Chapter Update: Pacific Lipid Association

As President-elect of the Pacific Lipid Association, it gives me a great pleasure to present our chapter update. Our members continue to be very active in their communities as well as throughout the NLA. Our own Matthew Ito, PharmD, will become the NLA President this May.

March of last year, our immediate past president, John Nelson, MD, held his annual CME conference in Fresno, California. The conference, entitled "Treatment of the High Risk Patient with Low HDL Cholesterol," was attended by 234 people. Several PLA members presented at the meeting.

The PLA, along with Dr. Nelson’s leadership, has recently spearheaded a drive to develop an Advocacy Committee in the NLA. This committee would address specific issues faced by individual members of the NLA. Dr. Nelson is currently working with the State of California on SB866, a two-page electronic prior authorization form. This would allow practitioners to use a single form for all insurance prior authorizations. Insurance companies would be given two business days to respond to the completed document. This would save physicians a great deal of time as well as improve the timeliness of patient care.

PLA Board member, Julie Bolick, RD, is working with the Patient Adherence Subcommittee to create a patient toolkit for practitioners. She has also convened a meeting of NLA dietitians.

In September, our current chapter president, J. Antonio G. López, MD, hosted the live Lipid Insights program entitled "CETP Inhibition—An Important Potential Strategy in Reducing Cardiovascular Events." Dr. López, along with Eliot Brinton, MD, and Benjamin Ansell, MD, presented a lively debate focused on the relationship between CETP and atherosclerosis.

Dr. López continues as Chair of the NLA Honor's and Awards committee. Wayne True, MD, is Chair of the NLA Membership Committee. Drs. Eliot Brinton and Matt Ito were among the four faculty members to participate in the successful USAGE manuscript and statin adherence public relations campaign (www.StatinUSAGE.com), which included a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology this past June.

This past October, Paul Rosenblit, MD, PhD, along with Brian Chesnie, MD, Rob Greenfield, MD, and Nathan Wong, PhD, held the 4^th Annual Orange County Symposium in Newport Beach, California. This conference, jointly sponsored by the NLA and the American Society for Preventive Cardiology, focused on expanding knowledge with regard to the role of Clinical Lipidology in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

The 10^th Annual World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, and Coronary Artery Disease Symposium was held in Los Angeles this past November. Yehuda Handelsman, MD, and colleagues assembled a unique multidisciplinary program dedicated to the management of cardiovascular risk factors and disease. This year’s program introduced new aspects of bone, fat, leptin and adeponectin interactions, as well as mitochondria and associated proteins, to metabolic impairment in human disease.

Our PLA is currently working with the NLA to host the 2013 Annual Scientific Sessions in Las Vegas, Nevada from May 29-June 2. Our NLA President, Peter Toth, MD, PhD, and Drs. Ito, López and I will serve as the program's co-chairs. The preliminary schedule and faculty look outstanding.

We are also working to invite lipid experts from the Pacific Rim nations to participate in the Spring 2014 Clinical Lipid Update on Maui. More information will be forthcoming.

The PLA remains an active and dynamic group. I have thoroughly enjoyed my interactions with both the PLA and NLA and recommend all those interested to become more involved.