Hello Friends 👋
In this episode of The Incubator Podcast, hosts Ben Courchia and Daphna Barbeau interview Dr. Lily Lou, a neonatologist making history as the first from her specialty to run for president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Dr. Lou discusses the significance of her candidacy, emphasizing the importance of subspecialist representation within the AAP. She shares insights from her unique perspective, drawing from experiences in both subspecialty and general pediatrics leadership roles. The conversation covers the responsibilities of the AAP president and the critical need for neonatologist participation in AAP elections and advocacy efforts. Dr. Lou highlights recent AAP initiatives relevant to neonatology, including the Access to Donor Milk Act and advocacy for paid family medical leave. She also outlines opportunities for neonatologists to engage in advocacy at local and national levels, encouraging listeners to get involved. The episode concludes with information about the upcoming AAP election, scheduled for September 11-25, 2024, urging listeners to participate and make their voices heard in this pivotal decision for the future of pediatrics and neonatology. Throughout the interview, Dr. Lou's passion for inclusive representation and advocacy in pediatric healthcare shines through, offering listeners a compelling glimpse into the potential future of AAP leadership.
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Find out more about Dr. Lily Lou here: https://www.aap.org/en/members/home/national-aap-election-center/lily-lou-biography/
Access the AAP election Center here: https://www.aap.org/en/members/home/national-aap-election-center/
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Do not miss your chance to register for the upcoming Delphi 2024 conference taking place September 23rd in Fort Lauderdale FL. Virtual Registration is available this year for those of you who cannot make it in person!
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The transcript of today's episode can be found below 👇
Ben Courchia MD:
Hello everybody, welcome back to the Incubator podcast. We are here today at the District 6 conference in Chicago with Daphna, and we're taking this opportunity to record a very anticipated podcast with Dr. Lilly Lou. Daphna, how are you today?
Daphna Barbeau MD:
I'm doing great. We've had a great time at the District 6 meeting, lots of good energy here. We heard some really good talks today, but we have been long awaiting the opportunity to have Dr. Lou back on the podcast.
Ben Courchia MD:
Lily, thank you so much for coming back to the show, and it's a pleasure to have you on.
Dr. Lily Lou MD
it's always a pleasure to talk to the two of you, and one of those great talks today was yours.
Ben Courchia MD:
Thank you so much. For people who don't remember, I mean, again, they have no excuse at this point, but for people who don't know you, you are a neonatologist at the University of Illinois and you are running for the presidency of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Congratulations on being nominated as one of the two front runners for the position.
Dr. Lily Lou MD
Thank you so much. I'm really excited that there's finally a neonatologist on the ballot and I'm so honored that it gets to be me.
Ben Courchia MD:
Can you talk to us a little bit about that because I don't think people understand that number one despite its long history, despite its large contingency of neonatologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics has never had a president that was a neonatologist, and even, I guess, worse, a neonatologist has never been on the ballot.
Dr. Lily Lou MD
That's right. A lot of people think of the American Academy of Pediatrics as an organization for general pediatricians, but truly, we are all pediatricians, and subspecialists are an important part of our community. I think that to have the opportunity to represent the whole Academy as a subspecialist is really important.
Daphna Barbeau MD:
I love that. And yeah, you've had a history of leadership, obviously, and most recently, were a chair of the section of perinatal medicine at the AAP. But what made you take this leap to run for such a prestigious, very time consuming and important position?
Dr. Lily Lou MD
So you're right, I'm the immediate past chair of the section on neonatal perinatal medicine. We're the only subspecialty that has its home within the Academy. And the Academy has 67,000 pediatricians as members, but 4,800 of them are neonatologists. So we make up 7% of the Academy's membership. And so we are a very important, we're an important part of that group. Because we are the only subspecialty group that does not have its own separate society, the AAP is truly our professional home. And I feel like I really understand the concerns and the needs of of pediatric subspecialists because of my time in leadership of the section. But I also had the chance to be a chapter president. So I got to know general pediatricians and understood what it was like to work with the school district. I had that chance in Alaska. So I feel like I'm a little bit unique in being able to represent the subspecialty and the general pediatrician population. And I really believe that good ideas come from everywhere. And so I think being inclusive of every member of the academy, no matter what pathway they followed, is gonna be a win -win situation for everyone.
Daphna Barbeau MD:
And tell us a little bit about what the job entails, the actual role of the AAP president. What can you do and what are the limitations of the power, so to speak?
Dr. Lily Lou MD
I think that...being AAP president, first of all, it would be an incredible honor to represent the AAP. And you would kind of be at the helm of the ship, but you don't get to make all the decisions. You work with an incredible team. And so I think the president, and this election is for the president -elect, which you would do for a year, then you would be president, then you would be past president for the year after, and all three of those have responsibilities and roles. But I think that you have the opportunity to impart some vision to the academy and maybe share some of your priorities. And one of my priorities we've just talked about, the inclusion of subspecialists as well as generalists in the academy. And that means really promoting opportunities for subspecialists to be leaders and to have other career development opportunities.
Ben Courchia MD:
Yeah, and I think that for the people listening who are, mean, our audience is mostly composed of neonatologists, then this is the more reason for you to go vote and support your candidacy. Can we talk a little bit about why then it is important for the community of neonatologists to go vote and be represented within the Academy of Pediatrics? mean, you mentioned the percentage that we represent within the Academy, but what is the difference between our community members being passive versus active members?
Dr. Lily Lou MD
Well, think if you know you can find out a lot of information about me and about my opponent in this election on the election website and I really hope that the membership will select the person that they want to be the next president -elect, but I believe that voting is generally
low in every election. And the AAP elections typically only have 10 to 15 percent of people voting, and the number is even lower for the pediatric subspecialists. So I just encourage people who have something at stake to use your voices and use your privilege of voting. It's all online, so it's really easy. And choose the person that you want to be the president -elect.
Ben Courchia MD:
And I'm going to say for, I mean, I'm not a very good person when it comes to keeping up with my memberships and things like that, but I'm going to just talk for Daphna and I, like the membership dues of the American Academy of Pediatrics is something that our practice covers. So we don't really have to pay for, to renew our membership. For a lot of people working in medicine, this is a cost that is often covered by your employer. And that's all really what you need to be able to be an active member of the voting group and really have your voice heard and your interests represented during this election.
Daphna Barbeau MD:
And I just wanted to say, I recognize that potentially not everybody listening is a member of the AAP. So maybe tell us a little bit, you mentioned the representation of our subspecialties, but some of the main focuses for the AAP in the those recent years and in the coming years so people know what's a great reason. Where's that advocacy going to at this current time?
Dr. Lily Lou MD
Well, I think this section is the voice for the neonatology community. And one of my major areas of interest is in advocacy. So some of the things that have happened recently are some of the members of our section got to contribute to the writing of the Access to Donor Milk Act. We've been actively advocating for paid family medical leave. We would like every state to expand Medicaid, so we pay attention there. We have also, through this section, tried to be a voice on issues like the FDA, what they've come out with about probiotics that has really changed the way that we practice. And also, I think everyone listening has heard about the shocking lawsuits about formula and NEC. And we are concerned that we might lose some of the tools that we use every day, like the fortifiers for preterm babies who need a little bit extra nutrition. we're trying to be a voice for the concerns of all neonatologists. So that happens within the Academy. And just like the general pediatricians. The advocacy machinery of the AAP is incredibly robust. In fact, that Access to Donor Milk Act, it's on the Advocacy Action Center. So you can go there if you're a member. And in a couple of clicks in less than two minutes, you can send a letter to all three of your representatives. It's so incredibly easy. And the AAP makes those kinds of things available to us. Very, very interesting. Can I add one more thing? Please. One other thing that is really important to neonatology that's within the academy is the committee on the fetus and newborn. So most of the standards of clinical practice, the clinical reports, the technical reports, the clinical guidelines come from COFN. I try not to say coffin. I know. And these are gold standards of care for neonatology.
not just in the US, but people around the world look to the Academy for those standards.
Ben Courchia MD:
And so for getting into the practical aspect of this election, can you tell us a little bit about when is the voting going to be open? When can people actually cast their vote? How long does it and how long does it go until?
Dr. Lily Lou MD
So members who are eligible to vote should get an email around September 11th and the polls are open from the 11th to the 25th. And we expect that we'll be notified of the results the next day. So it'll be quick, which is nice that we don't have to keep wondering while they count and recount ballots. so there are several ways that you can access the ballot. One is through the link in the email that you'll get as a registered AAP member and eligible to vote. Another is that if you're eligible to vote and you go to the election center, which you can find on the splash page of AAP .org. If you click on it and you're eligible, it will send you to the ballot. Otherwise it will tell you that you're not eligible. So that's how you can know. But I'm asking people to maybe even put it on your calendar to remember to vote because again, a minority of people vote and I think that it would be great to have a chance to represent the subspecialists as well as the general pediatricians. couldn't possibly do that without your vote.
Ben Courchia MD
I agree. And I think this is really one of these rare opportunities where if we feel like we could have a bigger voice as a specialist within the American Academy of Pediatrics, then obviously it is an opportunity for us to cast a vote for a member that is coming from our community and that has our interests in mind.
Daphna Barbeau MD:
And it sounds like it's not too late if they're not members that they could register just in time to vote. So I'm glad that people still will have that opportunity after this comes out. While we have you here, you have this long history of involvement with advocacy. And I'm always liking to ask this question about why is it important for neonatologists to be advocates for the things that are happening in the NICU, but also outside of the NICU? We see this all the time, I think is is bedside clinicians, feel like, I mean, we can really just manage what we're managing from the day to day with our critically ill patients. But tell us why it's so important for neonatologists to be engaged in kind of the advocacy machinery, like you said.
Dr. Lily Lou MD
So one of the things about what we do clinically in the NICU is we take care of babies one baby at a time. We stand at one incubator and we take care of that baby. it's actually quite refreshing to be able to have a voice in national or state legislature and to be able to impact positively all the babies in the country. So, you know, general pediatricians, when you think of advocacy, you might think about children on the border or firearm safety or access to reproductive healthcare, but there are many things that are really relevant to us. For example, paid family medical leave or how vitamin K refusal often leads to later vaccine hesitancy. Access to donor milk is another issue. Maternal mental health is becoming increasingly recognized. We were really excited that the AAP has an incredible advocacy conference every year that's usually in cherry blossom season in D.C. But last year, we hosted our first ever neonatology advocacy conference where we spent a day learning about an issue, practicing the case that we want to make, and then we had made appointments with legislators. So we actually met with our congresspeople to make a case for renewing the Preemie Act.
Daphna Barbeau MD:
And if people are listening and saying, you know what, I've always wanted to get involved. I've always been a little bit hesitant or nervous about it. You're such a friendly bunch of our advocacy group in the neonatal community is really friendly. How can people get involved maybe locally or like you're doing at a national level?
Dr. Lily Lou MD
So we have, our section has an advocacy committee and I co -chair that with Shetal Shah from New York and we actually just received the outstanding section award for the third time in a year for our work in advocacy. We have monthly meetings and anyone's welcome to attend those. But if you want to be added to the listserv or you just want to learn more about advocacy, please feel welcome to contact Shetal or me directly. think that Ben and Daphna have my contact information. And we would encourage getting engaged in what we find to be incredibly rewarding.
Ben Courchia MD
Lily, thank you so much for making the time just so that to remind everybody you are running for the presidency of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Your opponent for this election is Dr. Andrew Racine from New York, who's a general pediatrician. Voting begins on September 11th, ends on September 25th, and the winner of this election will serve as president in 2026.
We wish you the best of luck with the election. You definitely have our support, at least talking on a personal note. And we're looking forward to September 26, I guess, to see what the result is like. Thank you. Thank you for making the time and for taking on this challenge.
Dr. Lily Lou MD
Thanks so much for helping me encourage people to use their voices.
Ben Courchia MD
Thank you.
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