2021 SAHM Presidential Address

I am honored to follow in the awesome immediate footsteps of Dr. Jessica Kahn and to have had the privilege of working and benefiting from the incredible wisdom, leadership, and advocacy of Jessica and Dr. Maria Trent. There are so many you—too many to name—that have supported me along my career journey. A big thanks to all of you!

Most of all, I am grateful and honored to have been elected president of SAHM. As the first African-American man to be SAHM's President, I am proud to share the honor of being a “first” this year with Madam Vice President Harris and Dr. Rachel Levine—newly confirmed U.S. Assistant Secretary For Health who is the first transgender person to hold a high-level U.S. government post and a long-standing member of the SAHM community.

Since I was young, I have always cherished hearing other's stories. I felt I learned something about myself every time I heard someone else's story. We ask our patients to tell us their stories in a certain form every day and we learn from them. We learn of their successes and regrets. We learn about what has influenced them. We learn of their brilliance and their resilience. It is important that we share our stories appropriately so we can connect and learn from each other. Ibram Kendi, the esteemed author of “How to be an Antiracist,” shared his story of personal growth. His story has impacted and directed our collective agenda to be antiracist. As we discussed in the SAHM networking session led by our diversity committee, we now have an active agenda to be antiracist, instead of the passive state of saying, “I am not a racist.” As we embark on our collective journeys to create a better world for our adolescents and young adults, I invite us to tell our stories to grow closer and to increase our connectedness. I invite us to do this so that we can make this world a better place one day at a time.

As I thought about what I wanted to say to you today, I could not break free from highlighting the common story that we have experienced this year. What a truly unbelievable year we have all experienced—the losses, the confinement, the disconnectedness, while at the same time for some, the forced connectedness of immediate families for better or worse. Although the story of the pandemic has yet to be finished, as I reflect on the year, we have weathered some dark times. And, there are lights to a brighter future—a brighter future for us and for our adolescents.

Many of us probably know someone that lost their life because of COVID. Many of our patients have lost loved ones. One of my patients lost five loved ones. Worst of all, owing to social distancing measures, our loved ones—mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters—may have died without us being present before their deaths. Nor did the measures allow us to properly grieve our loss(es). Let us take a moment of silence for the 520,000 + lives that have been lost to COVID, and the many black and brown lives lost to an unjust policing system not only this past year but in the past century.

The toll of the pandemic on our adolescents' and young adults' lives is far from being finalized. For many adolescents, their social, emotional, and mental well-being have been impacted by the pandemic. This traumatizing time at this developmental stage may have long-term consequences across their life span.

As humans, most of us are wired to be social. Physical and social distancing is and was hard to do. I miss not seeing you all in person at this meeting. I missed dancing—shout out to our international colleagues for their event tonight. Although I am a bit skeptical about a zoom dance party, I am looking forward to tonight! For adolescents, having and being with friends is an important social and developmental aspect of their lives. If this was hard for us, imagine how difficult it is and was for those adolescents who had to physically distance from their friends, their boyfriends and girlfriends, and their family members—sometimes even within their own household. How stressful!

Physical distancing can feel as if one is placing life on hold. The truth is that the clock keeps ticking. Many of our adolescents and young adults did not celebrate birthdays in ways they would have liked. Many did not have graduation ceremonies, proms, or homecoming events. I am proud to say my son graduated from college, but his class chose not to have even a virtual graduation. It was a missed opportunity. I do not think the excitement of that moment can be captured again.

Many of our young adults and many families of adolescents lost wages or their jobs entirely. For our adolescents, the story will unfold on the toll of economic insecurity on their development, academic achievement, and health outcomes. The magnitude of the decreased access to healthy foods, safe transportation, and housing has still to be tallied. We know that financial stressors increase the risk for exposure to violence. Some adolescents may have experienced increased exposure to abuse and neglect, intimate partner violence at home, and sexual violence.

School closures owing to COVID-19 have meant that most students have been participating in learning from home. This has been tough on parents, children in elementary and middle school, adolescents in high school, and young adults in college. We have yet to learn the impact of inequitable resources, access, and connectivity on the educational attainment of our young people. Some adolescents' trajectories to higher education or to professional athletic status may have been impeded owing to lack of continued progress in sports in school.

Our lives and the lives of our adolescents and young adults were disrupted in so many ways, including healthcare services. Owing to the pandemic, routine well-adolescent visits suffered. Adolescent vaccine coverage suffered. Sexual and reproductive health services suffered. I know that I have seen increased feelings of anxiety and depression among my patients.

On a brighter note, the pandemic has accelerated changes in healthcare delivery by 5–10 years through the commonplace delivery and reimbursement of telehealth services. During the heights of the pandemic, telehealth offered opportunities to keep all of us safe, our patients, their families—and our families—safe from avoidable exposure to COVID. We now have the privilege to be “invited" into our patients' homes through Zoom for a unique glimpse into their personal space as discussed by Dr. Amy DiVasta on the first day of the conference. On balance, the overwhelming benefits of increased access to health care offered by telehealth may come at a price of guaranteed privacy and by extension, confidentiality, owing to stay-at-home measures as discussed by Dr. Bianca Allison.

To quote Amanda Gorman, our first national youth poet laureate and the youngest of the six inaugural poets: We've learned that quiet isn't always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn't always justice. And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken but simply unfinished. We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.

As 2020 has highlighted for most of America, we still have a long way toward realizing equity and justice for all. As we—the trifecta of past president, president, and president elect—wrote to the membership, we all have so much to do—still. For those of us that live within a minority status—whether it is the color of our skin or our gender or sexual orientation—we may have wealth and education, but neither our education nor our relative wealth protects us equally. We are all challenged to make SAHM the penultimate antiracist organization as we seek to improve the health of our adolescents and young adults and to support each other to create antiracist environments for young people that we serve.

As we look to the light in our brighter future—SAHM is a part of that brighter future and has a significant role to play. Each of you has a significant role to play. This year1)

I will encourage further focus on restoring and growing our membership numbers—a continued strategic imperative. A presidential plug, please pay your dues if you have not already. Please join if you are not already a member.

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I will strengthen our connections with our usual partner organizations and hope to build new relationships with new organizations.

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I will continue to support activities that strengthen our membership connections throughout the year.

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Last but not least, I will continue to support our work and understanding as we strive to create an equitable and just society through our daily work and advocacy.

As this year's annual meeting theme underscores, OUR ROLES TO TRANSFORM THE FUTURE OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER! As we continue to do the work we do for the greater good, it is important for us to continually reflect on what motivates us. Here is a reflection on three individuals that have inspired and motivated me: The first is my father who was born in 1920 in a small town, Port Arthur, Texas—my hometown. He moved for higher education to become a doctor—a general practitioner but moved back to serve his community. Working and living in the same community in NYC for the past 20 years has been a continued connection to my memory of my dad, who tirelessly served his community in so many ways. Connecting to our keynote speakers yesterday, my dad fought to stop the avoidable environmental injustice of frequent flooding of our African-American community during most hurricane and tornado seasons. His first wife died in childbirth, and he later married my mom. Second, my mom was my Queen and she was also crowned queen of her college, Prairie View A&M, before graduating with a major in English and becoming an English teacher. She was a gifted singer and musician who played several instruments. She inspired my love of music and dance. My dad died tragically between my first and second year in med school; my mom lived a vibrant life until December 2019 to the age of 92 years. A picture of her at her 90th birthday with my son and my family occurred one month before we lost our childhood home to flooding by Hurricane Harvey. Although the loss of our childhood home was probably unavoidable, my dad would have been livid. My third inspiration, last but not least, my one and only son—my young adult—some say my “mini me." They all represent my inspiration and my motivation to do the work that I do.

Knowing our motivations, we can find our power. The paraphrased words of Amanda Gorman are “We (must) find the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves (and our adolescents and young adults).” Thank you SAHM for allowing me to serve you; I am looking forward to a vibrant year! Figure thumbnail gr1