July 15, 2021
Dear Members,
I hope you are enjoying summer and keeping cool. I am contacting you on behalf of the Academic Pediatric Association’s Board of Directors, to update you on recent changes the APA has made to its nominations and leadership recruitment process.
I had the privilege of chairing the 2020 Nominating Committee with four esteemed colleagues. Among a difficult year, the Committee recognized the need to make changes to our process to increase equity and mitigate unconscious bias in our leadership recruitment process. Together with representatives from APA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Anti-Racism Task Force, numerous changes were recommended and have since been approved by the Board of Directors. The changes are summarized below. As a result of these changes we are hoping our process will be more equitable and more diverse individuals will express interest in APA leadership.
Changes to APA Nominating Committee Process
- Revised application process: created a universal application was created and removed requirement of CVs.
- Modified the recruitment timeline and increased the time the application is open from 1-2 months to 4 months.
- Expanded the Nominating Committee to six members total and increased the term of service to three years.
- Implemented a year-round communications strategy highlighting the benefits of APA leadership.
- Implemented position-specific rubrics to mitigate bias and accurately review candidates for each position and commensurate with experience.
Thank you to those who engaged in this process. These changes would not have been possible without their expertise and thoughtful deliberation: Drs. Susan Bostwick, Paul Chung, Lauren Gambill, Scott Krugman, Melissa Long, Jaspreet Loyal, Kenya McNeal-Trice, Kimberly Montez, John Olsson, Emma Omoruyi and Colin Orr.
These changes reflect the many ways that the APA is demonstrating our core values of diversity and inclusion. We welcome and appreciate your feedback.
Dr. Latha Chandran is chairing the 2022 Nominating Committee, comprised of Drs. Jaspreet Loyal, Salathiel Kenrick-Allwood, Scott Krugman and Emma Omoruyi. I would be remiss to not mention they are seeking candidates for the president-elect, education committee chair, membership, diversity and inclusion chair and nominating committee positions. If you considered any of these positions prior to this email, please nominate yourself or consider nominating a colleague. Serving on the Board of Directors has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. Thinking about yourself in one of these positions is the first step to serving in one.
If you have any questions please reach out to me at sselbst@nemours.org. If you have any questions about the open positions, please reach out to Dr. Latha Chandran at lchandran.med.miami.edu or jessica@academicpeds.org. We truly appreciate all your time and commitment to our organization.
Sincerely,
Steven M. Selbst, MD
Past-President
Academic Pediatric Association
