Abstract
On behalf of the Program Committee, we cordially invite you to the 2026 American Thyroid Association Annual Meeting, which will be held November 4–7, 2026, in Philadelphia.
The Ridgway Trainee Conference will take place on Wednesday, November 4, under the leadership of Drs. Melissa Lechner and Federico Salas-Lucia. Concurrently, we will hold an endocrine neck advanced ultrasound course and an introduction to interventional endocrinology course.
The 2026 ATA Annual Meeting has been streamlined from its traditional four-day format to a three-day scientific program. Our goal is to retain the exciting, high-impact scientific content that attendees have come to expect from the ATA while making the meeting more efficient and accessible.
The meeting will officially open at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 5, with our keynote “Year in Thyroidology” session with presentations by:
Dr. Laura Boucai: Year in Clinical Thyroidology Dr. Rachel Kelz: Year in Surgical Thyroidology Dr. Iñigo Landa: Year in Basic Science Thyroidology
All major award lectures will be retained. This year’s distinguished lecturers include:
Dr. Megan Haymart: Valerie Galton Lecture, “Guided by Questions, Shaped by People: Advancing Thyroid Cancer Research” Dr. Maria Cabanillas: Sidney Ingbar Lecture, “From Fringe to Framework: How Radical Ideas Became the Blueprint for a Cure for Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer” Dr. Lisa Orloff: Lewis Braverman Lecture, “The Ultimate Feedback Loop: Neck Ultrasound and Thyroid (Cancer) Surgery”
As always, the winner of the Van Meter Award, given to an investigator age 45 or younger for outstanding contributions to thyroid research, will be kept secret until the last moment.
A special plenary session will focus on the role of artificial intelligence in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease. Featured speakers include:
Dr. William Speier, Co-director of the UCLA Biomedical AI Research Lab Dr. Johnson Thomas, Creator of an artificial intelligence model used to stratify thyroid nodules Dr. Danielle Range, Investigator in the area of machine learning and thyroid cytopathology diagnosis
Notable parallel sessions for this year include:
New treatment options for Graves eye disease Management of low-risk medullary thyroid cancer Engineering and cellular innovations in thyroid disease (basic science track) Use of radioactive iodine in pediatric patients (pediatric track) Surgery for advanced thyroid cancers after treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (surgical symposium) Controversies in the management of intermediate-risk thyroid cancer Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: The “euthyroid but still symptomatic” dilemma
In response to positive member feedback, we will continue the Core Thyroidology series, which will cover important clinical topics for early career endocrinologists, such as fundamentals of thyroid cancer care, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and thyroid disease in pregnancy. Following the success of the 2025 ATA & Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging joint session, we will hold another multidisciplinary case-based discussion session covering different aspects of managing patients with thyroid cancer.
This year, the Program Committee is placing a particular emphasis on audience engagement during the meeting. Speakers have been encouraged to incorporate interactive elements and bidirectional discussion into their sessions, creating a more dynamic learning environment than the traditional lecture format. The meeting will conclude at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, November 7, allowing attendees sufficient time to enjoy the sights of Philadelphia or travel home that afternoon.
We hope you will mark your calendar and join us this fall for an invigorating, stimulating, and collegial meeting. We look forward to welcoming you to the ATA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
Authors’ Contributions
M.W.Y. and S.A.: Drafting and revising this commentary.
Footnotes
Author Disclosure Statement.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Funding Information
No funding was received for this article.