President's Message
During a time of national economic insecurity, it was very satisfying to see so many of you take the time out of your practices to come together at our annual meeting in San Diego to better ourselves as breast care specialists. I would like to commend Dr. Sheldon Feldman, the 2009 program chair, who put together this truly outstanding annual meeting. Providing value in the form of relevant education and advocacy is our Society’s goal, and our record number of participants in both the pre-meeting courses, directed by Ricky Fine and Beth Boyd, and the Society’s Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program is testimony to these goals being met. Now more than ever, the Society is providing us with information and tools to enhance our knowledge, our practices, and, ultimately, our patient care — all noble accomplishments.
Dedicated Leaders
As you will see in this issue, this has been a year of significant accomplishment for The American Society of Breast Surgeons. I would like to acknowledge Dr. Shawna Willey’s strong leadership during her presidential term, as well as the board that supported these efforts. I would especially like to recognize those board members who recently completed their terms: Drs. Peter Beitsch, Kambiz Dowlat, Jay Harness, and Alison Laidley. I trust we will continue to benefit from their dedication and expertise as these long-time members continue to support the Society in other capacities.
I am also delighted to welcome Drs. Hiram (Chip) Cody, Darius Francescatti, Cary Kaufman, and Tricia Kelly, who are beginning their terms on our board. They bring with them a wealth of experience and diverse expertise from which we will all benefit.
In addition, Jane Schuster, our Executive Director, and her staff deserve unlimited accolades for their passionate and hard work serving this organization.
Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program
The Society’s Mastery of Breast Surgery Pilot Program was developed to meet the growing need to document quality outcomes in patient care and to enable participating surgeons to be aware of and report their performance.
Last year at our meeting in New York we were just beginning to hear what was envisioned for this continuous quality improvement initiative. Just 12 months later, not only is this program up and running, but an amazing 570 surgeons, or approximately one-quarter of our membership, have already registered since its launch in December; 376 have already submitted a total of 11,432 cases to the database.
The members of the Mastery Committee, with whom I have been honored to serve, worked diligently to develop and launch this initiative. I don’t think any of us could have predicted the enthusiasm with which it has been received. I want to personally thank my fellow committee members, Drs. Arthur Lerner, Richard Fine, Helen Pass, Howard Snider, Lorraine Tafra, John West, Eric Whitacre, Shawna Willey, and especially committee chair, Dr. Alison Laidley, for their commitment to this project.
Not only was the leadership of this Society committed to providing this program, but they have been com-mitted to doing so with no fee for members as long as we are financially able. I’d like to express our appreciation to Genomic Health for a generous grant that is partly making that possible. I assure you we will continue to do what we can to continue this as a member benefit and to develop it to best meet your needs.
Those of you who were at the meeting in San Diego were able to learn much more about the Mastery Program there. If you didn’t have that opportunity, I encourage you to visit the Society’s website to learn more.
Website Enhancements
Whether it’s to learn about the Mastery Program or learn about other Society activities, I urge you to spend some time soon exploring the Society’s newly designed website. Not only will you see a new look, but new features as well. I also encourage you to check back regularly as it is a “work in progress” being further developed by the Communications Committee, led by Dr. Deanna Attai. Again, what was announced as a goal at last year’s meeting has, in just a year, become a reality. Dr. Attai and her committee members are to be congratulated for their efforts.
Informatics Technology
And while, at times, face-to-face meetings such as our annual meeting are necessary, this year also marked the Society’s first web conference board meeting and our first virtual tumor board. I think you will continue to see the Society employ technology to enhance communication and streamline processes. To further assist in technology-based issues, such as the growth of the Mastery Program, this fall we also saw the establishment of the Informatics Work Group, chaired by Dr. Eric Whitacre. I am sure the expertise of this ad hoc committee’s members will be a valuable resource as we face other technology challenges.
Education Initiatives
The Society, along with the Society of Surgical Oncology and American Society of Breast Disease, has now approved 32 breast fellowship programs across the country. The Society also continues to be a co-sponsor of the ASCO Breast Symposium, to be held in San Francisco this October. And I am proud to tell you that, with some fabulous collaboration with the American Board of Surgery, Education Committee Chair Dr. Tricia Kelly and her fellow committee members are developing the national resident education curriculum for breast surgery for general surgery residency programs.
Research Support
Under the leadership of Dr. Ed Clifford, our Research Committee Chair, the Society also furthered efforts to encourage research by joining with the American Brachytherapy Society and the American College of Radiation Oncology in overseeing the Electronic Xoft® Inter-society Brachytherapy Trial (EXIBT). The Society is also proud to report that Dr. Peter Beitsch and his MammoSite Scientific Advisory Committee are now preparing to present 5-year outcome data on the Society’s MammoSite Registry, the largest database of partial breast irradiation therapy in the world. In addition, we developed and approved a research proposal study review process for the Society. We will continue to strongly encourage our members to participate in research and clinical trials as a means of enhancing patient care.
Member Advocacy
This year the Society not only continued to monitor a number of issues of interest to our members and commented to the appropriate government agencies, but we also co-sponsored the First Annual Joint Surgical Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC, this spring. Dr. Willey and staff member Sharon Grutman attended this conference for the Society, which focused on educating surgeons on how to effectively communicate with legislators to affect policy change. Participants attended legislative briefings which were followed by Congressional office visits. The Society is committed to continuing to work with policy makers to develop solutions that address physician reimbursement and tort reform, while improving access to high-quality surgical care.
The Society continues to provide practice credibility enhancements for you, such as ultrasound and stereotactic certification and accreditation. Dr. Sara Fredrickson, our Breast Ultrasound Certification and Accreditation Committee Chair, and Dr. Art Lerner, our Breast Imaging Technologies Committee Chair, are providing easy access to these programs. The standards of these programs are appropriately rigorous, however, which allows you to be credible and feel proud of earning these achievements.
Strategic Planning
The above-mentioned member-focused initiatives are just some of the many developments that have been implemented and supported in the last year under the leadership of Dr. Shawna Willey. Early in her term, she invited the board, committee chairs, and staff to participate in a strategic planning retreat. This facilitated session in Virginia provided a structure for identifying goals and a preliminary roadmap for achieving them. It’s a mechanism that our leadership will continue to utilize.
The Year Ahead
The Society membership continues to grow—Dr. Jerry Seiler, our Membership Committee Chair, now reports we have more than 2800 members. This growing interest in the Society creates a responsibility by our leaders to continue providing value to the membership.
With that in mind, let me say that I look forward to continuing the work that has begun toward achieving the goals that were identified last year in our strategic plan:
• Evolving the Mastery of Breast Surgery Program
• Establishing a legislative process
• Maturing a research program
• Enhancing educational program offerings
• Exploring the recognition of breast surgery as a subspecialty
Our next annual meeting will take place in April 2010, at the luxurious Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Dr. Funda Meric-Bernstam as Program Chair. She and her committee a rededicating themselves to providing you with up-to-date and relevant educational information that will enhance your success as breast care experts.
With an incredible membership base, and supported by a talented leadership team, I am honored and pleased to serve as your president this next year.
Sincerely,
Victor J. Zannis, MD
President