From the NLA President: Engaging Our Communities

Thank you for the honor of being able to serve as your next President of the NLA. The 2013–2014 program year will be an exciting time, and I look forward to working with our Board of Directors in the continued growth of our organization to meet the educational and scientific needs of you and your patients. I especially would like to thank my predecessor, Peter Toth, MD, PhD, who just stepped down as NLA President, for his tremendous dedication and service to the association. We hope to build on the previous administration’s momentum, including continuing the NLAs efforts to raise awareness of Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) and making it a major focus in clinical and patient circles.

Our 2013 Annual Scientific Sessions took place in Las Vegas this past May, and I would like to recognize the meeting's sponsor chapter, the Pacific Lipid Association, and its leadership for making the meeting such an incredible success. Specifically, humble thanks and appreciation are due to my co-chairs for the meeting, Dr. Toth along with J. Antonio G. López, MD, and B. Alan Bottenberg, DO.

We are developing several initiatives that I hope you will find of interest. In particular, we plan to make FH a major focus of the 2014 Annual Scientific Sessions, which will be held May 1-4 in Orlando. We also are partnering with the AHA to develop a scientific statement on pediatric FH, which will be led by NLA member Sam Gidding, MD. In addition, collaborations are underway with the FH Foundation, which will host the FH Summit: Awareness to Action, on September 19 in Annapolis. This Summit will bring together various FH stakeholders to emphasize cooperation and best practices. This Fall we will convene a statin safety expert panel to be chaired by Terry Jacobson, MD. We recently received funding from Merck & Co. to study how electronic medical records can be used to improve LDL-C goal attainment. This project will be chaired by Jerome Cohen, MD, and me. We hope that these continued efforts will reduce the devastating effects of FH.

The 2013 Fall Clinical Lipid Update will be held Sept. 20-22 in Baltimore, and will include sessions on genetic disorders, population testing and emerging therapies, as well as challenging case presentations and diagnostic dilemmas. The program was put together by the meeting’s two regional sponsors, the Northeast Lipid Association and the Southeast Lipid Association, and will provide the opportunity to earn more than 20 CME/CE credits. Please check www.lipid.org/FallCLU for the most current information on what is sure to be an exhilarating conference.

The NLA's first meeting in 2014, the Spring Clinical Lipid Update, will take place in Maui, where we will have new opportunities to collaborate with clinicians and organizations in the Pacific Rim and beyond. The Spring CLU planning committee for the host chapters, the Pacific Lipid Association and the Southwest Lipid Association, has already met extensively, and we look forward to relaying details about this exciting program.

Please stay posted for more information about upcoming NLA initiatives in my next Lipid Spin message. Once again, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to serve as your NLA President.