THE PRESIDENT COMMENTS

Abstract

IN 1950, many of the functions of the disbanded committee to Study Child Health were turned over to the Academy's Committee on Medical Education, in order to give opportunities for educators to meet together and discuss their teaching aims and technics. For this purpose the country was divided into geographic areas or "regions," with Canada as a separate "region." Grants from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis have paid the modest expenses of the committee. After a slow start the committee, at first under the chairmanship of Lee Forest Hill and at present chaired by James Hughes, has proven itself one of the Academy's most valuable committees. For a time it was the Academy's good fortune to have Dr. Grover Powers as a co-ordinating officer for this committee. His lucid reports on the activities of the committee have appeared in Pediatricsfrom time to time. The conferences serve not only as a forum for the exchange of teaching philosophies and techniques; they have also led teaching departments to review their own teaching aims and methods.

A recent conference of Regions VII and VIII in Kansas City, organized by Dr. Herbert Miller, illustrates the value of these meetings. Forty-six participants were present representing pediatric departments in medical schools in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota, and Kansas. Present, too, were the Dean of the Medical School, the Assistant Dean of Post-Graduate Education, the Professor of Surgery at the University of Kansas and representatives of the Academy of General Practice. A visitor from the Prince of Wales Medical College in India also attended.