Chapter Update: NELA’s Past and Vision for the Future

"Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value." – Albert Einstein

The Northeast Lipid Association’s past cannot be understood without discussing the origins and rationale of the "mother ship" – the National Lipid Association. In 1994, the "cholesterol hypothesis" became evidence-based fact with the release of the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study results at the American Heart Association meetings in Dallas. For the first time it was clear that real inroads could be made against the No. 1 health hazard in the U.S. – atherosclerosis – with its protean manifestations of heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. Following this and ensuing statin trials, to quote Virgil Brown, MD, FNLA, "The (American Heart Association) is a wonderful organization focusing on public health issues, research and general recommendations. (But) it has not reached the practicing cardiologist or primary care physician regarding the details of clinical lipidology. The clinical practice of lipidology seemed to be lagging behind the knowledge base from epidemiology and clinical trials. As a result, many very practical questions about evaluation and management of lipid disorders were prevalent and unanswered in the clinical arena in 1997... Problems in lipoprotein metabolism and clinical lipidology are so complex that this field needs to be considered an important specialty of medical practice but, at the same time, reach every practicing health professional."

It was into that vacuum that the Southeast Lipid Association stepped. The organizing committee for SELA set out a vision and set of principles that have remained as this regional association subsequently fostered a national one: "To enhance the practice of lipid management in clinical medicine." A critical principle was to engender a multidisciplinary team approach, including all clinicians involved in lipid management: nurses, registered dietitians, pharmacologists, exercise physiologists and physicians. It was this team concept of lipid management that led to the establishment of the regional chapters. Again to quote Brown: "A region could have many different health professionals who would want to go to accessible meetings, perhaps together. We felt that long-distance travel was a severe detriment to this concept and, therefore, recommended that there be regional meetings." In addition, "The key was to bring the academic lipidologists (who were doing the research) into contact with those health professionals who were seeking to improve their practice. This needed to be done both nationally and regionally. Having only national meetings reduces the opportunities for this personal contact."

In 2002, the NLA was officially incorporated and, in 2004, the Midwest Lipid Association was added. But how best to break into New England? Brown "felt that the leader organizing this effort in the Northeast should be a highly informed clinician, active in research and with a personality that had both force and gentility. It was important to have a person that was truly 'likable' and that was not seen as highly competitive for the limelight. We needed an academic physician truly interested in making the organization work without seeking credit for its accomplishments. David Capuzzi, MD, PhD fit the bill as an accomplished, unselfish and conscientious physician who shared the dream."

And so it was, in late 2004, that Capuzzi, along with co-chair Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, RD, contacted a group of clinical lipidologists in the Northeast to plan the inaugural scientific forum for NELA. True to the core principle of multidisciplinary involvement, the program committee included two registered dietitians and a doctor of pharmacy. Capuzzi and Kris- Etherton were keenly aware that they had to have an "impactful and memorable meeting; it needed to be the foundation to help grow a chapter of a national organization." Kris-Etherton recalls: "We wanted to make a splash and I can remember David and I concurring that we had to 'invite everyone' to speak!"

"Mapping the Future of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention” was held Jan. 28-30, 2005, at the Westin New York at Times Square. There were 167 attendees and it was a huge success. The planning and the meeting were "a lot of fun, to tell you the truth," Capuzzi said in his inimitable way. NELA has continued to be a lot of fun as it has grown from a membership of 68 to 609 members.

Commenting on the future, current NELA President James Underberg, MD, FNLA said, "Strengthening membership, community outreach and more face-to-face interactions throughout the year are steps that will take us to the next level." In fact, the vision for our future can be summed up in the word "community": a mutually supportive community of clinicians and clinician-scientists, committed to best practices in the care of patients with lipid disorders.

To come back to the quote above, as we continue to seek and find ways to be of value to the education and motivation of clinicians in the field of lipidology, thereby benefitting the lives of their patients, we also will continue to be a success.