Incoming ACAAI president spotlights meeting highlights, term priorities
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Mark Corbett, MD, an allergist with Family Allergy & Asthma in Louisville, Kentucky, will be installed as president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology during its annual meeting scheduled for Nov. 4 to 8 in New Orleans.
After last year’s virtual conference, Corbett said he is looking forward to meeting with his colleagues in person this year.
“We’re excited to be able to put on really the first large live meeting for allergy since the beginning of COVID,” he said, noting how well the ACAAI’s meeting organizers have adapted to the pandemic’s challenges.
ACAAI will follow local and CDC guidelines, and attendees will have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous 72 hours. Masking and social distancing will be encouraged as well.
“Maybe a quarter of our sessions are going to have to be recorded just due to restrictions or concerns of some of our speakers,” he said. “But we think that being able to see the collegiality of being there in person and meeting and networking with people just can’t be replaced virtually.”
Meeting highlights
The conference will begin on Thursday with a focus on atopic dermatitis and skin disease. Friday’s literature review session will then provide doctors with an update “on things that maybe they hadn’t had a chance to read but should have,” Corbett said. “That’s always a very well-attended and well-received session.”
On Saturday, immediate-past AMA president Susan R. Bailey, MD, FACAAI, will explore how physicians adapted their practices during the pandemic as part of the presidential plenary session, and Kathleen R. May, MD, will discuss racism and diversity as they pertain to “the three P’s” — patients, physicians and profession.
Among other topics, Sunday will also continue the conference’s examination of how COVID-19 has impacted treatment.
“There will be a variety of different sessions,” Corbett said, referring to panels dedicated to the use of biologics in treating asthma, nasal polyps and atopic dermatitis. “There’s so many [biologics] coming out, and we’re going to have several sessions highlighting them. They lead to more personalized therapy for our patients.”
Shared decision-making is another “hot topic” on the schedule, Corbett said, “involving the patient-doctor discussion about what treatment is best for them.” Monday will feature a “very enlightening” session on recent guidelines on drug allergies, eosinophilic esophagitis and asthma from ACAAI and the NIH, Corbett continued.
“I look forward to attending the meeting, and I think attendees are going to be well rewarded for coming,” he said.
Presidential priorities
For the past 15 years, Corbett has been involved with the organization’s continuing education efforts and he aims to build on that experience during his tenure.
“I definitely want to continue to really help and promote the advocacy wing of the College, trying to help practicing physicians and allergists deal with government and with carrier issues, and I think our advocacy group is really top-notch in doing that,” Corbett said.
Insurance providers are continuously finding ways to make reimbursement more difficult, Corbett said, and ACAAI will continue its work to demonstrate the value of what its members do and improve those policies.
“For the whole organization, it’s our best voice to get the message across that this is why we do what we do and why it’s important for our patients,” he said.
Corbett also wants to continue ACAAI’s efforts in expanding diversity among its members. For example, its SPARK Award Program awards grants to attend the annual meeting to residents who haven’t decided on a specialty yet. These recipients are paired up with an allergy fellow in training who will then mentor them during the meeting.
“We’re going to certainly continue that,” he said. “We also want to reach out to the historically Black medical schools to try to encourage them to come to increase our diversity.”
Corbett said that his main initiative, however, will target communication with other health care providers.
“One of the questions I always got when I was presenting on maintenance certification to allergists would be ‘Hey, I’m going through all this work, getting my board certification and keeping myself current, and yet there are doctors down the street who aren’t trained like we are who are practicing allergy. What can we do about that?’” he said.
“We’re working on projects to get the word out to primary care physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants who may not have as much knowledge of what an allergist really is,” he added. “It’s to show them the benefits of referring to board-certified allergists, with our training and our expertise in many areas of the field.”
Finally, Corbett said ACAAI also acknowledges the emerging challenges that physicians are facing.
“One thing that we’re going to always have to keep an eye on is burnout. Physician burnout is becoming more and more prevalent, especially ramped up after COVID and all the issues related to that,” he said. “We want to certainly keep our physicians involved and in practice and have programs available and information for those who are having burnout.”
And though the professional community is “starting to turn the corner” on COVID-19, he said, ACAAI will continue to provide information.