Happy New Year! We can’t believe that 2017 is here, and ACPA’s Annual Meeting is right around the corner. Registration is strong and has bumped up membership numbers as the year closed. We are sitting at a six-year high with 2,545 members right before the New Year, in large part due to registration for ACPA’s 74th Annual Meeting. It has been powerful to talk to potential sites for our 2020 meeting – sharing that our membership is growing and meeting attendance is climbing, which not all associations can claim.Last month, I visited two more ACPA/CPF approved teams — Rush Craniofacial Center and the Duke Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Team. In each case, I observed patient/family interactions with the teams. It is powerful to see care in action.
For our Duke visit, Stephanie Williams, Director of Operations for CPF and Hillary Jones, Communications and Team Services Manager for ACPA, joined. It is inspiring to see the real-time application of the standards that are the foundation for the work of the Commission on Approval of Teams (CAT). As the main National Office Liaison for CAT, Hillary observes, “it is rewarding to see interdisciplinary team care and collaboration in action and further reinforces the important work done by the Commission on Approval of Teams to ensure teams meet the standards of care set forth by ACPA and CPF.”
As I look back on 2016, a highlight of my year, as well as my career at ACPA, was representing the clinical perspective on cleft care to a gathering of researchers attending the NIDCR Workshop on Gene-environment Interaction in Orofacial Clefting in September. I shared information regarding the Parameters For Evaluation and Treatment of Patients with Cleft Lip/Palate or Other Craniofacial Anomalies and ACPA’s Commission on Approval of Teams. I joined many passionate and prominent cleft lip/palate academic researchers. It was powerful to sit at the table with 20+ people all striving to understand the causes of cleft lip/palate and seek ways to prevent cleft lip/palate, which proudly included three ACPA members.
As we put a period on 2016 and begin 2017, I want to share how grateful I am to be involved with the important and special work that each of you do. We hope you feel that admiration and support from all of us here at the National Office. Wishing each of you a year of peace and joy.