New President and COO Take the Reins at American Thyroid Association

Newswise — Falls Church, Virginia. Oct. 27, 2011 – A new era of leadership begins at the American Thyroid Association (ATA), with the inauguration of its new president, James A. Fagin, MD, and new secretary/chief operating officer (COO), John C. Morris, MD, who today assumed their new positions at the 81st Annual Meeting of the ATA, October 26-30, 2011.

Dr. Fagin is Chief of the Endocrine Service and a Member of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He was formerly the James Heady Professor of Medicine and Director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Dr. Fagin describes the ATA as “my academic home for almost two decades.” Despite these challenging times, the ATA is thriving, Dr. Fagin observes, due largely to the expansion of its core missions in recent years. In particular, he points to the ATA’s success in providing leadership in thyroidology through the development of clinical guidelines and by broadening the scope of its publications.

“We are intent on seeking new audiences, best exemplified by our outreach to the general public and to patients through dedicated publications and educational activities,” Dr. Fagin states. In this era of information overload and ‘Internet Thyroid Diseases,’ the reasoned voice of the ATA needs to be heard. We must also continue to make our society attractive to young clinicians and researchers. Finally, our Annual Meeting is the jewel in our crown, and we must endeavor to attract the best basic and clinical investigators in ALL areas of thyroidology, which is essential to maintain the vitality of our organization.” Dr. Fagin obtained his medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires and completed endocrinology fellowships at the Veterans Administration Wadsworth and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. His main research interests center on the pathogenesis of thyroid neoplasms, and his laboratory has performed extensive studies on thyroid cancer genetics and cell signaling, and on the development of mouse models to enable a better understand the biology of thyroid tumors. His work has also focused on the identification of therapies directed at key oncoproteins that drive thyroid cancers, and he continues to pursue an active clinical interest in the care of patients with thyroid cancer.

Throughout his career, Dr. Fagin has served the ATA in several key capacities, including as chairperson of the Annual Meeting Scientific Program Committee in 1996, a member and subsequently chair of the ATA Research Committee (2002-2006), and co-chair of the ATA meeting “Frontiers in Thyroid Cancer” in 2005. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the ATA, serves as chair of the Publications Committee, and is the Editor of Signal.

Dr. Fagin’s other professional accomplishments including serving as a member and then chair of the NIH Endocrinology Study Section (1998-2002), serving on a number of Editorial Boards, and serving as a former Associate Editor of Endocrinology and former Editor (Americas) for Clinical Endocrinology (Oxford). He is also the former Editor-in-Chief of Endocrine-Related Cancer. He served as faculty and then chair of the annual Molecular and Cellular Research course of the Endocrine Society, and was a co-organizer of the Endocrine Society Genomics and Proteomics Conference. Dr. Fagin is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He was the recipient of the Abbott Thyroid Research Clinical Fellowship Mentor Award of the Endocrine Society, the Merck Prize of the European Thyroid Association, and the Sydney Ingbar Distinguished Lectureship Award of the ATA.

Dr. Morris is Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism, and Nutrition at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. A native of Tennessee and graduate of King College in Bristol, TN, he obtained his medical degree from the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis, where he also completed a residency in Internal Medicine and served as Chief Resident. He then went to Mayo Clinic for an Endocrinology Fellowship and additional post-doctoral training under the mentorship of Dr. Robert J. Ryan.

Dr. Morris’s clinical practice centers primarily on thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. His research focuses on the thyroidal iodide transporter and its role as a marker and therapeutic gene in cancer gene therapy. Current work in that arena involves gene transfer of the iodide transporter gene into human prostate and breast cancer models followed by radioiodine therapy of these non-thyroidal cancers.

“It is both an exciting and challenging time for the ATA and for thyroidologists in general,” says Dr. Morris. “Excitement comes, for example, in the opening and completion of clinical trials of new agents offering novel therapies for our patients with advanced thyroid cancer and the incorporation of new guidelines and technologies into our practices and research laboratories. Challenge comes from the ever tightening research budget and increased competition for the limited resources available to support education, research, and patient care, and from the changing relationship between physicians and their societies and the pharmaceutical industry.”

Dr. Morris has served the ATA as a member and chair of the Scientific Program Committee, member of the Public Health Committee, and chair of the Laboratory Services Committee. He also served as a member of the ATA Board of Directors during 2001-2005, and he was co-director of the program for the first ATA Spring Symposium on Potassium Iodide Protection for Nuclear Accident in 2003. Other professional activities include his role as Association Editor of Endocrine Practice and a member of the editorial boards of JCEM and Clinical Endocrinology.

About the ATA Annual MeetingThe 81st Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association will be held October 26-30, 2011 at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells (near Palm Springs), California. This four day creative and innovative scientific program, chaired by Drs. Anthony Hollenberg and Martha Zeiger, has carefully balanced clinical and basic science sessions on the latest advances in thyroidology. The ATA meeting is designed to offer continuing education for endocrinologists, internists, surgeons, basic scientists, nuclear medicine scientists, pathologists, endocrine fellows and nurses, physician assistants and other health care professionals. Visit www.thyroid.org for more information.

About the ATAThe American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international individual membership organization with over 1,400 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 88th anniversary, ATA delivers its mission through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded monthly journals, THYROID, Clinical Thyroidology and Clinical Thyroidology for Patients; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease. Visit www.thyroid.org for more information.