From the NELA President: The NLA of Tomorrow

The theme of the current issue of LipidSpin is, “Racial and Ethnic Differences and Disparities in Lipidology”, a hot topic in medicine, but also a major focus of our National Lipid Association. Over the years, observational research has illuminated genetic and environmental factors related to race and ethnicity. An awareness of these differences allows us to better target lifestyle and medical therapies for our patients, but we have a lot more work to do. Increased enrollment of minorities in clinical trials, large registries that capture differences in specific groups, and strategies to overcome disparities of care and medical bias are all needed.

In the past year, the NLA has made major strides in broadening the diversity of its membership, expanding its course content and enhancing patient education. Documents such as the JCL Clinical Perspective on, “Prevention of Atherosclerotic Heart Disease in South Asians in the US”, scientific sessions dedicated to hormone therapies in male, female, and transgender patients, and patient tear sheets that describe healthy diets specific to ethnicity are some of the highlights. The creation of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force to ensure that both membership and speaker representation are truly diverse will greatly enhance the success of our organization. In fact, when teams of clinicians from multiple races, genders, and disciplines work together, this is how we change the status quo and enhance both innovation and equity in care.

As a clinical lipidologist who owes much of her current career success to the NLA family, I am excited to see that family grow and lead the way in equity. I urge all of you to voice your opinions on what can set our organization apart, to get involved in our many committees, and reach out to colleagues in other disciplines that would benefit from involvement in the NLA. It has been a privilege to work with my colleague, SELA president, Dr. Casey Elkins on this edition of LipidSpin and I am certain that you will find the writings of our NLA experts to be exceptionally valuable to your clinical practice.