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Dear ANA Members, The month of November is Native American Heritage Month, and we have been celebrating the impacts made by individuals from the Native American Community on medicine and science. We are delighted to recognize two members of the same family who have made and continue to make contributions to neurology and medicine.
Dr. Lawrence Stern, MD, is a Senior Fellow of the ANA, an emeritus professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and founding Director of the Mucio F. Delgado Clinic for Neuromuscular Disorders. He received his medical degree from Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons and did his residency training in neurology at the University of California in San Francisco. He has authored and co-authored many scientific publications and served as Director of Research for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Dr. Stern served in the USPHS Indian Health Service in Mescalero, New Mexico and Fort Defiance, Arizona, as well as on the President’s Advisory Committee on Indian Affairs at the University of Arizona.
His daughter, Dr. Nicole Stern, MD, MPH, FACP, is a member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe of New Mexico. She earned her medical degree and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. She was a fellow in Primary Care Sports Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City and has a master’s in public health degree in health management from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She was a Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Minority Health Policy at Harvard Medical School and her practicum project focused on American Indian physician workforce development. Currently, Dr. Stern is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Education at the California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM) while working as an urgent care physician. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and has extensive experience with the Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP), having served as President-Elect, President, Immediate Past President, and a two-time At-Large-Director of the Board of Directors. As a recent liaison from AAIP to the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) Committee on Student Diversity Affairs, Dr. Stern continues to serve on national committees with the AAMC to collaborate on strategic plans and initiatives that emphasize the importance of including American Indians and Alaska Natives within the national conversation around workforce development and medical school diversity.
Inaugural Academia-Industry Workshop Brings Collaboration and Inspiration Early in November, the ANA hosted the inaugural ANA Academia-Industry Workshop at the New York Academy of Sciences in Manhattan. The meeting brought together representatives across multiple private and public stakeholders to discuss challenges and inefficiencies in the translation of basic insights into disease mechanism to therapeutic application. To focus the discussion, the meeting centered on Alzheimer’s Disease as the use case. Discussions were invaluable and comments from participants have been positive beyond our very high hopes. Overall, discussions identified several opportunities for the American Neurological Association to bolster the ‘biopharmaceutical ecosystem’. Some repeated themes emerged from the meeting, that included the talent pipeline and what we can do together to ensure we have the neuroscience-clinician workforce needed to develop next generation therapeutics and prevention tools; ways the ANA can enhance communication within this ecosystem and promote new ways to share expertise and leverage the strengths of academia, biopharma, private foundations and public agencies; ways that the ANA may facilitate building more efficient clinical trial capabilities across institutional networks. The ANA is eager to begin advancing this cause together. In the coming weeks, we will report on insights from the meeting and next steps for what promises to be a long and exciting partnership of the ANA with academic, industry, private foundation, and public agency concerns. ANA 2024 Membership Renewal Cycle Begins Another exciting activity in the month of November is membership renewal. We kicked off membership renewals last week, and we are so glad to see a strong response and renewal rate already. We hope you will renew your membership and continue to enjoy the benefits and value of being an ANA member. Renew online today!
ANA2023 CMEs May be Claimed through December 31 If you haven’t already done so, please be sure to provide evaluation information about ANA2023. To complete the evaluation and claim CME, please navigate to ANA's OnDEC system. Be sure to complete the meeting evaluation and claim CME for ANA2023 before December 31, 2023. Happy Thanksgiving! There is so much for which to be thankful, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve the ANA as part of an amazing organization. I hope you will continue to be actively involved with the Association and to enjoy the benefits, connection, and information that you gain as a result. During this season of gratitude, know we appreciate your participation in the ANA. In whatever way you may celebrate, I hope you enjoy a happy Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
M. Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD, FANA President, ANA Nathan Cummings Professor and Head, Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Development Director, Center for Neurogenetics Weill Cornell Medicine |
