In the 2006 Bylaws Revision there were only 4 Committees - Publications, Program, Educational Development, and the Bylaws Committee. This current list of Committees exemplifies one of the many ways in which NASPAG has grown over the last 20 years.
Committees as of 2024:
ABSTRACT- this Committee reviews all abstracts and posters submitted for presentation at the ACRM
ADVOCACY- NASPAG increased advocacy activity in approximately 2016. One of the first statements worked on addressed surgery for DSD patients. NASPAG leadership had previously decided that advocacy statements would place NASPAG at some legal liability and at that time the organization was unable to accept the risk. This committee initially operated under the umbrella of ACOG.
ANTI-RACISM- new committee as of 2021 – started as the Anti-Racism Task Force- 2020- foster community and mentorship for providers from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, improve representation within NASPAG leadership, provide a pipeline for minority members-in-training, and further education of NASPAG members to strive for anti-racism within our medical field.
BUDGET-FINANCE- develop the annual operational and ACRM budget
BYLAWS- must update the bylaws every 3 years
EDUCATION- Started in 2012 by Drs.Lisa Allen and Gina Sucato. Later, the Resident Education Sub-Committee, organized under the leadership of co-chairs Drs. Meredith Loveless and Nathalie Fleming separated from the Education committee.
INVESTMENT- 2006. Naspag Reserve Fund ($40,000) was set aside and used to establish an endowment fund- Friends of NASPG – started by Dr. Susan Coupey.
As of 2024 NASPAG has the following endowments: Sanfilippo Education Fund; Mentors, Mothers, and Rising Stars Fund; S. Jean Emans Fund; Young Scholars Fund
NEWSLETTER -Started in 1986, publishes the NASPAG newsletter quarterly (1994 example)
PROGRAM – responsible for the ACRM
RESEARCH- began in 2013 at the ACRM- Vegas Meeting- spear headed by Drs. Andrea Bonny, Gina Succato, Ellen Rome, and Veronica Gomez-Lobo.
2014 - The Committee then developed the Fellows Research Consortium (FRC) – this was started by Drs. Veronica Gomez-Lobo and 2 fellows at the time: Drs. Gylynthia Trotman and Rachel Casey
Several Works Groups- Grant Work Group, Research Education Work Group, Mentoring Work Group, Journal Club Work Group
2024- The FRC was transformed to the NASPAG Research Network (NRN) in order to involve more of the membership
RESIDENT EDUCATION- an off shot of the Education Committee- educational resources
SOCIAL MEDIA- increase visibility of NASPAG and JPAG
Strategic Plan Committee- convened every 3 years
Website – the NASPAG website has gone through several iterations. In 2020 we moved our website over to - Memberclicks - with both AMS and LMS. This was accomplished during the presidency of Dr. Geri Hewitt and spearheaded by Drs. Judith Simms-Cendan, Susan Kaufman, Frances Grimstad, and Krista Childress. In 2023, the website was updated and redesigned by Lisa Rome during the presidency and vision of Dr. Judith Simms-Cendan.
NASPAG's committees can be found here
Additional activities
2019- 2020- Geri Hewitt was chair of the ACOG Adolescent Committee. ACOG dismantled the committee in this time frame. They moved PAG people off a single committee committed to adolescent topics and clinical guidance and placed them on a number of other committees. They shifted the responsibility of generating adolescent specific clinical guidance (committee opinions is what the committee wrote) from ACOG and suggested NASPAG should be responsible for the same.
Advocacy Committee History
In 2015, the Board met to begin the development of a new strategic plan. Some of their goals included revising the mission statement, the organizational goals, and an implementation plan. One of the new goals was to increase advocacy for the reproductive wellbeing of children and adolescents. The first Advocacy Committee was established in 2016. Members included Eduardo Lara-Torre, Xiomara Santos, Marty Fisher, Julie Strickland, Rachel Casey, Shaketha Gray, Anne-Marie Amies – Oelschlager, and Julie Thorne. Some of the issues they faced were how to get noticed, what concerns to support, absence of legal support in NASPAG, how to be inclusive of all NASPAG members.
The initial focus for the Committee was access to healthcare. The first project was an invite from the Societies for Pediatric Urology to join them on a statement addressing surgery for DSD patients. After amending the statement, NASPAG joined in support addressing the ethics and clinical concerns of surgery for DSD patients.
NASPAG then partnered with the Alliance of Justice, ACOG, AAP, SAHM, to advocate for our patients and their right to unbiased evidence based healthcare/reproductive care. These partnerships have grown and NASPAG has a seat at the tables of advocacy, recognized as the leader in PAG. In 2018 NASPAG signed onto a letter opposing a Senate 20 week abortion ban.
The Advocacy Committee has expanded significantly and has not only supported letters, amicus briefs, and documents from other organizations, but has authored many of its only advocacy statements. The Committee also partners with JPAG for publication of its statements, and other Committees- social media, newsletter, education. Some of the area where the Advocacy Committee has issued statements include, Justice & Equity, LGBTQ+ Health, Legislative Advocacy, Physician Wellness, Menstrual Health, and Covid 19.
NASPAG’ s definition of advocacy has grown from advocacy for our patients to include advocacy for our members. NASPAG is also committed to growing collaborations with our international organizations such as FIGIJ and FIGO, reflected in a period poverty project.
The Advocacy committee has begun to develop tool kits for providers to help them advocate for their own patients.