EAST news | 2018 Issue 2 2 EAST Mission Statement EAST is a scientific organization providing lead- ership and development for young surgeons active in the care of the injured patient through interdisciplinary collaboration, scholarship, and fellowship. EAST Vision Statement EAST seeks to improve care of the injured by provid- ing a forum for the exchange of knowledge in the prac- tice of trauma surgery; to promote trauma prevention, research, and improved trauma systems design; to encourage investigation and teaching of the methods of preventing and treating trauma; and to stimulate future generations of sur- geons to meet the challenge. providers. It behooves us to consider similar statements by our sister organizations-ACS-COT, AAST and WTA-as every community and all trauma providers are experiencing the impact of firearm injury. Expect to hear more on EAST’s firearm injury prevention statement. Finally, I would like to announce the establishment of a new task force. In response to EAST member input, a growing national awareness of inequity in our society and other industries and my own epiphany about inequity in the field of trauma surgery, I have established an EAST Task Force on Equity, Quality & Inclusion in Trauma Surgery Practice. This task force, co-chaired by Tanya Zakrison and Brian Williams, is charged with examining how EAST can use its membership and influence to encourage a practice of trauma surgery in which everyone can have the same opportunities for professional growth and development regardless of who we are. Elsewhere in this issue of the EAST News, Drs. Zakrison and Williams describe the charges and goals of this new task force, its major components and plans for the first year. EAST is an organization of caring, progressive, and passionate trauma leaders. I hope you will join the conversation on these issues. Together, we have the potential to change the world of trauma surgery in ways that improve our professional lives and improve the lives of our patients. Andrew C. Bernard, MD, FACS EAST President “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” - Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail *The Eastern Association of the Surgery of Trauma (“EAST”) is a Tennessee nonprofit corporation exempt from federal income tax pursuant to Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). Gifts to EAST are deductible for income tax purposes within the limits prescribed by state and federal laws. Please consult your tax advisor. Message from the President (continued from page 1)