“American Pediatric Society (APS) and Society for Pediatric Research (SPR) Virtual Chats”

To address the many challenges facing academic pediatrics, the APS and SPR have jointly created a series of virtual thematic meetings and discussions presented by leaders from our societies.  The overall goal of this webinar series is to present timely and critical issues regarding academic pediatric medicine as provided by outstanding leaders, including medical school deans, CEOs, Chairs, Vice-Chairs, Section Chiefs, Heads of Research Institutes and others, whose diverse experiences have provided exceptional and highly impactful guidance to our field.  These webinars are structured to have brief presentations from our experts, which will be followed by moderated but informal discussions “by chat” among the participants.

Topics include: attracting and retaining successful careers from the early, mid-level and senior stages; addressing social disparities that impact child health; balancing academic and economic issues in academic medical centers;  enhancing mentor-mentee relationships; understanding the dynamics, functions and opportunities within sections and departments; achieving diversity in academic medicine; strategies to improve grant funding and publication success; developing successful careers and leadership in advocacy.

We believe that this series will provide unique opportunities for early-career, mid-level and senior academicians with diverse backgrounds to share insights into vital issues that currently challenge our ability to improve child health outcomes through our missions of research, education, training, clinical care and advocacy.  We hope that these sessions will provide new insights into current barriers or gaps in academic medicine, novel strategies to overcome these hurdles, and will stimulate new thinking in each of these areas.

Thanks to all who have made our chats such a success! Please share the word with your colleagues as the Chats are open to all.

The 2021/2022 schedule is listed below: