Over 4,000 Attendees Welcomed in Seattle at AACAP’s 2024 Annual Meeting
By, Jill Zeigenfus Brafford, AACAP’s Chief of Learning and Strategic Initiatives, United States.
Child and adolescent psychiatrists from over 40 countries gathered in Seattle, Washington, USA for the American Academy of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)’s 2024 Annual Meeting, October 14-19. The meeting featured six days of educational content, incorporating AACAP’s presidential theme of “Bringing the Village to the Children” and highlighting ways that child and adolescent psychiatrists can become actively involved in all child-serving systems.
The Local Arrangements Committee, chaired by Drs. Avanti Bergquist and Shannon Simmons, welcomed 4,023 attendees to Seattle, plus another 1,143 virtual attendees. All 5,000+ attendees experienced some inspiring plenary programs led by AACAP President Dr. Tami Benton, on themes such as caring for tribal communities, climate change, the foster care system, catatonia, leadership, and the juvenile justice system. In addition, many attendees participated in our Institute programming, which was available for eight weeks, on topics such as youth suicide prevention, psychopharmacology, autism, ADHD, treatment of preschoolers, and more.
Figure 1: Karl Menninger, MD, Plenary speaker, Karlos Dillard, with AACAP President Dr. Tami Benton and other AACAP leaders.
AACAP’s Program Committee, chaired by Drs. Barbara Coffey and Wanjiku Njoroge, developed a rich program that emphasized attendee interaction and discussion during all programs in addition to highlighting the latest science and clinical practice in the field. Attendees were enriched by our workshops, symposia, new research posters, clinical case conferences, and more, and also enjoyed programming that brought them into the city by visiting the Seattle Sculpture Garden, Museum of Pop Culture, and Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Figure 2: AACAP’s New Distinguished Fellows, Class of 2024.
Figure 3: AACAP’s International Leadership and Awardees.
Figure 4: Participants in AACAP’s second annual fashion show, sponsored by AACAP’s Art and Creative Innovation Committee.
International attendees gathered on October 15 for AACAP’s International Reception to connect and recognize AACAP’s International Awardees, Elizabeth Allieu, MSc, MBChB, Mitz S. Serofia, MD, and Runa Idil Uslu, MD. AACAP’s Global Mental Health and International Relations Committee sponsored a variety of programming throughout the week on topics such as climate change, children and war, intergenerational trauma, disaster preparedness, and career pathways for international medical graduates.
AACAP also welcomed over 1,300 medical students and residents to the meeting, with a variety of programming for those trainees to help them in developing their careers. It was wonderful to see so much enthusiasm from the future of the field.
Throughout the week, attendees learned new ways to help provide the best assessments and treatments for their patients and continued to build the child and adolescent psychiatry community to improve the care given to children and adolescents from around the world.
This article represents the view of its author(s) and does not necessarily represent the view of the IACAPAP's bureau or executive committee.
