From the APA President – Melina Bellin, MD
Dear APA membership,
It was a great pleasure to see many of you at the APA/JPS/IAP/CAP joint meeting in Maui this December! As we enter the New Year in 2025, I would like to extend my most sincere thank you to the membership for entrusting me with the APA President role. As the first Pediatric Endocrinologist and diabetes-trained pancreatologist to lead the APA, I am truly humbled by this opportunity to lead this great organization and look forward to representing the entire APA membership.
I’d like to thank Dr. Aliye Uc for her year of service as APA President. In 2024, APA strengthened its global partnerships, created a new Board position for International Relations, and added a “Best Pediatric Abstract” award at APA. Dr. Uc organized a robustly successful meeting of 4 societies (our first such 4-way joint meeting) with APA, JPS, and welcoming also CAP and IAP. The 2024 meeting was the largest ever for APA, with 1,052 attendees from 23 countries with 819 abstracts accepted. Meeting highlights included a meeting pre-symposium on “Unravelling the Genetic Threads” of pancreatitis, and we welcomed Dr. Barbara Jung as our featured Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Pancreas Speaker.
I want to additionally extend my enthusiastic congratulations to all our 2024 awardees celebrated at this year’s meeting! We were honored to recognize Dr. Fred Gorelick (on behalf of APA) and Dr. Kazuichi Okazaki (on behalf of JPS) as the Ashok K. Saluja Distinguished Service Awardees. This prestigious award reflects the deep respect and admiration of the pancreatology community for their extraordinary contributions, acknowledging their groundbreaking research, prominence in the field, and outstanding leadership.
For the Vay Liang & Frisca Go Award for Lifetime Achievement, we were privileged to honor Dr. O. Joe Hines (on behalf of APA), Dr. Yoshifumi Takeyama (on behalf of JPS), and Dr. Yupei Zhao (on behalf of CAP). As APA’s highest honor, this award reflects the reverence and recognition of their remarkable service and excellence across all facets of the field – including research, education, clinical expertise, and mentorship. Their dedication has had a profound and lasting impact on pancreatology, making them most deserving of this esteemed recognition. I’d also like to congratulate the IAP award winners celebrated at the awards dinner: Dr. Suresh Chari was recognized with the IAP Lifetime Achievement Award and Dr. Min Li received the George Palade award.
We were also delighted to welcome Dr. Anne Marie Lennon as a new member of the APA Board for 2024-2025. We look forward to her valuable participation and leadership as we continue advancing the mission of the organization.
As we celebrate the New Year, I look forward to seeing the APA continue to grow and succeed in 2025. We will gather for our APA 2025 Annual Meeting in San Diego from November 12-15. Between now and then, APA will continue to work to serve the interests of our members. Please do not hesitate to reach out with questions or comments. I look forward to hearing from and learning from all of you.
With great respect,
Melena Bellin MD
The American Pancreatic Association is a membership organization for physicians and researchers interested in diseases of the exocrine pancreas. Our mission is to foster clinical and basic science research needed to cure diseases of the pancreas. We strive to continue advancing the field of research, while training the next generation of researchers devoted to finding a cure for these deadly diseases.
Recognizing that progress in understanding, diagnosing, and treating pancreatic diseases requires multidisciplinary analysis, the APA is reaching out to broaden the participation from pancreas- related disciplines, which perhaps have been underrepresented in the past: endoscopy, radiology, and pathology, among others. Our annual meeting is the cornerstone of our organization and allows us to bring together these groups to discuss current topics in pancreatic diseases.
