Megan Mitchell
Dear ECNG Members,
Wow! I cannot believe how quickly the past three years have passed. It has been an honor and privilege to have served as the Chair of the ECNG. Bittersweetly, at ACRM’s 94th Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA, I officially became the Past Chair of the ECNG with Dr. Brooks Wingo stepping into the Chair position. I want to welcome Brooks into this position. I have seen her passion and drive on initiatives within the ECNG during the past four years and I know she is going to do a fabulous job. I look forward to seeing what the future holds.
The past three years have felt like a whirlwind in many regards. The ECNG watched as our Clinicians and Physicians Task Force gained momentum and became its own Networking Group; thanks much in part to the work of the Task Force Chair, Dr. Brad Kurowski. Our Mentoring Task Force, under the direction of Dr. Brooks Wingo, was established and has assisted initiatives throughout the ECNG and ACRM: producing an ‘Ask the Mentor’ column in the ECNG quarterly e-Newsletter, assisting in recruiting mentors for the Early Career Development Course mentoring lunch and building a pilot program to establish a mentoring program and database across ACRM.
The ECNG has seen the Early Career Development Course (ECDC) continue to mature and grow. The 2017 course in Atlanta saw our greatest attendance and under the guidance of Dr. Monique Pappadis, the course has continued to evolve through feedback from past attendees. Initiatives are under way to keep the course cost affordable and the ECDC Task Force is in the midst of planning another great and valuable course for the 95th Annual Conference in Dallas. Dr. Reza Ehsanian, the new Chair of the ECDC Task Force, shares the passion for the course and membership that Monique had and I look forward to assisting in the planning of the course under his guidance.
The Communications Task Force, under the direction of Dr. Alison Cogan, has continued to expand the ECNG quarterly e-Newsletter. The ‘Ask the Mentor’ and ‘Research Spotlight’ article additions allow ECNG members the opportunity to contribute further, as well as to hear from senior leadership within ACRM and gain professional recognition, respectively. Alison and the Task Force are currently working hard to establish an online e-book resource for ECNG members. The archived e-Newsletters have a wealth of information and valuable resources, but it is tedious to sort through each individual newsletter to find the information wanted. Once this project is approved and funded, the e-book will be a database of previous e-Newsletter resources and original articles which will allow ECNG members to easily find previous information and resources which were included in the e-Newsletters.
The current initiatives within each of the ECNG Task Forces are exciting and demonstrate how hard the leadership of the ECNG continues to work. I want to thank all members of the ECNG Executive Committee throughout the past three years for your support, passion and drive. It was a pleasure working with you all and I look forward to continuing to work with many of you as I move into the ECNG Mentoring Task Force Chair role.
I also want to thank Dr. Doug Katz, Dr. Deborah Backus, Jon Lindberg, Terri Compos and Cindy Robinson for your support and investment into the Early Career members of ACRM. I am especially grateful for your personal guidance and the leadership mentoring you all provided me. I could not have led as I did or grown professionally without the investments you provided.
I want to again congratulate Brooks and also congratulate Brad as he takes over my previous role as the Board of Governor’s Early Career Member-at-Large. I am pleased to see you each continue in leadership roles within the ECNG as your input and suggestions have always been so valuable. I am looking forward to working with both of you for the next two years and am excited to see the initiatives and progress you spur.
Congratulations, best of luck and thank you all!
Sincerely,
Megan Mitchell, PhD
Early Career Networking Group Chair, 2014-2017
ACRM Board of Governor’s Early Career Member-at Large, 2014-2017
