Bariatric Times - December 2008 - (Page 27)

Bariatric Times • December 2008 Interview 27 changed its name to the Integrated Health Section to better represent all of the disciplines involved and the importance of integration of care. The ASMBS started out as a small group of professionals who represented a field most of their medical community peers did not understand or respect and patients for whom most medical professionals harbored a horrible prejudice and cared little about. Despite this, we soldiered on with persistence, determination, and confidence that we were doing the right thing for the patients we cared about. That we are still going strong 25 years later is a meaningful event and cornerstone in and of itself. We still have a lot of work to do and will continue to face our challenges and move forward. time, IFSO will offer the ASMBS journal to all IFSO members at member rates and the ASMBS will offer the IFSO journal, Obesity Surgery, to its members at IFSO rates. The door is open for further collaborations in the future. Where do you see ASMBS in the next 10 years? I would love to say “out of business” because we found a cure! However, that doesn’t seem to be on the foreseeable horizon, although one never knows. The changes in the world over the past 25 years, especially in technology, are mind boggling. There are some exciting and promising new bariatric surgery technologies in the works, many of which are less invasive than what is commonly practiced today. This will most likely bring new partners to our field. As the field grows and the disease spreads and more and more of our young people suffer from obesity and other related diseases, we cannot let the enormity of the problem nor the diversity of caretakers divert us from our core values. It is important for the ASMBS to remain at the forefront of education, research, technology, and promoting optimal patient care to fulfill our mission: to improve public health and wellbeing by lessening the burden of the disease of obesity and related diseases throughout the world. Do you think that the ACS and ASMBS will one day join to have one single center of excellence accreditation society/system? The ASMBS has always valued its relationship with the ACS and was very disappointed that, despite our best efforts, we were not able to find a workable solution to have a joint center of excellence designation. Things always change, so the possibility of working together on this important endeavor remains open, but I do not see any changes in the immediate future. In the meantime, we will work together on goals where we have more common ground and continue our efforts to collaborate with the ACS and other organizations to advance the quality of care and access for those suffering with the disease of obesity. How would you characterize the development of the Integrated Health component of ASMBS? Tremendous! Integrated Health members have always been recognized as an important component of the ASMBS. The patient is at the core of everything we do; therefore, the interdisciplinary team is a key element. The Integrated Health members, although always represented, had a small voice in the organization 20 years ago compared to today. They have gone from a committee providing a half day of educational programming at the annual conference with no ancillary courses to a section providing three full days of education, in addition to directing several courses throughout the year. In addition, they have progressed from having one non-voting member on the Executive Council to two voting members, providing a nurse certification program, and continuing with many other accomplishments. The Integrated Health section is now a vital, sophisticated, professional section in its own right. How is the collaboration between ASMBS and IFSO, historically and now? The ASMBS is a charter member of International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO) and remains actively involved in the organization. We have representation on IFSO’s council and likewise IFSO has representation on our council. The current IFSO president, Dr. MAL Fobi, is a founding member of the ASMBS and past president of the ASMBS Foundation. Membership in the ASMBS includes membership in IFSO and members are entitled to membership privileges such as reduced meeting fees. Two years ago, the ASMBS held its first international meeting in conjunction with the IFSO meeting in Porto. This was well received by IFSO and ASMBS members and is an endeavor we plan to continue. The ASMBS and IFSO currently have separate journals. For the first Where does ASMBS stand now http://www.bariatrictimes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Bariatric Times - December 2008

Bariatric Times - December 2008 Table of Contents Patient Management Perspective Diabetes Perspective Interview: ASMBS’s Georgeann Mallory Editorial Message Editorial Board Body Contouring Perspective Meeting Perspective Journal Watch Advertiser Index News & Trends

Bariatric Times - December 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.