You are not going to want to miss this year’s ACAAI Annual Scientific Meeting, New Frontiers – Advocating for Patients, Practices and Research, Nov. 7-11 in Houston. This one-of-a kind opportunity for professional development is going to be out of this world.
One of our Vision 2020 initiatives has been to reimagine and enhance the annual meeting. As you know, last year we created a new College meeting experience with expert roundtables, clinical conundrums, interdisciplinary panels and practice application seminars. These new session types were so well received that we will be offering them again this year.
We are also adding a new session, “7 for 11”. This will be trialed in a program with the American Academy of Pediatrics-Section of Allergy & Immunology members presenting “hot topics” in pediatric allergy, asthma and immunology. Seven speakers will each have just eleven minutes (hence “7 for 11”) to update the audience on a specific topic. This should be exciting, and a great way to update your knowledge in these areas!
Another way we are reimagining the annual meeting is to create opportunities for College leaders who are not officers to chair the Annual Meeting Program Committee. Last year we appointed David Stukus, MD, FACAAI, as vice-chair. This year he is chair of the committee and Lisa Kobrynski, MD, MPH, FACAAI, is vice-chair. These younger leaders are infusing great energy and fresh ideas into the programming process.
And, we held our first ever in person planning committee meeting earlier this year. While much of the program was already developed through teleconference calls, we used this meeting to iron out all the final details and make sure we had the right expert speakers for each session. It was great to be together all day to brainstorm and get input from everyone, which is sometimes harder to do on phone meetings. It was a big success, and we plan to continue this in future years.
If you haven’t heard about the all-day immersive International Food Allergy Symposium, or you think it will be like the ones you’ve attended, let me tell you that we have never had a food allergy symposium like this one. It will kick-off the annual meeting on Thursday, Nov. 7. You will learn from a never-before-seen lineup of thought leaders from across the world. Six international and 12 national experts will discuss cutting-edge aspects of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research. The day will end with the Texas Pro/Con Thunderdome – three back-to-back debates where two allergists enter and one allergist leaves.
New this year is the USP 797 Allergen Mixer Course. With the new revisions due out in June, this course will provide attendees with the knowledge and skills to introduce or enhance their extract mixing capabilities within their practice to meet the new requirements. This should be a great program and please think about having your mixing staff attend.
And there is so much more. Stay tuned to Insider and Advantage for additional info.
Todd Mahr, MD, FACAAI
College president
