The Ninth Annual Frontiers in Pediatrics CME course was held December 1-3 at the Doubletree Hotel in Charleston. This year the course director is Dr. William T. Basco, associate professor of pediatrics and the co-Director is Dr. J. Routt Reigart, professor of pediatrics. This year's meeting was on pace for a record attendance of 150 attendees. We were able to invite five guest speakers, an unusually large number, due to strong unrestricted support from several pharmaceutical companies.

The foci of the plenary sessions and guest speakers this year were obesity and diabetes, infectious diseases and immunization, and dermatology for the pediatric practitioner. Workshops for interested participants included day-to-day issues in the management of diabetes, a hands-on approach and experience in the evaluation of the shoulder, knee, ankle and foot, and a 2007 update on coding and billing. There continues to be strong support from local faculty of MUSC who have contributed greatly to the success of the course.

Frontiers in Pediatrics had its evolution from a survey conducted 10 years ago by Drs. Reigart and Walton Ector regarding the desires and needs of practitioners for a practical CME course. The content and structure of the course has, from the outset, been guided by the results of this survey. The course is annually re-evaluated in all aspects by a careful analysis of evaluations completed by the participants. Speakers, topics, structure, and learning environment are subjected to careful scrutiny each year. As a result, the course has annually received exceptional reviews and has continued to grow and evolve.

The course has had a remarkable record of success in attracting some of the most outstanding pediatricians in the country as guest faculty. This year they include Bernard A. Cohen, professor and director, pediatric dermatology, Johns Hopkins University; Stephen R. Cook, assistant professor of pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center; Sheldon L. Kaplan, professor of pediatrics and vice chair, Baylor College of Medicine; Robert M. Jacobson, professor and chair, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine; and Nicholas Ulmer, assistant professor of family medicine, Self Regional Hospital. Some prior speakers have included such notables as James Cherry, Samuel Katz, James Stockman, Russell Chesney, Stephen Ludwig, Susan Orenstein, Georges Peter, James Perrin, and Walter Tunnessen.