President's Message

User-Generated and Member-Driven Content

Christian T. Sinclair, MD FAAHPM

In 2003 as I was starting my hospice and palliative medicine fellowship in Winston-Salem, NC, I was looking for people who had an interest in the field. As a solo fellow, I had only my physician faculty and hospice staff to share ideas with. Thankfully, I joined AAHPM early in my fellowship and discovered an e-mail LISTSERV of fellows to discuss articles with and plan for the upcoming Annual Assembly in Arizona.

At the Tapatio Cliffs Resort, a small group of fellows started the Professionals-in-Training special interest group (SIG), which was the forerunner of the Early Career SIG. When we approached the Academy staff and leadership about our formation of a new SIG, they were very open to the idea and worked over the next few years to help us create the Case Submission process, which gave fellows a better chance to present at each year’s Annual Assembly thanks to the fall deadline for submissions. Since then, many more SIGs have formed, and the content at the Annual Assembly has grown so much that the Academy (and the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association) are able to draw big crowds at early morning and evening sessions. I’m excited to head back to Phoenix in 2017, 13 years after my first Annual Assembly, and I hope to see you there.