WPS Members and News Highlights-January 2025

Elisa Choi, MD

January 2025

From WPS Chair Elisa Choi, MD

Greetings to all WPS members as we start a new year! I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful December 2024 holiday season and ushered in 2025 safely.

January is also when our WPS starts its policymaking process for the 2025 Annual Meeting. The WPS Policymaking Committee has already met and has started brainstorming resolution ideas. 

The deadline to submit resolutions for the 2025 Annual Meeting is Feb. 20, 2025. Find guidelines to submit a resolution on the WPS policymaking page, and submit your completed resolution drafts and inquire with any questions at [email protected].

January brings opportunities for a fresh start, but it is also Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. Cervical cancer causes approximately 4,000 deaths in the U.S. per year, and while there are fewer cases of cervical cancer relative to numerous other cancers, it is an entirely preventable cancer with the HPV vaccine (cervical cancer prevention vaccine) and screening methods (Pap smears) readily available. The HPV vaccine more recently also received approval for expanded coverage for individuals up to age 45.

Cervical cancer has significant health disparities, with Black/African American women having the highest mortality rates and lowest five-year survival rates for cervical cancer. Black/African American women are also 30 percent more likely to develop cervical cancer than non-Hispanic White women. Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native women also experience high rates of cervical cancer.

There are still many myths and misinformation regarding cervical cancer and HPV vaccine, but this AMA article can be a helpful resource. 

Many of us celebrated the new year on Jan. 1 on the Gregorian calendar, but in several Asian cultures, the end of January 2025 is Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year; Tết or Vietnamese Lunar New Year; Seollal or Korean Lunar New Year; as well as others). Notably, the year 2025 is the Year of the Snake in the Chinese Zodiac, a time of renewal, transformation and spiritual growth. It is also associated with wisdom, intelligence and intuition.

Keep in touch with us by joining the WPS GroupMe chat, or email us at [email protected], as we promote the 3 Cs (collaborations, connections and community) for this upcoming year.

Thank you to all WPS members for what you do every day, for your patients, for our profession, for women in medicine and for #OurAMA.

Let’s all look forward to this upcoming year with a positive spirit of new possibilities and opportunities!