Our District Meeting will occur in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, February 16-19, 2006, and we will meet with District III (PA, NJ, WV, MD, DE, DC) and District X (FL, GA, AL, PR). We will focus on three topics: immunizations, mental health, and mentoring young physicians in our chapters. During the District Meeting, resolutions for the Annual Chapter Forum will be drafted and referred to the AAP leadership. I urge all members to contact their Chapter leaders if they have issues that need the attention of the national AAP. Our Chapter leaders can help members write resolutions that can bring progressive change to the Academy. Thank you for participating in the resolution process.

I receive regular inquiries from outstanding pediatricians in our District concerning their interest in serving on some national AAP committee. We are one of ten Districts and national committee appointments are very competitive and somewhat difficult to understand – I will not bore you with the list of really superb pediatricians from our District who have been nominated more than once and never appointed to a national committee. The Academy is reorganizing its Committee (policy-focused and Board-appointed) and Section (education-focused with an executive committee elected by the Section membership) structure and has created five new Councils (merger of Committee and Section): Clinical Information Technology, Community Pediatrics, Sports Medicine and Fitness, Children with Disabilities, and School Health. The leadership of these new entities is elected by the members of the Councils, and membership in the Councils is open to all AAP members, the same way Section membership has been open to all members ever since Sections were created. In my opinion, this Council format, that combines policy development and education responsibilities, is the best thing the Academy has ever done to involve energetic, committed members in the real work of our national organization. I urge you to join Councils and Sections that address topics of interest to you, and to attend meetings of these entities, participate in their listservs, and give the AAP your input as we move forward in developing more options for members to participate in the larger Academy.

I am in my fifth year as your representative on the Board of Directors of the AAP. My current “jobs” on the Board are to serve on a new Immunization Task Force, to work with staff and the Council on Community Pediatrics to develop an action plan for the AAP in the area of health disparities/health equity, and to chair the Advisory Committee to the Board on Federal Affairs. I welcome your input as I assist the Academy in formulating an agenda that is good for children and also good for pediatricians.

Dave Tayloe, Jr., MD, FAAP
District IV Chairperson
October 21, 2005

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