President's Column - A Meeting to Remember

John R. Crouse, MD

The Southeast Lipid Association's annual meeting in beautiful and historic Williamsburg from August 24, 2002 was both informative and enjoyable. The program for the meeting was put together with considerable thought and effort by Drs. Jim McKenney and Frank Zieve, SELA Board Members. Pulling together this program is no small feat, and it was carried off without a hitch. In fact, there were a number of innovations introduced by Drs. McKenney and Zieve in this program including the industry sponsored symposium the first night, the debate, and the wrapup SELA lecture by Dr. John LaRosa. All of these innovations were tremendously well received and are certain to be perpetuated in future meetings.

Major delivered lectures in the program ranged from basic science to practical treatment. Dr. Brian Brewer of the NHLBI presented a scholarly overview of the role of HDL in reverse cholesterol transport and the newest information about the transporters and receptors that govern the concentrations of HDL cholesterol. For something completely different, Dr. Allen Brown presented information about development and conduct of an extremely large lipid clinic and showed how such a clinic can be conducted and operated very efficiently with a maximum throughput and achievement of excellent compliance with treatment goals. Other presentations on the impact of nutritional factors on lipids and lipoproteins, new drugs in development, and the latest update on noninvasive imaging of vascular disease were also extremely well thought out.

On Sunday morning I attended two of the four breakout sessions; those conducted by Dr. Frank Zieve and Dr. Peter Kwiterovitch. "Zieve's Zebras" presented very interesting patients with complex dyslipidemias, and Dr. Zieve led the audience through a challenging and enjoyable process of deciding on the appropriate treatment plans for these complex patients. It came as a surprise to me to hear that, because of his frequent use of Fish Oil, "most of my patients can be identified because of the cats that follow them around town". Dr. Kwiterovitch also presented information on a topic that is of critical interest, but has not previously been well covered, management of hypercholesterolemia in the pediatric age group. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to attend the programs by Dr. Ken LaBresh and Dr. Allen Brown but from the active discussion at the end of the program, it is evident that these were well attended and extremely interesting to individuals in the group. The breakout sessions on Sunday morning are among the highlights of the SELA program.

In summary, the program in Williamsburg was held in an excellent venue; we are all deeply indebted to Dr. McKinney and Dr. Zieve for putting on such an excellent program; and, finally, we could not possibly function at the enormously high level of scholarly and yet practical interest that we do without the help of our very active pharmaceutical partners in this venture.

Not to be downplayed in this discussion was an extremely important vote that was taken by the membership of SELA on the creation of the National Lipid Association (NLA). The vote was an overwhelming “yea” and the NLA is now going forward. This vote could be a watershed for the country in the development of lipid management since success of the NLA will bring with it opportunities to promote more widespread Lipid Testing and Lipid Management in the country as a whole. This is a very ambitious program that holds enormous promise for the future - SELA is now the first regional arm of NLA.

These are exciting new developments for SELA; however, this President's Column would be seriously delinquent if it did not mention the enormous contribution to the development of SELA over the last year provided by our past president, Dr. Diane Becker. Dr. Becker, who has been a personal friend for over a decade, is endowed with boundless energy and superhuman creativity and wisdom. She oversaw the successful production of the SELA CDROM which is one of the most powerful tools for learning lipid management, presided over SELA during the formation of the NLA, and oversaw successful launch of several ancillary satellite programs that SELA put on together with other national organizations. It will be extremely difficult to attempt to follow in her footsteps, and she has held up the standard for us all to follow. Thank you, Diane, for a fantastic job!.

Dr. Crouse is Professor of Medicine and Public Health Science at Wake Forest University, School of Medicine.