APA's Annual Meetings Offer High-Quality CME, Camaraderie

You may think it's a bit early for you to start planning for next year's APA annual meeting, which is being held in San Francisco from May 16 to 21, 2009. But get a head start. Fresh from this year's wonderful meeting in Washington, D.C., I can tell you why you should plan to be there. It is an exhilarating experience. You may start with a selection of excellent in-depth courses. At the Opening Session, you hear the outgoing APA president summarize accomplishments and the incoming APA president lay out a vision for the coming year. Then you have four days to enjoy workshops, symposia, clinical case presentations, and lectures. APA caucuses and committees meet, as do many allied organizations.

Ours is the biggest psychiatric meeting in the world. There are thousands of attendees and hundreds of sessions to choose from. This year there were psychiatrists from about 130 countries. You can meet colleagues from any continent but Antarctica, exchange e-mail addresses, and keep in touch for years to come. There are sure to be psychiatrists who share personal or professional interests with you. You can build a system of support and camaraderie nationally that you could never find in your own geographic area. There's also a very good chance that you can get together with old friends from medical school, residency, and past workplaces. Meetings like this are essential for recharging your social batteries as well as your mental ones.

How do you sort out all those sessions? If you want to focus, use the handy section of the program book that divides the presentations into topic areas. You can make the big meeting into a subspecialty meeting or focus on administration, cross-cultural, academic, or other issues. Choose some hard-core sessions you need for your ongoing professional work, and choose a few in areas you don't know much about. They could turn out to be interesting and even take your career in unanticipated directions.

Of course, I have a special interest in the 2009 meeting; it's my presidential meeting. One major focus of my presidency is our preparation for the future of psychiatry. We will have sessions on developing technology and on the directions our health care system is likely to take. We will learn about new research directions that will underpin our practice five or 10 years from now. In a few weeks, I will meet with our Scientific Program Committee. Now is a good time to send me your program ideas. What do you need to know to improve your practice? To run your practice or deal with your employer? What are you curious about? How about a general, intensive psychiatric review or a general medical review? E-mail me at [email protected], and tell me what would make the meeting meaningful for you.

San Francisco is a beautiful city, and the weather is mild. Ride a cable car, stroll along Fisherman's Wharf, climb a mountain or just a hill, ride the ferry, go to a major-league baseball game, immerse yourself in Chinatown markets and restaurants, visit museums—you name it. Hotels in every price range are convenient to the convention center.

But you don't need to wait until next May to enjoy an APA meeting. The Institute on Psychiatric Services will be in my hometown, Chicago, October 2 to 5, at the Palmer House Hilton. We will be having early fall weather at that time. The Palmer House is in the heart of downtown and in the midst of a shopping paradise. The Art Institute is within walking distance, and the Adler Planetarium, John G. Shedd Aquarium, and Field Museum of Natural History are only short rides away.

The institute is our smaller, more intimate meeting—all in one hotel. The focus is on clinical practice. There will be a debate about health care systems; we want to approach the new administration in Washington, D.C., informed about the options. Details will be coming shortly in the mail, in Psychiatric News, and on our Web site.

At both the institute and the annual meeting, you can hear directly from the psychiatric leaders whose books and articles you read. Bring the questions you want to ask. Meet your elected leadership, find out more about what APA is doing to serve you and your patients, and tell us how APA can help you.

Each of our yearly meetings is a gem. You deserve a professional break: education and recreation combined. October is four months away, and it's nearly a year before the San Francisco meeting. But time flies. Mark both of these meetings on your calendar right now. We want to see you there.▪