President's Message

Greetings to all PRiSM members. Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 11th PRiSM Annual Meeting! It was an amazing conference that put the Disneyland venue in our sights has a possible repeat location (perhaps in another 5 years?). The success of that meeting belongs to each of you: the volunteers, contributors and active participants. Thank you for being PRiSM! We continue to be an inclusive, vibrant community of pediatric-focused researchers and clinicians. I look forward to many more years of this awesome collaboration. To that end, my mission for the year is to improve opportunities for each member of the society to become involved.

We talk about open collaboration, and many of us have found it within our Society; but I know that there are many of us still who ask, “how can I get involved?” Volunteerism and active participation are stage I, and transparency of our RIG (research interest groups) under the “Get the RIGs right” agenda is Stage II. So, for those who ask about “how do I get involved,” please send me an email. I will be happy to steer you in a direction that will best serve your interests without our Society. In the meantime, we have started a top-down redesign of our active participation to capitalize on the spirit of volunteerism that already thrives in PRiSM. Starting at the Presidential line level, we are having weekly calls to develop and adapt to our current membership needs. At the Board level, each Director has agreed to take their roles to the next level by being active liaisons to each of the standing committees. In fact, we are developing a new Bylaws committee to modernize and correct those documents which are the backbone of PRiSM. As your leaders grow in their active participation, the intent is that the culture of volunteerism will trickle-down to the committee chairs and members, RIG members, and beyond. This is your opportunity to engage in the mission of PRiSM: research and education in the pediatric sports medicine space.

The future of the RIGs is bright. Over the last year, we have been working to “Get the RIGs right.” Although the final implementation of that process is still about a year out, we want each of you signed up and engaged in the system. Look for future newsletter announcements and emails detailing these changes to the RIGs that will allow for at least three specific improvements. We are working to improve cross-pollination of specialty interests, and long-term engagement of RIG members in specific studies (despite membership within the RIG changing). Moreover, we are looking to facilitate participation in RIG projects across the whole society via a decoupling of projects and RIGs, with a focus being to develop PRiSM initiated projects. My personal goal with this project is to improve the workflow of the RIG without stifling the spirit of intent that was initially desired by the PRiSM founders.

The above initiatives stem from our current strategic plan, which was outlined under the leadership of our Immediate Past-President, David Howell, PhD ATC. I would like to acknowledge the tremendous work that he has put into that effort (and continues to put into it) as we move from his presidency to mine. Not only did your leadership team develop a strategic plan, we also developed and implemented a new Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics under the leadership of Past-President Cordelia Carter, MD. I am honored to stand on the shoulders of these two giants, and hope that I can capitalize on how they positioned PRiSM for future growth and success. I am confident that 2024 will see many new exciting initiatives accomplished, and I look forward to sharing those with you in the months to come.

Plans are underway for January 2025 in Columbus, OH. Under the leadership of Co-Chairs Joseph Janosky and Jonathan Napolitano; and with the insights of Past Co-Chair Sophia Ulman, I have no doubt that the 12th Annual meeting will be the best we have seen. Their excitement and ideas are impressive – and infectious. You will not want to miss out on this opportunity. I encourage you to submit abstracts, get students engaged, invite non-members, and consider asking how you can get involved.

Thank you for the opportunity to lead this organization,