16th Annual Patient Day
Your Mother Should Know, Your Doctor Should Know Better!
Patient Day - March 2, 2025
Einhorn Auditorium
Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City
Scientific Director
Dan Martin, MD
Program Director
Tamer Seckin, MD
Good morning. Welcome to the first to our first session for the Patient's Day Endometriosis Foundation of America. I'm Dan Martin, the executive and medical director, and I would like to present Carolyn Mayer, who is the program director for today's meeting and the Empower School Adolescent Health Program. She received her master's degree in Population and Family Health from Columbia University and has been awarded at a HIO Fellowship for research on intergenerational adverse childhood experiences. Carolyn?
All right. Good morning everybody. Thank you for joining. I know it's early on a Sunday. Appreciate everybody being here. Really, really excited for the day today. We have a great program planned. So whether this is the first time that you're at an event like this or you've been a part of this community for years, I want you to know that you're in the right place. This is a space for learning, connection, empowerment, and I can already know that this is going to be a great day. Before we dive into this discussions, I want to take a moment to share an exciting update. So this past fall, we launched our college ambassador program, an initiative part of the Empower Program, where 22 passionate ambassadors, college students from 21 universities across the United States have been leading peer-to-peer campus-based presentations on endometriosis. So since launching, they've already reached thousands of young people spreading awareness and ensuring that more students understand this disease, recognize symptoms, and feel empowered to advocate for themselves.
Two of those ambassadors are in the room today, one of which flew in. I won't put them on the spot, of course, but this is a huge step forward, and we're so proud to be a part of this growing movement. Now, I'd like to do a quick exercise if you'll humor me to sort of highlight why we're here today. So if you're comfortable, please raise your hand if you have endometriosis. Okay, this is expected. Alright, so keep your hand up. If it took seven or more years from your first symptom to be able to be diagnosed, to get a formal diagnosis, take a look around seven or more years. That's the average, right? And that's something that Endometriosis Foundation of America is working to change. One more thing, promise. The last one you'll have to humor me with. So raise your hand if you were told that your symptoms were normal, if they were all in your head, if it was just anxiety, look around, look around. I mean, there's almost everybody who raised their hand around for endometriosis. The endometriosis question has their hand up. So these people in this room today are those that will be able to understand your experiences in ways that no one else can.
We are here today to not only learn to support each other, to amplify our voices and to push for change. The people in this room are your community, and I hope that you'll connect throughout the day and afterwards at our social event later in the night. But with that, I want to set a couple of quick expectations for the day. You may not agree with everything you hear today, maybe set by speaker or a panelist, or ask in a q and a session, and that's okay. Not everyone agrees, not even doctors and researchers can all agree on major, major points around endometriosis. There's a lot that we don't know, but I ask that we engage with respect and empathy. We're here to learn from one another and to validate each other's experiences first and foremost. Also, wall speakers may be experts in their fields. They cannot provide personal medical advice. Please keep your questions general or hypothetical so that everyone can benefit from the discussion. But thank you all for being here today. We're so excited on behalf of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, we're grateful that you're here and participating, and we hope that you really gain as much as you can from this event, and I can't wait for the conversation ahead. Thank you.
So before I step off, I'm going to introduce our next speaker, Dr. Tamar Kin. He is a world renowned gynecologic surgeon, specializing in advance excision surgery for endometriosis. He's our co-founder, the co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, a surgeon at Lennox Hill Hospital, and the founder of this African Endometriosis Center in New York City. He has been dedicated to raising awareness in improving surgical outcomes and pioneered techniques that enhance the treatment and understanding of endometriosis worldwide. So please give a hand to our first speaker, Dr. Tamara Kin.
