Pediatric Endocrine Society
Formerly Named in Honor of Lawson Wilkins

The Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society founded in 1972 has officially changed its name to Pediatric Endocrine Society. This important step to change the organization’s name comes as a result of a strategic planning exercise in which the membership of the Society has redefined itself beyond prior boundaries, a change in identity that will accompany this change in name.

The Mission of Society is to advance the care of children and adolescents with endocrine disorders. The vision of the Society is to become the North American medical organization in the field of pediatric endocrinology that is:

• Most supportive of education, research, and advocacy
• The leading source of information for families
• Most valued by pediatricians and other health care professionals
• Most respected by healthcare decision-makers
• Most recognized as the professional home and voice of pediatric endocrinology

In order for the Society to realize its Vision, the Society will strive to achieve the following Critical Conditions for Success over the coming years:

• The Society leads in supporting and fostering research that improves the health of children and adolescents with endocrine disorders.
• Optimal care of children and adolescents with endocrine disorders is fiscally sustainable and professionally fulfilling.
• Number and quality of new pediatric endocrinologists is sufficient to assure the highest level of patient care and viability of the profession.
• Educational programs of the Society enable members to be authorities on current basic and clinical science and practice-based knowledge of pediatric endocrinology
• The Society provides mechanisms that enable members to readily interact with other members to accomplish professional goals.
• The Society plays a substantial role in policy-making that advances research, clinical care, reimbursement, and education in pediatric endocrinology
• The Society has the resources necessary to achieve all these Critical Conditions for Success.

The Society has reorganized its internal committee structure and engaged a team of experienced association management professionals to assist the Society and its membership in meeting these challenging Strategic Objectives. The membership overwhelmingly voted to approve the name change in order that PES might more easily be identified by other professional societies, governmental agencies, industry manufacturers and parents.

Our new site is underdevelopment and will be ready by July 2010.

2010 Officer Elections

The results of the 2010 Elections are:

President Elect - Janet Silverstein
Secretary - Peter Lee
Director - Stephen Rosenthal

Thank you to all who voted.

Study Network of Pediatric Endocrinology (SNoPE)

After a 24 month gestation, we are proud to announce the delivery of SNoPE (Study Network of Pediatric Endocrinology) on the members only portion of the PES website http://www.lwpes.org/professionals/snope/index.cfm. SNoPE is an exciting and potentially useful creation which will grow and develop with time. All the parts seem to be working well. SNoPE is there for you to use for collaborative interactions among centers, investigators and fellows. SNoPE lives in the “Gateway” within the PES website and contains:

1. SNoPE sponsored studies to which you are invited to join (currently 2).

a. Predictors of Stress, Parental Overprotection and Perceived Child Vulnerability among Parents of Children Affected by Disorders of Sex Development (DSDs), Steven Chernausek and Amy Wisniewski (PIs)

b. SNoPE Multicenter Study of the Outcomes of Estrogen Replacement in Pubertal-Aged Girls with Turner Syndrome, Judy Ross (PI)

2. Protocols initiated by individuals which you can join or you can initiate your own collaborative study (ies). The current listed protocols are:
a)Investigator Initiated Study in rhGH treated patients with Turner Syndrome comparing two low doses of estradiol by patch to induce puberty - Dr. Robert Rosenfield, PI

b ) a study of the effect of beta cell rest in adolescents and young adults with type 2 diabetes with Kristina Rother as PI and
c) the Neonatal Diabetes Mellitus Registry with Louis Philipson as PI.

3. A search engine on the Gateway for protocols by investigator(s), topic, and title.

NIH Launches New Web Site for Parents on Medical Research
The National Heart, Lund and Blood Institute (NHLBI), in partnership with other NIH Institutes, has created a comprehensive website designed to give parents and healthcare providers alike the information needed to understand clinical research in children and make informed decisions about participating in a study.

In a format geared to all educational levels, the website combines text, graphics, and documentary film interviews with experts, parents, and children themselves to give viewers an "inside view" of pediatric clinical research. It can assist caregivers in answering patients' questions about research. Families who are contemplating enrolling their child in a clinical study can use the information to augment their understanding and complement the informed consent process. The site has sufficient content to be used as an educational tool for trainees and junior faculty about the key concepts of pediatric clinical research. Based on focus groups, we organized the information into easily-accessible chapters for locating information quickly, something often needed in emergency research. The content is not copy-writed and the DVD-based documentaries may be downloaded to run in waiting rooms or hospital libraries.

The "No More Hand-Me-Downs: Research Designed for Children" theme of the website represents the thinking of our many colleagues across NIH, DHHS, the research community. Please visit the site at:
www.ChildrenAndClinicalStudies.nhlbi.nih.gov

Please contact the NHLBI directly if you have any questions or comments.

Society's Presidents Interviewed!
The following videos were created between August 2006 and March 2007, as part of the 35th Anniversary Celebration meeting of PES in Toronto, May 2007. They are personal interviews of three of the Society's first Presidents, Claude Migeon, Robert Blizzard, and Mel Grumbach, conducted by President Kenneth Copeland in Baltimore, Charlottesville, and San Francisco, respectively... View Videos