Tobacco Documents Online

1 PRESIDENT'S PA GE As I near the end of my term of office as President, I am happy to announce that the Society has filled two important posts which will enable us to proceed rapidly with the expanded program advocated last fall in my Inaugural Address. What we have done, and how far we have progressed, I shall disclose in my Retiring Address to be delivered at our Annual Meeting on the night of Monday, May 24, 1954. Further, the details of the work of our many committees will be described in the annual report issue of NEw YORK MEDICINE for May 20th. At this time, however, I should like to announce that after weeks of interviews, investigations and deliberations we have employed a medical social worker and a public relations-editorial assistant to our Executive Secretary. Miss Shirley Decker, for the past five years a medical social worker for the New York Chap- ter of the Infantile Paralysis Foundation, joins the staff as of May 1, 1954. Miss Decker is a graduate of Florida University and of the Fordham School of Social Work. She will work actively with the Grievance Committee of the Society and aid the hard-working physicians of this committee by investigating those complaints which reveal medical social problems of pa- tients or their families. Additional duties will come with the Bureau of Medical Economics, and also-in a field with great potentialities-with individual physicians of the Society who may ueed, the help of Miss Decker's office for information on convalescent homes, etc., or for aid for their own private patients who may have major family social problems. Through Miss Decker also can be channeled the many requests which now come to the Society from the public for advice and counsel in a variety of problems in the medical-social field. For the other important post-that of public relations and editorial assistant-the commit- tee in charge of the problem has employed Mr. Hy Brodsky. A graduate of George Washing- ton University, Mr. Brodsky has worked for the public relations departments of the Boy Scouts of America, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, United Hospital Fund and Greater New York Fund. Within the past few months I can recall many situations where it would have been valuable to have additional assistance in the public relations area. These included a request from the A'. Y. Journal-American for information on activities of the Society in traffic safety and traffic deaths, radio talks delivered by members of the Society, requests from Look magazine for pic- tures and information about the lectures on Industrial Medicine which we sponsored, etc. Currently appearing in this issue of NEW YORK MEDICINE is an outstanding article on tobacco and cancer which will, undoubtedly, excite wide interest. Reader's Digest has already requested galley proofs on this article. Press announcements to newspapers and radio and television stations on this major medical article could develop great public interest, provide sound information on an important subject, and focus the attention of the public on the work of our Society. We are using our present personnel resources to accomplish these aims but I am sure we could have done much better with special PR personnel in this field. On behalf of the Society, therefore, I extend a hearty welcome to the new members of the staff of the Executive Office. I am sure that a year from now we shall look back and wonder how we ever got along without trained personnel in these two key posts. MAY 5, 1954 355