federal Affairs will give a "Legislative Update".
  • Brainstorm with experts on medical education, advocacy, research, hospitalist medicine and more at our popular "Meet the Professors" breakfast.
  • Learn about QI initiatives at our regional residency programs during the Resident Quality Improvement Project poster session!
  • Hear stimulating scientific platform presentations about research being done in the Region. Trainees and junior faculty are especially encouraged to participate in our conference - our conference attendees provide a thoughtful and supportive audience to gain experience presenting scholarly work. Come practice your presentation or fine-tune your workshop before going to the PAS meeting.


Keep an eye on your email for our call for abstracts and workshops. Submissions will be due by January 12, 2012.

Online registration will open soon, and early registration by February 3, 2012 will allow you to get the group rate at the Omni Hotel. Final online registration will be on February 17, 2012.

For more information, please contact Martha Hellems(mab4c@virginia.edu) or Colleen Kraft
(CAKraft@carilionclinic.org). We look forward to a fun and productive meeting. Please plan to join us.

Region Co-Chairs:
Rachel Dodge
rdodge3@jhmi.edu

Mike Steiner
msteiner@med.unc.edu

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Region V

Planning for the 2012 APA Region V Regional Meeting in Indianapolis continues to come together. We already have a great list of speakers and topics including IU's Dr. Maria Finnell discussing the new AAP UTI Guidelines that she helped to author and Dr. Emily Walvoord talking about mentoring, Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Kimberly Giuliano talking about Quality Improvement and Grand Rapids' Dr. Jeri Kessenich discussing a patient safety curriculum for residents. We still have room for other speakers and other topics, so if you are interested or have a topic to propose, we are happy to try to get it on the schedule. Remember that the meeting is on March 2nd starting at 12 noon and concluding on March 3rd at 1pm. Details about registration to come soon! Come meet with other region members, watch presentations by the winners of the annual Trainee Abstract Competition and share best practices in the region.

Our latest Regional Teleconference is scheduled for December 19th at noon EST. We are very excited to have our own Region V co-chair Allison Brindle talking about some of her advocacy efforts at the Cleveland Clinic. We will be once again using Webex to host the meeting online. Look for the invitation in your email soon!

Remember to stay in touch with the news of the region, as well as interact with other members by becoming a member of the Region V group on Facebook.

Region Co-Chairs:
Allison Brindle
brindla@ccf.org

Michael McKenna
mpmckenn@iupui.edu

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Region VI

Region 6 Co-Chairs are finalizing their planning for the first Region 6 Virtual Meeting. Children's Mercy Hospital will support the meeting by providing WebEx, an excellent IT product with great tech support per Kadriye Lewis, Co-Chair of the e- Learning SIG. The meeting will include a workshop and presentations by the 6 semi-finalists for the Region's Trainee Travel Award. The first week of December our members received a survey via Survey Monkey that gave them the opportunity to identify the time and date of the meeting. We will also be looking for volunteers willing to score the semi-finalists presentations. The presenters receiving the 3 highest scores will each receive a $478.00 Travel Award to the Boston PAS. Members will be updated regarding meeting details throughout the winter via the Region 6 listserv.

On January 9th via our region's listserv, we will solicit nominees for the Region Co-Chair to be installed at the Boston meeting. Nominees will need to provide their CV and a biosketch for members to review. This information will be sent to the region members via the listserv as well as made available on the region's APA website. Voting will occur via Survey Monkey starting February 20th and ending March 4th. The winner of the election will be announced during our Virtual meeting. If you miss the e-mail or have questions regarding the process, contact Bernie Eskridge, EskridgeB@Health.Missouri.edu.

As previously mentioned, we will once again be able to offer Trainee Travel Awards to PAS. Due to our increased membership we will be able to offer three $478.00 awards. Look for a call for applicants via our listserv within a week of receiving your PAS abstract acceptance. Applicants will need to provide a copy of their accepted abstract, a short personal statement and a letter of recommendation from an APA faculty member. Submissions will be reviewed and scored; applicants receiving the top 6 scores will give 10 minute presentations with a 5 minute question and answer period during our virtual meeting. If you have questions regarding the award, contact Charlie Gaebler, cgaebler@mcw.edu.

If you write a letter of recommendation, please make certain to include if financial support for travel is available to the trainee via their home institution. A number of applicants were excluded from consideration last year because there was no mention if resources were available for travel. We will bold and highlight all key criteria for successful application.

Hope you have a great holiday season. Looks like we will have a busy start to the New Year!

Region Co-Chairs:
Bernie Eskridge
eskridgeb@health.missouri.edu

Charlie Gaebler-Uhing
cgaebler@mcw.edu

Sharon Wilkerson
swilkerson@cmh.edu

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Region VII

Greetings Region VII members!

This time of year has everyone busy with holiday preparations: shopping, baking, social engagements and family traditions. Then January arrives and we become knee deep in Rhinovirus, Flu and RSV. By early February it's time for a break. Don't forget about the upcoming Regional meeting February 9-12 in New Orleans.

Region's VII and VIII leadership work together to provide an informative, timely, well organized meeting. We partner with the Southern Society for Pediatric Research, the Southern Society for General Internal Medicine, the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Southern Section of the American Federation for Medical Research to provide a state-of-the-art function. This is an exciting meeting, mingling with our internal medicine colleagues, sharing experiences and learning from one another. Last year there were just over 700 registrants.

The meeting features workshops on manuscript preparation and career development, clinical case symposium and original research plenary sessions. The APA workshop will be "What's New in Feedback? S.T.O.P. The Feedback Sandwich". This year the joint plenary session is entitled "Cardiometabolic Syndrome: Hypertension, Obesity & Diabetes, Pathophysiology and Epidemiology." This discussion will include pediatric and adult aspects of the disease process. The poster session on Thursday evening is very well attended and a great place to catch up with friends and network with colleagues. The original science oral presentation sessions reviewed and moderated by APA members include:

  • Adolescent Medicine/Pediatrics
  • Clinical Epidemiology / Preventive Medicine
  • Health Care Research
  • Medical Education/Medical Ethics
  • Nutrition

Each session will have up to eleven oral presentations by APA members, their residents or medical students.

This meeting is a great place to network with academic pediatricians from around our regions. It's held at the InterContinental Hotel on St. Charles Avenue in downtown New Orleans. The hotel is within walking distance of the famous French Quarter and Garden District. To register log onto: http://tulane.edu/cce/ click on Southern Regional Meeting and follow the directions. See you in New Orleans in February.

Region VII welcomes the following new members to APA.
Lisa Clewner, MD
Dell Children's Hospital
8230 Spicewood Springs Rd, #9
Austin, TX 78759

Cara Doughty, MD
Baylor College of Medicine
6621 Fannin, MC 1-1481
Houston, TX 77030

Sabeen Habib, MD
LSUHSC Shreveport
178 Hallette Dr
Shreveport, LA 71115

Elizabeth Hanson, MD
UT Health Sciences Center San Antonio
7703 Floyd Curl Dr MSC 7808
San Antonio, TX 78229

Joyee Vachani, MD
Baylor College of Medicine
4333 Vivian St
Bellaire, TX 77401

Sowdhamini Wallace, DO
Baylor College of Medicine
9113 Harbor Hills
Houston, TX 77030

Region VII Co-Chairs:
Shelly Baldwin
shellybaldwin@gmail.com

Nancy Kelly
Nancy.Kelly@childrens.com

Melissa Nass
mnass@lsuhsc.edu

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Region VIII

Greetings Region VIII members!

This time of year has everyone busy with holiday preparations: shopping, baking, social engagements and family traditions. Then January arrives and we become knee deep in Rhinovirus, Flu and RSV. By early February it's time for a break. Don't forget about the upcoming Regional meeting February 9-12 in New Orleans.

Region's VII and VIII leadership work together to provide an informative, timely, well organized meeting. We partner with the Southern Society for Pediatric Research, the Southern Society for General Internal Medicine, the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Southern Section of the American Federation for Medical Research to provide a state-of-the-art function. This is an exciting meeting, mingling with our internal medicine colleagues, sharing experiences and learning from one another. Last year there were just over 700 registrants.

The meeting features workshops on manuscript preparation and career development, clinical case symposium and original research plenary sessions. The APA workshop will be "What's New in Feedback? S.T.O.P. The Feedback Sandwich". This year the joint plenary session is entitled "Cardiometabolic Syndrome: Hypertension, Obesity & Diabetes, Pathophysiology and Epidemiology." This discussion will include pediatric and adult aspects of the disease process. The poster session on Thursday evening is very well attended and a great place to catch up with friends and network with colleagues. The original science oral presentation sessions reviewed and moderated by APA members include:

  • Adolescent Medicine/Pediatrics
  • Clinical Epidemiology / Preventive Medicine
  • Health Care Research
  • Medical Education/Medical Ethics
  • Nutrition

Each session will have up to eleven oral presentations by APA members, their residents or medical students.

This meeting is a great place to network with academic pediatricians from around our regions. It's held at the InterContinental Hotel on St. Charles Avenue in downtown New Orleans. The hotel is within walking distance of the famous French Quarter and Garden District. To register log onto: http://tulane.edu/cce/ click on Southern Regional Meeting and follow the directions. See you in New Orleans in February.

Region VIII Co-Chairs:
Annamaria Church
Annamaria.Church@erlanger.org

Michelle Stevenson
michelle.stevenson@louisville.edu

Judy Theriot
jather01@louisville.edu

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Special Interest Groups
Advocacy Training

We have a full agenda for our Advocacy Training SIG at PAS 2012!

The Advocacy Training SIG will be held on Sunday April 29 from 12 - 3 PM. We are fortunate to have Dr. Alice Kuo, Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and in the Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health, to review the recently completed HRSA-funded project of incorporating a public health curriculum into pediatric residency training programs. A panel discussion by three of the institutions that implemented this curriculum will complement her talk focusing on lessons learned, approaches to integrating the curriculum within each individual institution and successful strategies. Questions from the audience will be encouraged, with the hopes of stimulating similar endeavors.

Oral presentations of two trainee advocacy projects or research in advocacy, and a poster session featuring other trainees! pediatric health related community projects or public policy initiatives will follow.

We look forward to seeing you in Boston at the end of April! Please contact us with any questions.

SIG Co-Chairs:
Barbara Bayldon
bbayldon@childrensmemorial.org

Elizabeth Miller
lizkobe@gmail.com

Jennifer Walthall
jdhewlet@iupui.edu

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Continuity

As surely as the leaves change color in fall, everyone can look forward to the Continuity SIG meeting at the PAS Meeting in Boston this spring. Our Continuity SIG Task Force met for our planning meeting at the beginning of November and we are shaking things up a bit per the feedback we received from ya'll (I'm from the South), our members. We also have a number of exciting developments to share.

The long-awaited update of the Continuity Director's manual is now available at the APA website. You can access it two different ways by going to the APA website: Continuity SIG page and the Education Committee page. You can also find it by using Google and searching for "Manual for Pediatric Continuity Directors." It likely will also be made available to APPD members on that organization's share warehouse.

For those of you who saved the continuity visit data from last spring, please continue to hold on to that data. We are looking into ways to continue to collect and utilize this type of data to examine how the continuity experience will change over time, as the program requirements change. More information to come.

We are changing the format of our meeting to reduce the number of reports and increase time for group discussion. The theatre style seating will be replaced by sitting at round tables. We are planning on having two break-out sessions, one to discuss issues related to keeping Continuity alive with new RRC requirements coming into play during the next year, and a second for peer consults, a session we are calling "Cwick (Quick) Conti Consults." Reports will be replaced by handouts and streaming slides that will convey information about CORNET, the APA Board, and other newsworthy items.

We also have developed a list of references regarding continuity clinics. We will post this to the Continuity SIG website. Please feel free to look and I'd love to receive citations for other references that you believe should be included. Email me at olssonj@ecu.edu.

Finally, we are working hard to come up with a discussion board or blog, and explore the use of wiki's to share information in a different format than our listserv. The more we can engage our membership and support all of you in the good work that you do the better; more about this opportunity in the spring.

Have a wonderful Holiday season!

SIG Chair
John Mark Olsson
OLSSONJ@ecu.edu

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E-Learning in Medical Education

e-Learning SIG in Medical Education Quarterly Webinars
On November 22, we were inspired by the presentation of Dr. Erica Frank, Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, and a Canada Research Chair in Preventive Medicine and Population Health. Her presentation, "The World's First Free University: NextGenU.org" focused on the development and planned health sciences and other course offerings for NextGenU.org, launching in Beta in November 2011 after a decade of development. Presentation objectives were to: (1) Describe the revolutionary educational model of NextGenU; and (2) Discuss how NextGenU.org can become part of the way you teach and learn in medical education. A question and answer period was built into the presentation, and participants were invited to share their experiences and insights.

Note: If you were not able to attend this webinar, you can still view the presentation on our e-Learning SIG wiki http://elearningsig.pbworks.com/.

Webinar Coming in January!
Our next webinar entitled, "Making a Difference: Using Community-Based Learning Activities in Online Medical Education" will be offered on January 27, 2012. Community-based learning (CBL) strategies provide learners with opportunities to work and learn with a community partner to develop a deeper awareness of local issues as well as to engage in real-world application of course theories. The goals of this session are to: (1) describe the different types of CBL; (2) indentify the critical elements of CBL; (3) explore the potential benefits and challenges of using CBL in internet enhanced learning environment; and (4) propose strategies for integrating CBL into online medical education.

About the Presenter
Jennifer McVay-Dyche is Director of Distance Education at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, where she leads a cross-campus team focused on promoting best practices in online program delivery. She also serves as an instructional design consultant and trainer for faculty teaching online and hybrid courses. Jennifer also teaches courses for the University of Cincinnati's Online Master's Degree in Education for Physicians and Other Healthcare Professionals. She has more than 10 years of experience teaching adults in online and face-to-face settings.

Jennifer is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Leadership: Higher Education Administration at University of Dayton. She earned an M.A. Ed. in Adult Education/ Distance Learning from University of Phoenix and a B.A. in Corporate Communication from Marietta College. Her research interests include online instructional design for adult learners, faculty development and support for online instructors, and online community development. Jennifer has presented at international and national educational meetings including the International Open and Distance Learning Conference in Eskisehir, Turkey, the Northwest eLearning Community's Annual conference, the Sloan-C's International Conference on Online Learning and the annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning.

SIG Co-Chairs:
Kadriye Lewis
Kadriye.Lewis@cchmc.org

Heidi Saliba
hsaliba@peds.ufl.edu

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Ethics

Dear Ethics SIG members,

We hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

As the year goes along we are also working on our next PAS meeting scheduled for May 2012. We have identified the topics and speakers. You will get you the details in our next newsletter.

This year we are proud to announce the first APA Ethics SIG Essay Contest. Here is the official letter we sent to Pediatric Program Directors:

Dear Pediatric Residents and Fellows of all Subspecialties in Pediatrics,

We are pleased to announce the first APA Ethics Special Interest Group (SIG) Essay Contest.

The contest is open to all pediatric residents and pediatric subspecialty fellows (including pediatric surgical fellows). Essays should focus on the ethical issues that residents and fellows face while caring for patients. Topics may include but are not limited to personal narratives of ethical dilemmas faced in training or practice or scholarly presentations of issues related to organizational, interprofessional or global health ethics.

Essays should be between 800 to 1600 words. Essays longer than 1700 words will be disqualified without review. Essays must be original and unpublished works. If there are multiple authors, the award will be shared. All co-authors should provide demographic information (training status) and role in manuscript preparation.

Two awards will be offered:

1st Place - $200
2nd Place - $100
The winning essays will be read at the PAS meeting in Boston and will be published in the APA website as part of Ethics SIG newsletter in June 2012. If the resident or fellow will be attending PAS in Boston they may present their paper themselves.

Deadline: March 10, 2012
Submit essays to: zsalih@iupui.edu

We wish you all the best in your writings in ethics!
Zeynep Salih, M.D.
Indiana University School of Medicine
Riley Hospital for Children
znsalih@hotmail.com
Diane Plantz, M.D.
University of Missouri Kansas City,
Children's Mercy Hospital
dmplantz@cmh.edu

Please feel free to spread the news in your departments and divisions. Our goal is to reach as many residents and fellows as we can. We will keep in touch via our newsletter and continue to be a platform where we can share our views, experiences in ethics learning and teaching.

SIG Co-Chairs:
Zeynep Salih
znsalih@hotmail.com

Diane Plantz
dmplantz@cmh.edu

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Health Literacy

Now in its third year, the Health Literacy SIG continues to work towards addressing the problem of low health literacy in policy, advocacy, research, and education arenas. A diverse group met in Denver at the annual PAS meeting.

Advocacy: A rich discussion took place regarding a number of advocacy issues, including discussion of the new DHHS National Action Plan / use of the AHRQ Universal Precautions Toolkit, and review of new AAP patient education materials related to obesity, with members of the AAP publishing group in attendance.

Policy: SIG members discussed and endorsed components of the CDC's PROTECT medication safety initiatives. HL SIG members unanimously voted to support 2 CDC asks: 1) Advocate for milliliter (mL) to be the preferred unit of measurement for liquid medications, 2) Promote the soon to be launched Up and Away campaign to encourage parents to store medications safely, away from the reach of children. (These asks have since been brought to the APA Board for consideration, and have received Board approval.)

Research: Health literacy-related presentations at PAS were reviewed, including the first topic symposia on health literacy (co-chaired by Shonna Yin and Benard Dreyer) held on April 30th. Iman Sharif presented information about her NIH/NHLBI-funded R21 on improving communication with low literacy caretakers through health provider use of teachback, which focuses specifically on pediatric asthma. Lee Sanders provided an update on the National Children's Study and the inclusion of health literacy-related research questions.

Education: Teri Turner updated the group on education initiatives related to health literacy, including a discussion of the AAP Pedialink on health literacy.

SIG members discussed the following next steps prior to the 2012 PAS meeting: 1) moving forward an APA policy statement on health literacy (with Board approval), 2) leveraging the HL SIG to provide feedback on patient education and policy issues at a national level, 3) promoting interdisciplinary collaboration with individuals and other organizations interested in health literacy and child health.

Recently, SIG members Barbara Bayldon and Shalini Forbis took the lead in organizing a new Child Health Interest Group at the HARC meeting (Health Literacy Annual Research Conference) held in Chicago on October 17-18. The interest group was well attended, and discussion items focused on medication safety in children (presented by Shonna Yin), and children with special health care needs (presented by Lee Sanders). Special thanks to Barbara and Shalini for organizing this new group!

If you are interested in becoming involved in the activities of the HL SIG, or have ideas about next steps for the HL SIG, please let us know.

SIG Co-Chairs:
Lee Sanders
lsanders@stanford.edu

Hsiang Yin
YINH02@med.nyu.edu

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Newborn Nursery

Plans for the spring PAS meeting are well underway. Be sure to mark your calendar to attend the SIG session which is scheduled for Sunday, April 29, 8:00-11:00am. If you have ideas regarding excellent speakers or hot topics for the SIG agenda, please send them to Terry or Beth ASAP.

Members from the SIG will also be presenting a workshop entitled Quality Begins at Birth: Creating and Conducting Quality Improvement (QI) Projects for Newborns. Start off your meeting with your friends from the SIG, hear some great presentations, and work on projects for your own nurseries on Saturday, April 28, 2012, 2:45-4:45pm.

SIG Co-Chairs:
Elizabeth Simpson
easimpson@cmh.edu

Terry Wall
twall@peds.uab.edu

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Qualitative Research

We are thrilled to announce that the Board of the Academic Pediatric Association has approved our proposal to start the Qualitative Research in Pediatrics Special Interest Group.

In response to the great interest in qualitative research among faculty and trainees at our own institutions and among our colleagues at the PAS national meeting, we created the SIG with the primary goal of providing a venue for a diverse group of qualitative researchers to discuss issues related to qualitative research. These include:

  • Skill building around qualitative research methodologies
  • Funding for qualitative research
  • Publishing of qualitative research
  • Shaping standards of excellence for qualitative research

We plan to address some of these at the first SIG meeting at the 2012 PAS national meeting with guest speakers who are experts in using these methods and who have been successful in moving their research from idea to project to dissemination. This meeting will be fertile ground for setting up mentoring relationships for those less experienced in qualitative research and for thinking about collaborative research.

We realize that the SIG will only be successful if it meets the needs of its members. At our first meeting we plan to, among other things, identify these needs, outline more specific goals and generate ideas for activities that will move us toward accomplishing these goals.

In the meantime, we are gearing up for our first meeting in May at the 2012 PAS meeting. We are starting a list serve through the APA and encouraged those interested in qualitative research at any level to join.

Please join our list serve or email any of us directly with your thoughts or questions. In addition, please spread the word to your pediatric colleagues and plan to attend our first SIG meeting which will be held on Saturday, April 28, 2:45-4:45pm.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Boston in May!

SIG Co-Chairs:
Dorene Balmer
db2595@columbia.edu

Eve Colson
eve.colson@yale.edu

Janice Hanson
janice.hanson@childrenscolorado.org

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Announcements
Academic Pediatrics

If you haven't recently looked at the website for Academic Pediatrics (www.academicpedsjnl.net), you should pay a visit - - there are some great new features. Our first online video commentary has been posted, and the overall look-and-feel has been improved. In addition, our future plans include enhancements to RSS feeds and other usability changes; all aimed at allowing readers the most flexibility in receiving Academic Pediatrics in the way they'd prefer, when they'd prefer. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please share it with the Online Editor, Dipesh Navsaria.

Submitted by
Dipesh Navsaria
dipesh@navsaria.com

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AAP Funding for Tabacoo-Related Visiting Lectureship

AAP Logo

AAP Richmond Center Funding for Tobacco-Related Visiting Lectureships
www.aap.org/richmondcenter/FundingOpportunities.html

Are you currently working on initiatives in your community or practice to protect children from tobacco and secondhand smoke and would like to receive funding for them? Are you wondering how to implement effective tobacco prevention strategies in your organization?

The Julius B. Richmond Visiting Lectureship Program provides awards of up to $3,000 each to fund two-day educational programs focusing on the field of tobacco control and child health. The lectureships are designed to promote secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure control and to integrate SHS prevention activities in pediatric education in AAP Chapters and educational institutions in the U.S. and abroad. The call for applications is now open. The deadline for submissions is January 25, 2012.

Submitted by
Regina Shaefer
RShaefer@aap.org

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Call for Nominations - AAP

Call for Nominations - AAP Julius B. Richmond Center Tobacco Consortium Members
The AAP Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence announces a Call for Nominations for AAP Julius B. Richmond Center Tobacco Consortium Members.

The Tobacco Consortium serves as a forum for scientific exchange and work-in-progress presentations between established and newer investigators who are committed to tobacco control and prevention affecting children, youth and families. The Consortium uses a participatory process to set its agenda, and provides opportunities to share cutting edge research and work in progress to advance child and adolescent tobacco control and prevention.

AAP members and non-members interested in scientific research in child and adolescent tobacco prevention and control are invited to nominate themselves or be nominated for either membership or chairperson positions on the Consortium.

Nominations should include: 1) a brief Fact Sheet (describing scholarly activities and interest), 2) a biosketch, and 3) a letter of recommendation (optional). Nomination forms and more information about the Consortium and this Call for Nominations are available at
http://www.aap.org/richmondcenter/tobaccoConsortium.html. Applications should be submitted by e-mail to richmondcenter@aap.org by February 28, 2012.

To learn more about the AAP Richmond Center, please see www.aap.org/richmondcenteror contact the Center's Director, Jonathan D. Klein, MD, MPH at jklein@aap.org or 847-434-4322.

Submitted by
Regina Shaefer
RShaefer@aap.org

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News from Medical College of Wisconsin

John Meurer was appointed Director of the Institute for Health and Society at the Medical College of Wisconsin in September. Tim Schum replaced John as Chief of General Pediatrics and Medical Director of the Downtown Health Center. Mitch Grayson replaced John as Coalition Director of Fight Asthma Milwaukee Allies led by Children's Hospital and Health System. The institute aims to improve health and advance equity through academic and community partnerships. Institute activities include biostatistics, epidemiology, bioethics, community engagement, youth violence and infant mortality prevention, urban partnerships, and global health.

Submitted by
John Meurer
jmeurer@mcw.edu

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News from Saint Louis University

The General Academic Pediatrics Division at Saint Louis University is collaborating with the Departments of General Internal Medicine and Family Practice to develop the Saint Louis University Primary Care Training Center project through the HRSA Bureau of Health Professions Program. The purpose of the project is to form a collaborative between primary care programs to increase the number of medical students and residents choosing primary care as their profession. The program will allow us to a) develop a collaborative primary care program, b) develop a systematic approach to primary care scholarship and clinical research, c) develop the Patient Centered Medical Home as the clinical laboratory for the conduct of primary care scholarship and clinical research, and d) provide exposure to and evaluation of the inter-professional education model within primary care settings. This inter-professional team in clinical practice and education will be led by Dr. Leigh Tenkku in the Department of Family Practice and will pursue the goals over the next 5 years.

Submitted by
Donna Halloran
dhallor2@slu.edu

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PAS Workshop and Handout Rules

Workshop Leaders and Special Interest Group Chairs - NEW This Year at PAS
In order for your sessions to be eligible for CME credits any handouts and slides that you prepare must adhere to the following:

  • No display or mention of company logos or products
  • Use of generic terms instead of product trade names
  • No data, data analysis, content, or slides generated by a single commercial source
  • Provide balance in presenting data and therapeutic options

In general, the handout -

  • is evidence-based
  • presents balanced data and therapeutic options, if applicable
  • is unbiased and free from commercial influence
  • is non-promotional

In early January you will be sent an email with instructions for completing an online form ensuring your compliance. Each workshop leader and SIG chair will be responsible for reviewing and approving the handouts. March 1, 2012 is the deadline for completing the process.

Any questions, please contact marge@academicpeds.org

Submitted by
Judith Shaw
Judith.Shaw@uvm.edu

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Reviews
Environmental Health Review

Lily Xiao Bin Cao-Cao RN*1, Irvica Galla RN*1, Perry Sheffield MD MPH2, Margaret Rafferty DNP MPH1 (*share first authorship)
1 New York City College of Technology, The City University of New York
2Department of Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

From Environ Health Perspect. 2011 Sep 1. [Epub ahead of print]

Associations of Early Childhood Manganese and Lead Co-exposure with Neurodevelopment.
Claus Henn, B, Schnaas, L., Ettinger, AS, Schwartz J, Lamadrid-Figuero H, Hernandex-Avila M, Amariasiriwardena C, Hu H, Bellinger DC, Wright RO, Tellez-Rojo MM. Harvard School of Public Health

In groundbreaking research, U.S. and Mexican scientists assessed the synergistic effect of manganese and lead, two known neurotoxins. Little is known about the role that combined chemical exposure plays in the cognitive and motor developmental delays in young children. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether manganese-lead co-exposure was associated with greater neurodevelopmental deficiencies than either of the metals taken separately. Four hundred fifty-five Mexican children who were part of a larger study that followed children from birth through 36 months of age were included in this research. Neurodevelopment was tested at six-month intervals (12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months) using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II. Archived blood samples collected at 12 and 24 months were analyzed in the Harvard Laboratories. Potential confounders, such as birth weight and maternal /parental sociodemographic status, were controlled to prevent bias. The study found that children with higher manganese levels at 12 months who also had elevations of lead, subsequently performed worse on the Bayley Scales. This pattern was not evident at 24 months. Joint exposure to manganese and lead were associated with greater deficits on the Bayley Scales than exposure to either metal alone.

The research raises important questions about the vulnerability of the developing brain to the combined effect of toxic metals with profound implications for public health. Given the millions of children worldwide with elevated lead levels, does co-exposure to manganese cause more vulnerability to cognitive and motor deficits? The finding that twelve months was a sensitive developmental window for the interaction of these two metals requires more investigation in order to inform practice decisions.

Submitted by
Perry Sheffield
perry.sheffield@mssm.edu

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