To our APA members:
I was delighted to host our amazing APA Board Members in Rochester at the beginning of October. It is always so energizing to be working on our APA strategy for ensuring child health through supporting the careers of child health professionals with such a bright and engaged group.
The energy I get from APA’s Board is similar to the energy I feel in our country after last night. I am so delighted that Dr. Annie Andrews has been elected to be the Senator from South Carolina. Dr. Andrews was the APA PHM SIG Chair from 2018-2021, and is a strong supporter of children and academic pediatricians, as well as being an outstanding researcher before moving into public service. Congratulations Dr. Andrews!
During the board meeting, we talked quite a bit about the uncertainty in our current environment. With the changes at NIH and HHS, the threat of looming Medicaid cuts, and the existential threat (or is it promise?) of AI, all of us in academic pediatrics are facing times of unusual complexity. During COVID, I gained experience using a very helpful leadership framework that comes out of the military, which highlights times that have Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (awkwardly abbreviated as VUCA). I have found it very helpful in how I communicated with my division (I was a Division Chief of General Pediatrics in NYC at the time) now. The VUCA Prime framework counters these challenges:
Source: Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Apr 2;12(7):773. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12070773
As APA president, I want to bring these concepts into my communication with the APA members as well.
At the board meeting, we talked about our VISION:
- “A thriving pediatric community that ensures optimal health and well being for all children, especially those most vulnerable”, and how we can keep that north star as we navigate the current challenges. We did a “deep dive” on the 3 strategic goals that we are focused on this year: Developing diverse scholars and leaders to advance child health and equity, Fostering a diverse environment of inclusivity, engagement, and collaboration, and Achieving strategic and sustainable growth. These align very well with my focus this year on how we maintain a strong academic pediatric workforce.
- One of the exciting program updates that came out of the meeting was that we are expanding our New Century Scholars Resident Mentoring Program. This program supports residents who are from groups that are underrepresented in medicine, and has had great success at launching careers of diverse academic pediatricians. We had a significant increase in the number of applications, and agreed as a Board that we wanted to support this interest. This aligned with our vision, we understood our membership’s needs, we had a clear response to this, and acted with agility to make the decision to expand.
In the spirit of UNDERSTANDING:
- I would love to hear from the membership about how we can continue to provide value to you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out; my email is karenwilsonapa@outlook.com.
In the spirit of CLARITY:
- I wanted to underscore the work of Kimberly Montez, APA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Chair, with the Pediatric Policy Council responding to many requests to sign on to letters, and advocate for the children, families, and child health professionals that we serve. As you can imagine, she is working overtime in this environment. We forwarded the monthly PPC connections to the membership to demonstrate the multiple ways the PPC is advocating on behalf of the APA. Please watch out for the email about renewing your membership. Member dues allow us to do things like expand the New Century Scholars Resident Mentoring Program and go to Capitol Hill to advocate for funding for child health research.
Finally, the small size of our organization ensures we can remain AGILE:
- Together, we can work together to respond to threats to our mission and advocate for advances in our field. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with ideas; my email is karenwilsonapa@outlook.com or to Jessica Konrath, APA’s executive director. Her email is jessica@academicpeds.org.
A huge thank you to all of you, who work every day to improve the health and lives of all children. The world is a better place because of you.
Warmly,
Karen
