Taking the president’s gavel at the conclusion of the 60th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, the incoming president cued up his agenda for the coming year. William W. Dexter, M.D., FACSM, succeeds Janet Walberg Rankin, Ph.D., FACSM, as chief elected official of the world’s oldest and largest organization focused on sports medicine and exercise science. ACSM is a professional society with more than 50,000 members and certified professionals in more than 70 countries.
“I can sum up my ‘legacy project’ in one word – engagement,” said Dexter, director of sports medicine for Maine Medical Center and a professor of family medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine. “ACSM has become a national and world leader. I think it’s now critical that our membership see value and benefit from this extraordinary growth and change. We will also continue to engage the public, building on organizational relationships to build our brand and promote awareness.” Dexter noted ACSM’s signature programs, Exercise is Medicine® and the ACSM American Fitness Index™, exemplify the college’s mission to advance and integrate scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.
As ACSM president-elect, Dexter served as program chair for the 60th ACSM Annual Meeting and the Fourth World Congress on Exercise is Medicine®, which drew about 5,500 participants to Indianapolis May 28-June 1 for the college’s largest annual scientific and medical conference. He has directed the sports medicine program at Maine Medical Center since creating the center in 1996. A recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Maine Governor’s Council on Physical Activity, he has served in numerous leadership roles within ACSM and other professional societies. Dr. Dexter is a former editor of “The Yearbook of Family Practice” and is currently an editor of “Current Sports Medicine Reports” and the “Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.”
About ACSM
The American College of Sports Medicine advances and integrates scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine. Since 1954, ACSM has been leading the way in the scientific and public health aspects of physical activity, exercise science and sports medicine.
Through its unified membership, ACSM brings together global experts in multiple disciplines from science to practice to policy, including education, medicine, research and health and fitness, to deliver real-world programs that are making a difference in people’s lives.
The ACSM-led Exercise is Medicine® initiative is now global, working on six continents to make physical activity and exercise a standard part of a global disease prevention and treatment medical paradigm. Another signature program, the ACSM American Fitness IndexTM, provides an evidence- and science-based measurement of the state of health and fitness at the community level throughout the U.S.