The American Thyroid Association (ATA) celebrated its centennial anniversary from September 27 through October 1 in Washington, D.C. The 92nd annual meeting, themed around honoring its past and embracing the future, showed the scientific evolution of ATA from 1923 to 2023 was very splendidly depicted. We learned about the original name of ATA as the American Association for the Study of Goiter and then the American Goiter Association.
The celebration started with recognizing the contribution of the leaders in thyroidology in the last 100 years. ATA pioneered the “Women in Thyroidology” initiative in 2002. The program has grown tremendously under the able guidance of enthusiastic and dedicated leaders.
In my 13 years of being an ATA member, I have experienced one thing year after year — the ATA is very welcoming to attendees of all backgrounds. The strong commitment of ATA to diversity, equity and inclusion saw another notch this year. I appreciated the dedicated networking session, with attendees from all over the world and the exhibit hall packed with posters on groundbreaking research from across the globe.
The ATA introduced two new courses this year: the interventional endocrinology workshop and the leadership development course.
Sessions on integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in thyroidology took a forefront in the ATA program. The sessions on AI were impressive, with a strong potential for empowering physicians and diagnostic accuracy. A hands-on device experience on radiofrequency ablation of thyroid nodules was quite popular amongst attendees in the exhibit hall.
Happy Birthday to the ATA!
Dr. Samantray has no conflicts of interest to report.
Illustration by April Brust
