thoughts from the ceo The Future of the Profession is a Shared Responsibility Applications to our colleges of podiatric medicine are down signifi cantly. The decrease in qualifi ed applicants to our schools impacts the future of the entire profession. Everyone whose livelihood is derived from practicing the profession of podiatry will be impacted if we cannot reverse this trend in declining applications. This decline also aff ects industry, whose products and services support the work podiatrists do every day. Stakeholders who are intimately involved with the profession are taking steps to address this issue. This group includes APMA's Step into Podiatry program, the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine and its recruitment eff orts with undergraduate institutions, the individual schools' recruitment programs, and the currently forming Foundation for Student Education as directed by a APMA House of Delegates budgetary action item (read more on page 12). This foundation's charge is to bring together representative stakeholders to raise funds and approve national marketing campaigns and analytics to fi nd and inform prospective students about a career in podiatry. While these are all good eff orts to resolve the current shortage of qualifi ed applicants, you as an APMA member are also a key stakeholder in this eff ort. APMA has a student recruitment tool kit at www.apma.org/recruitmenttoolkit that you can download. You can become a mentor and allow prospective students to shadow you in your offi ce. Place materials in your waiting room about a career in podiatry. Talk to your patients if they have children or grandchildren considering a career in medicine. If each member got just one student a year to investigate a career in podiatry and apply to podiatric medical schools, we would conquer this shortage. We all have a responsibility to resolve this problem. With everyone making recruitment a priority and working together, we can succeed. James R. Christina, DPM Executive Director and CEO APMA.ORG apmanews 7http://www.apma.org/recruitmenttoolkit http://www.APMA.ORG