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Through the executive director's lens: AAPM moves, grows and thrives

2023; Wiley; Volume: 50; Issue: S1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/mp.16153

2473-4209

Angela R. Keyser,

Health and Medical Research Impacts

It is an honour to be included in this special issue to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Medical Physics journal and share some thoughts as your Executive Director. To begin, I want to thank the members of the AAPM Executive Committee and Board, past and present, for the support provided and the trust they have placed in me to lead your AAPM Headquarters (HQ) Team. When I joined AAPM in 1993, I had no idea what a great experience laid ahead for me. And, honestly, I had no expectation that it would last for more than 29 years. It is truly my honour and pleasure to work alongside the dedicated AAPM volunteers and HQ team to further the mission of AAPM and the medical physics profession. I firmly believe that part of the success of AAPM HQ operations is our ability to attract and retain an excellent team of high-performing association management professionals. I often stand in awe in what we've accomplished together. It would be impossible to synthesize the experiences of 29+ years into this article, so I will attempt to highlight some events of note. In 1976, the association management company Smith, Bucklin and Associates was engaged to provide support services to AAPM. This arrangement remained in place until the end of 1978, when—as reported in the December 1, 1978, Board of Directors meeting minutes—the staff function was moved to P.M. Haeger & Associates. Then, in 1980, the decision was made to contract for staff support with the American Institute of Physics (AIP) and in January 1981 headquarters operations were transferred to the AIP offices in New York, with Anke Junge serving as new Executive Secretary. Elaine Osterman became Executive Director in 1982. Al Smith (President, 1990) and Gary Fullerton (President, 1991) established an Ad Hoc Committee on Headquarters Relocation chaired by Chris Marshall in response to an announcement by AIP of the decision to move their headquarters offices from New York City to Maryland. The minutes of the July 25, 1991 Board of Directors meeting in San Francisco note that the ad hoc committee had begun their review of the proposals. Then, the Board minutes from December 4, 1991, report a vote ranking relocation options as (1) moving with AIP to Maryland; (2) contracting for support with the American College of Radiology (ACR)/Reston, VI, USA; (3) remaining as an independent office in New York; and (4) contracting for support with the Radiological Society of North American (RSNA)/Illinois. The ultimate decision to join AIP in relocating to the American Centre for Physics (ACP) in College Park, MD, USA was made during the August 27, 1992 Board meeting in Calgary and AAPM was ultimately headquartered there from 1993 to 2015 (Figure 1). In its relocation to Maryland, AAPM experienced a complete turnover in staff. Salvatore ‘Sal’ Trofi, Jr. was named AAPM Executive Director in September 1993. Sal was my mentor at the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE); when he left, I sent him a card with a note to ‘remember me if you ever need a good planner.’ Soon after, Sal reached out and I accepted the position of Director of Meetings and Programs. Sal and I then held interviews, with support from the AIP Human Resources Department, and hired Lisa Rose Sullivan as Project Coordinator, Vivian Still as Director of Administration and Andrea Hoopes as Administrative Assistant. I spent a week in NY with Acting Executive Director Jackie Williams (this resembled training by firehose!) and on November 1, 1993, this new AAPM HQ team began the adventure of establishing the new offices at the ACP. The five of us received much guidance and training from Bruce Curran, Jon Trueblood, Chris Marshall, and Jim Smathers as well as many other active volunteers. We rallied, rolled up our sleeves and figured it out! The NY offices were packed up by temporary staff, without any inventory or even box numbering—no 1 of 100 boxes, 2 of 100 boxes, etc.—to guide us/assure us that all the materials made the trip from NY. I KNOW some things in NY never made it to our new MD offices, with the first missing item of real importance being the Rolodex (remember those?) containing AAPM's exhibitor contact information. I had seen it in NY, USA, but when the time came to send the Exhibitor Prospectus for the 1994 Annual Meeting, this Rolodex and its essential contents (postal mailing addresses!) were nowhere to be found! This became the first of many times AAPM's longstanding relationship with Bobby Rispoli of Brede Exposition Services, now with Levy, proved very valuable! Bobby was the lead Brede contact for our 1993 Annual Meeting; Lisa and I contacted him, and he kindly provided physical labels to us so we could mail the 1994 Exhibitor Prospectus. Roughly 2 weeks into the job, the five members of the new AAPM HQ team made the journey to our first RSNA meeting (Figure 2). I remember being very impressed…and a bit overwhelmed…by the AAPM logo prominently displayed at what was the largest meeting I had ever attended! I was also intimidated by the thought of working with such brilliant scientists–but any such concerns were quickly put to rest by the sincere appreciation the new HQ team received from the AAPM volunteers. Early on, it was difficult for me to fathom how these members accomplished all that they did while having very important and demanding ‘day jobs’ and I continue to be amazed at the level of volunteerism within AAPM. Prior to my joining, AAPM bid with American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) to host the 2022 IUPESM World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering. It was agreed that AAPM would provide the meeting management and the new HQ team started working on this large-scale project right way. AAPM, AIMBE and EMBS volunteers and the HQ team worked 8+ years to produce a very successful meeting at the Navy Pier in Chicago, IL, USA. The highlight of the meeting for me was the parade of flags of all the nations at the start of the Opening Session (Figure 3). I remember being a bit awe-struck by the magnitude of the gathering and the collection of brilliant minds in attendance. When Sal announced in July 2002 that it was his intention to retire at the end of 2003, I was humbled that he recommended me to succeed him as Executive Director. I knew that he was meeting with EXCOM to discuss his plans during the 2002 Annual Meeting in Montreal, but I never expected to be called-in to be interviewed by EXCOM right then. During that meeting, Chair of the Board Bob Gould noted EXCOM members were accustomed to structured recruitment processes when filing such positions, and I was asked to deliver a copy of my resume to each Board Member at their hotel in support of the coming recommendation from Sal—with EXCOM's support—that I be named AAPM's next Executive Director. Well, I had a problem: I had not updated my resume since first going to work for Sal at NSPE, so I multitasked during several committee meetings to create a resume. I recall sitting in an Awards and Honors Committee meeting near then-Chair Mary Martel and her catching a glimpse of my computer screen! I had LOTS of explaining to do to Mary! The rest, as they say, is AAPM history: at their July 18, 2002, meeting the AAPM Board voted unanimously to offer me the position of Executive Director, and Bob Gould made the offer to me in a quiet hallway of the Palais des Congrès de Montréal. I graciously accepted and entered the next stage of my career. Sal and I were an amazing team; I owe so very much to him and his mentorship as he never ceased to both challenge and encourage me to take on new responsibilities. Sal established the upbeat, collaborative, positive HQ team culture, and it was my distinct honor to continue to build on his legacy (Figure 4). 2008 marked AAPM's 50th anniversary and the opportunity to invite Charter Members and honoured guests to celebrate with us in Houston, TX, USA. One of the highlights for me was meeting Gail Adams, AAPM Founding President (1958–1960) and discussing the early, formative years of the organization. What a visionary! It was also wonderful to meet Elaine Osterman, AAPM Executive Director from 1982 to 1993 (Figure 5). The anniversary commemoration featured the Night-In–Golden Anniversary Gala Celebration (Figure 6) with a special presentation to Charter Member Robert Gorson (Figure 7) acknowledging his perfect Annual Meeting attendance. After 22 years of leasing space at the ACP, it was time for AAPM to make a physical AND strategic move! The 2015 purchase of 1631 Prince Street in Alexandria, Virginia diversified and strengthened AAPM's investment portfolio and better positioned the organization to support both its vision and mission (Figure 8). The 1st floor of the 12 364 square foot, four-story building is devoted to meeting space, with the technology and in-house HQ team to service the growing number of AAPM council and committee meetings. The building offers room for growth should AAPM require additional staff support in the future, with work areas for 41 team members and five additional areas that can easily convert from group to individual workspaces (Figure 9). With the joys of ‘homeownership’ come the woes as well–and the HQ team experienced this firsthand on Monday, 8 July, 2019. Most of the team were preparing to travel later that week to the 2019 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, USA. What we didn't expect was an unprecedented 3.3 inches of rain in the DC/MD/VA area, with the sudden storm quickly filling the drains and flooding streets around our HQ offices leading to flooding in the lower level of the building and garage. The AAPM team sprang into action, moving furniture and trying desperately to protect our 3.5-year-old new home from the rising water (Figure 10)! Once we gave into the rising waters and headed for safety on the 2nd floor, we watched three cars float down Prince Street right outside our windows and a water/boat rescue from the Hilton Garden Inn parking garage across the street as well. We were finally forced to evacuate the building when fire alarms malfunctioned, and it was several hours before the waters receded. Unfortunately, the cars belonging to several members of the team were ‘totalled’ due to water damage (Figure 11). I was so very proud of the ‘can-do spirit’ of the team, but especially those dealing with the aftermath of insurance agents etc., while traveling for work and putting in very long days. We experienced a similar situation on 23 July, 2020, when we received 2−3 inches of rain overnight, and on 10 September, 2020—before repairs could be completed—we experienced another significant storm with 2.5–4 inches at a rate as high as 3 inches in 10 min. Fortunately, the condominium association for the King Street Exchange put measures in place, including flood panels at ground level doors, and when 3–5 inches of rain fell in the early hours of 15 August, 2021, the mitigation measures were successful, with minimal water reaching AAPM's interior. The recovery and rebuild for these four incidents were long and stressful, but AAPM is now ‘whole’ again, (Figure 12) and thankfully all damages were covered by insurance. And, as I am writing this article, the Alexandria area is experiencing rainfall from Tropical Rainstorm Nicole. Our flood panels are in place and the cameras we've installed are working–and I am hopeful I won't be reporting similar flood situations in the future. Team – I've decided that now is the time to take further action to reduce community exposure due to work activities (commuting, business travel, and staff-to-staff interactions). My priority is to be proactive in protecting the health of our team, stakeholders, our families, and the wider community, while at the same time ensuring that we can maintain our ability to conduct business effectively. As of Monday, March 16 all members of the HQ team will temporarily be granted the ability to work remotely. This will remain in effect for 2 weeks, with a decision about 30 March to be made on Thursday, 26 March. Two weeks, I thought–this is just for 2 weeks. The AAPM Spring Clinical Meeting was scheduled to open 22 days after I made that announcement. After much deliberation AAPM's leadership made the decision to transition to a virtual-only meeting. The hardworking volunteers and HQ team members worked countless hours to accomplish this transition in just 2.5 weeks, a herculean effort that signalled the beginning of major challenges for AAPM programs and meetings. AAPM is still grappling with the impact of the pandemic on its programs. One thing I think I was meant to learn over the past few years is how to balance being an inspirational and comforting leader while continuing to push on performance. I am proud of AAPM as an organization and how the 1400+ volunteers and HQ team members continue to push through the challenges presented by the pandemic, remaining strong and committed, being innovative. That 2 weeks of remote working turned into 124 weeks. We onboarded four new members of the team during this time and these individuals and the existing members of the team have been very intentional in building relationships and providing excellent service to our members. AAPM HQ reopened with pre-pandemic hours in the office on 1 August, 2022. I find great joy in hearing my team members in the Café area and once again hosting meetings in one of our beautiful meeting rooms where the good work of AAPM is the focus. Lisa Rose Sullivan retires in 2021, after 2 years of service to AAPM A pandemic and now this? Lisa and I both began our AAPM journey on 1 November, 1993 and it was very hard to imagine ‘doing AAPM’ without her (Figures 13 and 14). Over the years, I came to rely on Lisa's input and sage advice as we've talked through many a challenge and then rolled-up our sleeves to work side-by-side to get the job done! There are so many ‘AAPM wins’ that are in large part a result of Lisa's leadership. She was instrumental in fostering relationships with AAPM's corporate partners and worked alongside many volunteers to build the existing meeting exhibit program. Lisa never let ‘obstacles’ ruffle her Southern charm and poise and has been the calm to my storm on more occasions than I care to admit. Lisa played a pivotal role in innumerable projects that benefited AAPM and the medical physics community: the move to electronic abstracts, the implementation of the Virtual Library, and the Online Learning program, specifically helping to with the details of AAPM's staff support to CAMPEP. I will be forever grateful to call her a friend and a colleague (Figure 15). In closing, it is important to note that 1993 thru 2022 marked a time of tremendous growth for the organization. AAPM relies heavily on the volunteer efforts of its members to accomplish its scientific, educational, and professional missions. As illustrated in Table 1, AAPM has experienced a 242% growth in membership and 180% increase in meeting attendance over this period. The number of AAPM Groups (councils, committees, subcommittees, etc.) doing the good work of AAPM has increase 226% since 2004 when we started tracking this data. The number of volunteers engaging in AAPM's mission has increased 284% since 1998. This growth has facilitated increases in both the impact and reach of the organization and its ability to shape the medical physics profession. These are challenging times, but AAPM is poised to strategically consider its role in the evolving areas of biomedical science. I look forward to our continued successes.