August 2021

First, I would like to send heartfelt congratulations to Chair Andy Josephson, and the entire UCSF Neurology department, on achieving the well-deserved #1 spot in the recent USNWR ratings of Neurology and Neurosurgery departments. I also want to congratulate Ken Tyler who has been accepted as the incoming editor-in-chief of Annals of Neurology to replace Clif Saper, who has helped elevate the stature of AoN substantially over his tenure as editor.

Second, I would remind all members, and non-members in your departments, to register for ANA2021. Chris Weihl and the SPAC have done a great job at organizing an exciting virtual program. Next year, DELTA variant willing, we hope to return to a hybrid format. We are working through the complex logistics and will have more details later in the year.

Third, the ANA’s Board of Directors has been reviewing and modifying the strategic priorities for our organization, recognizing that the COVID pandemic has knocked some of our planned initiatives off schedule. Our Executive Director, Nadine Goldberg, has now been joined by Deputy ED Kelly Ventura, who comes to us with a superb background of directing similar academic organizations. Over the next few months we will be prioritizing our strategic priorities, and will then present to the membership. I invite you to let me know personally what you think the ANA should prioritize.

Fourth, the ANA’s IDEAS Task Force has been working through the summer on the key initiatives that are included in our editorial “Strengthened through diversity: a blueprint for organizational change”.1 I encourage you to read this manifesto for change, co-authored by Allison Willis and Lesli Skolarus. It focuses on actionable steps that we, as the home of academic neurology, can make to effect change in our organization, our departments, and our communities. I encourage all members to read, engage with, and disseminate the idea embodied in this powerful statement.

Fifth, a recent article in Becker’s Hospital Review2 summarizes some of the approaches that leading academic institutions have made to begin to address health care disparities. These are some of the take-ways, which represent an important first step:

Mayo Clinic announced an investment of $100 million over 10 years to combat health disparities.
UCSF has focused on a program for hypertension control, in which its Black patients can achieve the same level of blood pressure control as its patients overall.
NYU Langone Health launched the Institute of Excellence in Health Equity to ensure that patient outcomes are comparable across its system.
New York-Presbyterian launched the Dalio Center for Health Justice, dedicated to understanding and improving health equity, addressing health justice, and driving action that results in measurable improvements in health outcomes for its patients, employees and communities it serves.
Finally, hopefully many of us have had the chance to have a vacation, or at least some time away from work. All of us are feeling the direct and indirect effects of 18 months of pandemic, and a recent study highlights the impact on our faculty. A survey of more than 1100 U.S. faculty members3 found that 55% had seriously considered changing careers or retiring early because of the pandemic. 69% of respondents felt stressed, 68% felt fatigued, and 35% felt angry—more than double the 2019 numbers. I encourage all in leadership positions to actively reach out to faculty and staff and have a touchpoint on how they are doing as individuals, and how their families are coping. As I have written about before, the transition from remote working to a hybrid format will not be seamless, and we will all need new skills to navigate the 2021-2022 academic workplace.

Please enjoy the remaining weeks of summer, and thank you for your support.

Warm regards,

Justin C. McArthur, MBBS, MPH, FANA
President, American Neurological Association
John W. Griffin Professor of Neurology and Director, Department of Neurology
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine