From the SELA President: President’s Views

I am honored and humbled to have been chosen as president of the Southeast Lipid Association  (SELA), an organization whose members include esteemed leaders and experts in the field of lipidology.

SELA is proud to present this edition of LipidSpin, which focuses on nutrition. Hippocrates once said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” While nutrition is not the only answer, it does play a significant role in the health of our patients. The media is filled with reports of a new diet that is supposed to help with weight loss or cure a disease.

Often the person behind the headline is seeking to profit from a supplement or the sale of their book. The members of SELA wanted to debunk some of the myths about nutrition with an issue that provides the evidence for healthy eating with useable tips you can share with your patients. We are fortunate to have authors in this edition who are world renowned in their field including the chair of the American College of Cardiology’s nutrition workgroup, the past president of the American College of Cardiology and our own panel of experts. Patient education on healthy eating is not always simple. We must consider the patients learning ability as well as financial and culture issues. It is our hope this issue will be a source you may use in your practice.

Be sure to mark your calendars for all the upcoming NLA meetings. Our next SELA meeting will be in August 2018. You have sufficient time to make your plans to attend. Additionally, your support of the NLA Foundation is greatly appreciated. Funding goes to support clinical educational, research and community outreach activities.

As my year is just beginning, my hope is to expand the membership base and challenge you to invite all members of the team who are eligible to join the NLA, and help increase our diversity.

Also, the literature is clear that patients with the highest mortality and morbidity are often in underserved areas. Clinicians working in these areas often do not have access to experts in the field of lipidology. I encourage you to reach out to your neighborhood free clinics, Federally Qualified Community Health Centers, often called Community Health Centers, and offer to be a speaker and encourage them to join the NLA where they can find evidenced-based tools.

My motto for this year is “Bring a Friend and Lend a Hand.”