Dear AMIA Member,
Growth and engagement are two of my top priorities as AMIA’s Board Chair. I am delighted to report that we are growing, and member engagement seems to be at an all-time high! This message shares some of the highlights and provides opportunities for YOU to engage with AMIA.
We had an overwhelming number of volunteers for Board Director and Officer positions, and the Nominations Committee had a tough time choosing a slate from many outstanding applicants. Please plan to attend the Candidate Forum on September 18, 3:00-4:30 pm ET, to hear about the vision these individuals have for the future of AMIA, and don’t forget to vote! Additionally, there were exceptional informatics leaders nominated for AMIA’s Signature Awards. We are looking forward to celebrating the winners later this fall.
The 2023 AMIA Annual Symposium in New Orleans is gearing up to be an incredible meeting, with a record 1,417 submissions. The scientific program committee had a challenging task in selecting the program. The increasing competition across all aspects of AMIA activities is a testament to scientific excellence of AMIA members, so prepare to learn and engage in New Orleans this November. Advanced registration ends October 24, and our hotel block is filing rapidly, so book now! If you, like me, had work that got excellent reviews but did not make the program, consider revising and submitting to another AMIA meeting, such as the 2024 AMIA Summit in Boston, March 18-21, with the upcoming submission deadline of September 14.
Working Groups are the key functional elements of AMIA, and three new groups are now available for member participation:
- The AMIA Clinical Informatics Fellows (ACIF) Working Group organizes all current and graduated clinical fellows into a national group for mentorship, career guidance, advocacy, and networking.
- The Informatics Maturity Working Group strives to empower organizations and individuals using maturity models in the informatics and health information technology space.
- The Surgical and Procedural Informatics Working Group serves as the academic home for professionals focused on informatics, idea exchange, and collaboration within surgical and procedural contexts.
AMIA members can join an unlimited number of Working Groups. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to explore our 25 Working Groups.
A devoted number of AMIA individuals and groups have contributed to work to achieve appropriate occupational codes for informatics professionals. AMIA is now working closely with the Department of Labor to improve how the government captures occupational data of our field and has made strides by contributing to updates to multiple codes in the Occupational Information Network, including the Health Informatics Specialist and Clinical Data Manager codes. These efforts will continue through 2028. Big thanks to Board member, Deepti Pandita, and AMIA’s VP for Policy, Reva Singh!
Finally, I hope to see you all in person at the AMIA Annual Symposium in November, but if you can’t wait until then, register for the virtual “Blueprints for Trust: Best Practices and Regulatory Pathways for Ethical AI in Healthcare Conference,” hosted by the Division of Clinical Informatics at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and AMIA on September 21, 2023. This effort strives to dissect challenges and shape the future of AI in Healthcare. I hope you’ll join us!
Yours sincerely,
Gretchen Purcell Jackson, MD, PhD, FACS, FACMI, FAMIA
AMIA President and Board Chair
Vice President and Scientific Medical Officer, Intuitive Surgical
Associate Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
AMIA President and Board Chair
Vice President and Scientific Medical Officer, Intuitive Surgical
Associate Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center