“...to furnish leadership and to foster advances in the surgery of trauma; to afford a forum for exchange of knowledge pertaining to injury control, research, practice and training in prevention, care, and rehabilitation of injury; to stimulate investigation and teaching in the methods of preventing, correcting, and treating injuries from all types of accidents; to enhance the study and practice of surgery of trauma by establishing lectureships, scholarships, foundations and appropriate evaluation procedures to afford recognition to individuals working in these fields by extending them membership in the association.” An excerpt of EAST’s exempt purpose, filed in Knoxville, Tennessee on November 17, 1986 by Kimball Maull, these words provide the basis for our organization’s founding as a tax-exempt organization- one that serves the public good. EAST members most certainly serve the public good, individually and as a collective. At the EAST Board meeting on April 25th and 26th in Chicago, we had the opportunity to receive special training from Jamie Orlikoff, a nationally renowned expert on governance and boards. Mr. Orlikoff encouraged us to consider EAST’s exempt purpose as we deliberated agenda items that will affect our organization, our members and our patients. Board members and EAST staff used newly honed skills in governance as we considered standing agenda items like educational programming, membership, guidelines, professional development and budget. We also addressed important new issues of firearm injury prevention and professional equity. For example, what should be EAST’s position on firearm injury prevention? What are EAST’s duties and opportunities with regard to creating a more diverse and equitable profession of trauma surgery? Injury Control and Violence Prevention Committee Chair Joe Sakran, himself a firearm injury survivor, is working collaboratively with the Firearm Injury Prevention Taskforce led by Marie Crandall to draft a statement on firearm injury prevention that we believe serves the community at large and EAST’s member surgeons and trauma Message from the President 2018 ISSUE TWO Andrew C. Bernard, MD, FACS In This Issue Strategic Goals E A S T E R N A S S O C I A T I O N F O R T H E S U R G E R Y O F T R A U M A news LEADERSHIP  Prepare young surgeons to become leaders DEVELOPMENT Promote unique programs for the career development of young surgical leaders SCHOLARSHIP  Provide education and training across the con- tinuum of acute surgical care FELLOWSHIP  Encourage a sense of community for personal professional growth COLLABORATION  Work with our stakehold- ers to advance patient care and trauma systems • Upcoming Deadlines •  Pay It Forward Recap • Mentoring Program A D V A N C I N G S C I E N C E • FOSTERING RELATIONSHIPS • B U I L D I N G C A R E E R S