Bennett L. Leventhal, M.D.

The AACAP meetings are designed as rich opportunities for learning, scientific exchange, and collegial interaction. The AACAP Annual Meeting is the key opportunity for professionals in child and adolescent psychiatry and allied disciplines to assemble from around the world with the purpose of advancing understanding of the many facets of child development, developmental biology and psychology, developmental psychopathology, assessment, treatment, prevention, and public policy. 

In the process of developing and presenting meetings, AACAP strives to keep meeting content and presentations independent of the sources of funding or other support for the meeting and, in so doing, maintain the integrity of professional judgments and behaviors. In order to codify its intentions and processes, in 2003, the AACAP developed the Operating Principles for Extramural Support of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Meetings and Related Activities. These operating principles provide the framework in which members of AACAP, AACAP meeting attendees, and AACAP meeting supporters agree to preserve the form and substance of AACAP high quality scientific and educational programming. 

In order to keep the Principles current, each January, AACAP invites representatives from the pharmaceutical industry to the central office to discuss the Operating Principles. These meetings have provided an important foundation for an effective working relationship with these and other financial supporters of the AACAP meetings. 

The operating principles include policies governing the following areas: 

• Disclosure of financial relationships/conflicts of affiliation 
• Acknowledgement of commercial support 
• Promotional materials 
• Press-related activities 
• Off-label use or investigational therapies 
• Copyright • Exhibits 
• Enduring materials 
• Non-AACAP sponsored events 

The AACAP membership can assist us in our efforts by becoming familiar with the Operating Principles of Extramural Support of AACAP Meetings and Related Activities. The full document is available online at www.aacap.org. 

While the Principles is an extensive document, we offer some of the general guidelines below: 

• Companies agree to not have independent presentations during the week of the Annual Meeting at the host hotel or elsewhere in the meeting city. 
• No corporate logos may be displayed outside the exhibit hall. 
• No press conferences or briefings may be held prior to presentations at AACAP meetings nor can sponsors represent AACAP meeting content without permission by AACAP. 
• Companies may not send out any pre-meeting mailings or use hotel door “drops.” 
• Companies may not contact meeting attendees before the meeting to promote attendance at sponsored events. 

We strongly encourage you to review the Principles. They apply to all of AACAP members and meeting attendees. And, if you learn about an activity that you think might be in conflict with AACAP’s Operating Principles, please contact Heidi Fordi, Deputy Executive Director and Senior Director of Meetings, Continuing Medical Education, and Development, at 202.966.7300, ext. 102 or hfordi@aacap.org. Each potential transgression will be carefully investigated. After all, the Principles are only as good as the level to which we adhere to them. 

As a reminder, if you participate in an AACAP meeting in any way, you should disclose any conflicts of affiliations. This ensures that the scientific content of the meeting remains clear of any undisclosed commercial bias. AACAP has the following policies regarding disclosure: 

1. Disclosure of real, potential, or perceived affiliations is an important and serious matter.
   • Disclosure is required and considered to be an obligation of all attendees who present or speak at the Annual Meeting, be it from the podium or the floor. (Those asking questions or making short comments from the floor can fulfill this obligation by a purely verbal disclosure.)
   • The Program Committee monitors disclosures during the course of the meeting.
   • Failure to disclose is construed to be an ethical violation that will result in disciplinary action by the AACAP Program Committee.
   • WE TAKE DISCLOSURE SERIOUSLY!
2. BEFORE beginning your presentation, you have a duty to disclose:
   1. Any off-label medication uses recommended.
   2. Any real, potential, or perceived commercial, financial, or other affiliations.
3. Full disclosure is a requirement of the AACAP and our accrediting institution, the ACCME.
4. Disclosure must be made
   1. In writing and in advance to the AACAP.
   2. On the first content slide in a presentation or prominently at the top of a poster.
   3. Verbally at the beginning of each presentation.
5. Use of the Standard Disclosure Format is required.
   • Presenters are required to use the AACAP Standard Disclosure Slide as the format for disclosure for each presentation. It is available at: www.aacap.org/cs/AnnualMeeting/2007/Presenters.
6. When in doubt, report
   • When there are no affiliations, this should be indicated on a slide and verbally or on the poster.
   • The reporting timeframe is a minimum of the past two years and imminent support. An obligation to report may exist for funds received prior to the last two years if it would be commonly perceived to have impact on that particular presentation, e.g., funding for a study which ended prior to two years ago but is now being reported must be disclosed.
   • When in doubt about reporting, request guidance from meetings@aacap.org. The Program Committee will respond promptly to questions about disclosure of affiliations.
7. If disclosures were not submitted to AACAP in the response to the Call for Papers, e-mail appropriate information immediately to the AACAP with special attention to particularly relevant disclosures for each presentation at meetings@aacap.org.