Donald R. Mackay,
MD, FACS
NESPS President
I am extremely grateful to be serving as your president. It was beyond my wildest dreams that as an eager young surgeon from South Africa I could ever find myself President of this great organization.
Thank you for the honor.
We all face uncertainty with the changes taking place in healthcare. My South African roots have given me a perspective that I would like to share with you.
I am continually amazed at what a great specialty I work in. I am thankful for the fact that I get to practice and teach Plastic Surgery in the most incredible country in the world. Although healthcare reform has generated anxiety and uncertainty in many of us, I remain confidently optimistic. We Americans (I now proudly include myself in that number) have always responded to crises by reinventing ourselves. I believe we will develop a health care system that will benefit the majority of our citizens; we will continue to practice in an environment that is unmatched in the world and we will continue practicing and innovating in the most exciting and rewarding specialty there is.
The NESPS has weathered the effects of the financial crisis and the recession. We have had to make some adjustments to our plans as a result. Your board decided that we could not afford the financial risk of undertaking the spring workshop this year. We have also had to reschedule the date for the annual meeting in Washington DC. Our initial date had us just one week before the ASPS meeting in Toronto. Donna Gurnett and EJ Weldon from PRRI, our management team, not only managed to get a more suitable date but also renegotiated a more favorable rate with the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Georgetown!
It is fitting that Bill Little who initiated the Second decade fund and is a past-president will be the Courtiss memorial lecturer this year. Mary McGrath another of our past-presidents and previous DC resident will give the Founders’ lecture.
Shane Johnson and the scientific program committee are putting a great program together. We have had an all-time record number of abstract submissions. The committees are planning some exciting innovations for this meeting including ABPS approved MOC courses.
You can expect a special social program that will be a lot of fun. Details will follow.
Please mark your calendars and plan to join us in our nation’s capital in October.
Sincerely
Donald R. Mackay, MD, FACS
NESPS President