Back home, people sometimes chuckle about all of my meetings. Like many of you, my days are filled with meetings, and I sometimes feel as if I have too few hours in which to accomplish the work that gets generated from my meetings! Yet it is through meetings, through personal interactions with others, that the greatest strides are made. I have not had too many “eureka’s” in the shower; nearly all have arisen during meetings with colleagues, either locally or nationally.

One of the APA’s greatest attributes is that it provides members with opportunities for productive meetings. I would like to highlight the importance of getting involved through these APA-sponsored meetings. The most visible meeting is the upcoming Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) meeting in Honolulu. We anticipate that as many as 750 APA members (40%) will attend the PAS meetings this year. I have a few suggestions for making these meetings productive. First, consider contacting individuals before the meeting to set up time to talk. Second, create your own individual plan of learning, perhaps focusing on a certain “track.” Certainly try to attend every poster and talk in your primary area of interest. Third, make it a point to meet new people. Senior APA members should make sure that you introduce your junior local fellows, residents and faculty to national colleagues. Junior individuals should not be shy—create new relationships! Walk up to an APA board member, region chair or SIG leader, introduce yourself and get involved. Fourth, during the meeting create an “idea list” and also a “to do” list, generated during the meeting. Fifth, make sure that you follow up on these two lists. Finally, enjoy the meetings! They are always energizing, intellectually challenging, and exciting! Have fun! This is academics at its best!

I’d like to highlight some important APA-based activities at the upcoming PAS meeting. We have 35 SIGs which will be holding meetings at PAS! Their topics cover the critical areas of child health. All of our regions will be holding breakfast meetings—please make a special effort to attend them! You’ll probably be awake anyway considering the time zone. The four APA committees will be holding important meetings. The PAS meeting is an excellent time to become immersed in an activity from a SIG, region, or committee. Also, please attend the “APA Business Meeting” which is barely about business and rather filled with interesting awards and speeches including the George Armstrong AwardLecture. This meeting is open to all. Consider attending the APA Presidential Plenary, and in fact the presidential plenary sessions for all the societies. I recognize that there are always scheduling conflicts; you can only do your best. Finally, several major APA-sponsored groups will take advantage of PAS to meet, including the Educational Scholars Program, the New Century Scholars, CORNET, members of the Community Pediatric Training Initiative, the editorial board of Ambulatory Pediatrics, and dozens of others.

Speaking of meetings, many of us are still excited about the tremendous success of our second APA-sponsored National Leadership Conference held in Orlando mid-March. About 145 junior leaders from 8 disciplines within the APA attended to sharpen their leadership skills; these included academic general pediatrics, adolescent medicine, child abuse, developmental-behavioral pediatrics, environmental medicine, health services research, hospitalist, pediatric emergency medicine. We had wonderful speakers and workshops. I urge all who attended to bring your new skills and knowledge back home and apply them in your daily activities.

Either I or other APA board members have been attending the APA regional meetings. These have been outstanding! Most have had keynote addresses and have focused on specific areas of interest to our members. They have all had excellent research and educational presentations including talks and posters. It has been so gratifying to see and meet with a lot of young APA members, and residents who may become the next generation of academic generalists. Keep up the momentum by working on meaningful activities in between meetings, and collaborating on areas critical to child health!

I have had the special honor of attending several other meetings sponsored by the APA. The Pediatric Hospitalist Meeting last summer was charged with energy and excitement, and the upcoming one in Denver will undoubtedly be equally great! The dedicated and talented group of individuals in pediatric environmental health had a wonderful meeting this fall, with an excellent combination of senior and junior individuals clearly shaping an important new discipline.

It is through meetings and personal interactions, and the outcomes of those meetings that APA members have an impact on health professionals and on children.

Finally, I would like to highlight my most cherished type of meeting, and also challenge all of us at the same time. My favorite meeting involves mentoring. Mentoring is this special relationship between a senior individual and a more academically junior person that involves ongoing career development, advice, and guidance. Good mentors are accessible, active, engaging, critical, and affirming. Good mentors have a profound influence on their protégés. Yet mentoring is clearly a bi-directional interaction and mentors gain as much or more than they give. Mentoring is the ultimate in productive meetings. Many APA leaders have spoken eloquently about mentorship, and it is one of the most critical and treasured parts of academic life.

Yet throughout my travels this year, I have heard far too many APA members and future APA members say that they have not had adequate mentoring. This is due partly to the fact that there are simply insufficient senior individuals in many areas and fields, particularly in the newer disciplines. A core mission of the APA is to promote professional development among academic generalists. Somehow we must as a field figure out how to more optimally mentor and be mentored. It is the highest form of meetings, the pinnacle of academic achievement. I see an enormous amount of true mentoring happening throughout the APA. We just need to figure out how to bring mentoring to even more of our members.

Through your one-on-one interactions, including mentoring and your regional and national multi-disciplinary meetings, you are doing outstanding work. By these meetings, your efforts magnify beyond individual achievements, resulting in even greater education, research, clinical care, and child advocacy, which are the four pillars of the APA.

Remember, it is all about children.

Updated 04/07/08