| APA
Strategic Plan 2007-2012 |
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Letter
in full |
Letter
in brief |
Letter # 1:
Overview |
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| Letter
# 2: Core Enhancements: Clarify our Identity
(including Name Change) |
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| Letter
# 3: Core Enhancements:
Improve Effectiveness, Infrastructure |
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| Letter
# 4: Meet Membership Needs |
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| Letter
# 5: Promote Professional Development,
Research, and Scholarship |
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| Letter # 6: An Equitable
Children's Agenda |
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| Letter # 7: Summary:
What You Can Do |
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December 18, 2007
Dear APA colleagues,
The APA has a new name: Academic
Pediatric Association!
As you are undoubtedly aware, the APA
Board recommended in May 2007 to change the APA’s
name to Academic
Pediatric Association. This momentous
decision arose
from our November 2006 Strategic Planning retreat and
was reached after a tremendous amount of soul-searching,
consultation with senior APA members, and discussions
involving literally hundreds of APA members at national
meetings, regional or local meetings, through email
communications, or telephone contacts. Although there
was a small amount of honest and heartfelt dissent,
the overwhelming response was to strongly support the
name change.
The name change is a critical and natural
component of our ambitious 5-year Strategic Plan
which is intended
to serve our members better and ultimately improve
the health of children through enhanced academic professional
development, education, patient care, research, and
advocacy. I discussed the issues surrounding a name
change at great length in my Letter #2 regarding the
Strategic Plan (see http://www.ambpeds.org/strategic_plan.htm).
Of note, our new name allows us to maintain the “APA” abbreviation,
which has tremendous brand recognition.
In October 2007, the name change was
included in our election ballot and sent to 1,781
APA members. Altogether
671 out of 1,781 members voted (38%), and 85% of voting
members voted “yes” to a name change. Since
the APA bylaws dictate that a two-thirds majority of
voting members must agree to a change in the name of
the organization, the name change is thereby accepted
by the APA membership and was ratified by the APA Board
on November 19, 2007 at our board meeting in Saint
Augustine, Florida.
Here-in, we will be known as the Academic Pediatric
Association (APA).
Our new name carries with it an obligation to bring
innovation and the best evidence to all of our work
in education, clinical care, research, and advocacy
on behalf of children and families. Our new name is
a challenge to us all.
Communication Strategy Regarding our New Name
The APA Board and our central office have begun the
process of changing our web-based and paper-based names
and all APA-related documents.
We are beginning to notify an extensive list of national
and local organizations that interact with the APA,
as well as chairs of departments of pediatrics, directors
of pediatric residency, student and fellowship programs,
and many other organizations. In addition, we are notifying
numerous individuals who have important links with
the APA. If you have names of either organizations
or individuals who you think should be notified, please
do so or send me an email and I will be happy to notify
them.
The APA Board is working on a tag line,
mission statement, vision statement, and core values
to accompany our
new name. These issues were all discussed at length
in my Letter #2 regarding the strategic plan. The following
section displays the APA Board’s recommendations.
We welcome your comments and suggestions. We are using
these electronic communications to continue the process
of involving all APA members in our strategic planning
efforts. Following input from APA members, the Board
will vote on a tag line, a new mission and vision statement
as well as a list of core values. Please send comments
to connie@ambpeds.org.
Tag Line
The APA Board recommends that as often as possible,
we all utilize a tag line together with our new name
on written documents. The Board suggests the following
tag line:
Academic Pediatric Association (APA)
Leadership in advocacy, education, patient care, and
research.
This tag line is actually a shortened version of our
proposed mission statement (see below), thereby linking
our name with an enduring mission.
Mission Statement
A mission statement communicates the purpose or “soul” of
an organization. Good mission statements often have
a purpose statement (what our organization seeks to
accomplish) and a business statement (what major activities
we do).
We recommend the following simple mission statement
which we believe appropriately describes the four core
missions of the APA:
Improving the health of all children and adolescents
in their families and communities through advocacy,
education, patient care, and research.
Vision Statement
A vision statement describes what the organization
or world around us will be like if we succeed in our
mission. My favorite vision statement is Martin Luther
King’s “I have a dream.”
We recommend the following vision statement
which the Board believes effectively describes our
collective
vision for the APA’s contribution to the health
and well-being of children:
The APA strives to be recognized globally for innovation
and leadership in creating and disseminating new knowledge
and in enhancing health care and educational programs.
Core Values
Although it is normal and healthy for organizational
mission and vision statements to be updated every so
often, core values are enduring characteristics that
should remain throughout the life of the organization.
The APA board and members of the November 2006 Strategic
Planning retreat generated a preliminary list of core
values. Before disseminating this list, the APA Board
would like to ask all APA members to share your thoughts
about critical core values by sending your suggestions
to connie@ambpeds.org. In a separate communication
we will summarize our members’ core values using
this iterative process.
Process for Deciding on the Tag Line, Mission, Vision,
and Core Values
Following a reasonable time for comment by APA members,
the APA Board will finalize the wording for the tag
line, mission statement, vision statement, and core
values, and they will appear on our revised website
as well as on some of our online and written documents.
According to APA bylaws, these items do not require
a formal vote, but we very much welcome your input.
Several of you have already sent suggestions about
the mission and vision statements as a response to
my prior letters, and we have incorporated suggestions
into the current versions.
A new name is both historic and daunting, because it
represents a challenge to collectively serve children
and families even better by enhancing our academic
pediatric mission of advocacy, education, patient
care, and research.
Remember, it is all about children.
Peter G. Szilagyi, MD, MPH
President, APA
