The President's Corner

As summer slowly fades into autumn, the allure of vacation activities fades into the excitement of the new beginnings of another academic year. No doubt most of us are safely back into our work routines. I have wanted to share some of my thoughts about the summer's IPA meeting with you but I have waited until now to be sure that most of you are back in your offices, so I can speak to as many of you as I can.

I'd like to remind all of you of the imminently upcoming IPA Congress in Mexico City, August 3-6. I've just looked over the program once again and it promises to be excellent. If any of you have not yet made plans to attend, and are still in a position to do so, I encourage you to join us. You will be well rewarded.

San Francisco always captivates one's senses and the recent meeting provided multiple doses of stimulation. The charms of this fabled city may well have contributed to our best spring attendance since 2004, the date of our last San Francisco meeting! I'd like to review with you a number of the major accomplishments of this continuation of our centenary and then I'll share with you some of my thoughts about the way we must continue to proceed from here. In my view, it is an absolute necessity that we devote the bulk of our resources to dealing with the many real world challenges that are currently staring us down.

Too soon again I have the very sad duty to inform you of the death of a Past President of APsaA. Dr. Arnold Cooper died peacefully on June 9th. He was a most distinguished colleague who made very important contributions to our profession and our Association.

Please join me in a brief moment of celebration as APsaA begins the first day of our second century. On May 9, 1911 a group of eight psychoanalysts came together at the old Stafford Hotel in Baltimore and the American Psychoanalytic Association came into being.

Copenhagen in the Spring is not blessed with the most hospitable weather but the city is beautiful and does possess many very special attractions for visitors. I was there last week primarily for the meeting of the European Psychoanalytic Federation (EPF) and the attendant EPF Council meeting.

Greetings to all of you. It is a great honor for me to step into the APsaA Presidency. I’ll be providing some words of gratitude to Prudy Gourguechon in my next post, but for now I want to share with you my joy over the spectacular achievement accomplished at our recent Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Without invoking hyperbole I am even more excited about this than I am by the incredible play of my local team, the Los Angeles Lakers, who are once again NBA Champions.