CIS Strategic Plan Results

Council members of CIS participated in a strategic planning session in mid-December, 2007. The purpose of this session was to define the goals of CIS and to design initiatives to achieve the goals and to serve our membership. I will summarize the findings of the strategic planning meeting and I will end by inviting you to participate in the new initiatives.

The meeting started by acknowledging the growing role of immunology in the understanding of organ-specific disease states and the enormous potential of immunologic therapies. The Clinical Immunology Society is uniquely poised to bring together clinicians and scientists in a meaningful and productive way. This new wave of immunology is also more aligned with industry interests than ever before and the Clinical Immunology Society represents a home base for discussion of emerging therapeutic strategies. To emphasize those interests, the Society will:

• Develop additional clinical programs at meetings
• Expand our web education to include materials with CME credit and Maintenance of Certification credit

An example of our efforts to represent diverse interests in the field of immunology is the development of a table of biologic therapies. This table is curated and will soon be available on the web site.

As the meeting progressed, it became clear that there were additional implications of our efforts to develop materials to improve the clinical care of patients. In recognition of the difficulties of an academic career, there was a lot of enthusiasm for reaching out to trainee members and to provide mentorship for the transition to a thought-leader role. Young clinicians and scientists represent the future of this field. Marc Natter heads our Communications Committee and will be developing new technologies on the web site to improve networking among trainees. In addition, we are actively recruiting trainee members to participate in focus groups to help address their specific needs. Our other efforts to lead the way in the development of careers in Immunology are:

• Develop additional summers schools on immunologically relevant topics
• Engage members involved in the field of primary immune deficiency

In the coming months, we will recruit for task forces to develop and implement the strategies discussed above. It is important that active membership involvement inform on the plans. Please feel free to email me with comments about the strategic plan (details are appended) and by all means consider volunteering for these important new initiatives.

Strategic planning outline

Targeted Initiatives

Expand immune deficiency
Increase retention of trainees following a clinical track
    Improve clinical education
    Establish a clinically oriented satellite at FOCIS
Expand summer schools
Expand web based education

Initiatives under development

Retain and recruit thought leaders from different backgrounds
Create a forum for phase I studies
Evaluate the feasibility of establishing a research foundation

Additional efforts

Develop allied health education
Enhance our international membership
Establish relationships with regulatory agencies to advance the mission of CIS
Improve member understanding of the relationship of CIS and FOCIS

Kate Sullivan MD PhD
CIS President