From the NLA President: The Importance of Collaboration

How many of you have taken the time to read, from front to back, the recent National Lipid Association (NLA) Recommendations for Patient-Centered Management of Dyslipidemia, Parts 1 and 2? Don’t be embarrassed, because I can’t see how few of you raised your hands.

I had the good fortune to co-author this document with a host of outstanding academic leaders in the field of clinical lipidology. As I reflect on the creation of these documents and think of the many hours that we all spent in discussing, debating, writing, and reviewing our sections, I feel proud of the end product of our collaboration.

Collaboration is the essence of all successful organizations. The success of the NLA depends on this process. Our administrative staff supports our activities by actively seeking our input about the goals that we hope to achieve, and by providing the tools that we need to move forward our agenda. The NLA Executive Committee and the Board of Directors work to establish a national agenda, but our organization is not truly successful until we understand and act upon the issues that affect our members at the regional and local level. Active participation in committee work and a commitment to communicate with our regional officers are the best mechanisms to facilitate the accomplishment of these goals.

Despite some philosophical differences in our approaches to lipid management for the prevention of ASCVD, the NLA and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) are actively working together to enhance collaboration in lipid management recommendations. Dr. Alan Brown and I were asked to serve as NLA representatives at the ACC-sponsored LDL Think Tank Meeting in Washington, D.C. Dr. Pamela Morris, who is the co-chair of the ACC Prevention Council and secretary of the SELA chapter, played a major role in organizing this conference. Following the conference, I was asked to serve as a representative of the NLA to participate in the ACC Expert Consensus Panel Lipid Management Writing Group, which is creating a document that will be published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in Spring 2016 to address the role of lipid therapy beyond statins in a host of clinical situations confronted by providers in their daily practice. Dr. Morris and I will be participating as panel members in a forum at the ACC’s Annual Scientific Session in April 2016 to discuss this important topic. I was also invited to provide an overview of the NLA Recommendations Part 1 and 2 documents on ACC.org, and this article appeared on Dec. 13, 2015. It is available using the link http://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2015/12/11/13/50/key-aspects-of-the-nla-recommendations-for-the-patient-centered-management-of-dyslipidemia.   

No successful organization operates in a vacuum. The future success of the NLA depends upon our ability to develop, cultivate, and maintain collaboration among our members and with other organizations who have similar interests and goals. I am proud of the steps that that the NLA has taken to meet this important objective.