Greetings to all pediatricians and child advocates throughout our great state and beyond! As we sadly bid farewell to another great Minnesota summer, we return to pursuits not involving lakes, mosquitoes, and sun block.

Your MN-AAP Board has been hard at work planning for the
upcoming year. At our annual strategic planning session in September, we reaffirmed our mission statement...

The MN-AAP, a partnership of pediatricians, will lead to
assure optimal health of all children in the state of Minnesota. We will accomplish this by:

1. Advocating for all children and their families as the resource for child health policy makers so that children of Minnesota achieve maximum potential of physical, social and emotional well-being;

2. Collaborating and networking with others with shared vision to guide ongoing improvement of children’s health as a resource for information about pediatric health care.

3. Acting as the statewide resource to connect pediatric health care providers, to engage members’ talents and to increase the effectiveness of physicians and staff through advocacy, networking and educational opportunities; and

4. Guiding transformation of pediatric practice to a sustainable model that improves child health and thereby society.

Our priorities for the coming year are guided in part by input from the member survey. A high priority will be to continue to improve communication to the members by email, newsletter, and in person. We want to connect with specialty and primary care pediatricians whenever possible.

MN-AAP’s legislative advocacy has a high value for MN-AAP members, and we will work to broaden communication regarding legislative issues. If you have ideas about how you want to receive information from your chapter, or would welcome a visit to your practice from a board member, let us know.

Another priority will be to further develop MOC 4 activities as a benefit of membership. Coming soon are MOC 4 modules on obesity, immunizations, and health care home.

A third priority involves data. MN-AAP members will be working with Minnesota Community Measurement to develop appropriate pediatric measures for use in public reporting. We will be focusing on use of data in our existing workgroups on obesity, immunizations, and health care home.

Lastly, we will continue to work on our grant-funded
projects to improve cultural effectiveness with immigrant populations, and develop materials to assist pediatricians in working with vaccine refusers.

Thanks for your support in our shared commitment to
improving the health of children in Minnesota.

Marilyn Peitso, M.D., FAAP
MN-AAP President

Marilyn Peitso, MD, with her two children at MN-AAP's 2011 annual meeting

Word from the President Archive:

April 28, 2011
February 1, 2011
November 1, 2010
July 1, 2010
May 1, 2010
February 15, 2010
November 12, 2009
June 15, 2009
January 12, 2009
October 22, 2008