Welcome Message From John Holmes

John H. Holmes, PhD, FACE, FACMI, AMIA 2013 SPC Chair

On behalf of the 2013 Scientific Program Committee, I extend a warm welcome to informatics researchers, practitioners, students, and the curious to participate in the 2013 AMIA Annual Symposium.

The Symposium is the leading scientific meeting for biomedical and health informatics research and practice. Biomedical and health informatics is the scientific discipline that seeks to develop and use information to improve health care, to assist biomedical research across the continuum from molecules to populations, and to empower practitioners and the public in their quest for better health for all.

This is an exciting time for the field, between the opportunities and challenges posed for the information sciences by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the ever-growing concern for patient safety in an increasingly information technology-laden environment, and the need for health information and communication by researchers, practitioners, and the public. Without doubt, biomedical and health informatics is capturing the attention and interest of virtually everyone who hears the word “informatics”.

The Symposium offers an opportunity to present your work or catch up on the latest trends in informatics, network with colleagues old and new, develop collaborations, and interact with leaders in the field. The 2013 Symposium will continue many of the features of past meetings. These include full-length papers, abstracts, poster sessions, panel discussions, cutting-edge policy presentations, keynotes, tutorials, system demonstrations, and pre-Symposium workshops. The exhibit hall will provide attendees with the opportunity to learn about the latest products and services in health information and information technology.

Highlights

The Informatics Year in Review will be on the schedule, which is so popular that it plays to standing room-only crowds every year. So for 2013, we are planning a second Year in Review session that focuses on informatics in the media.

The Student Design Competition, which will provide students or teams of students with the opportunity to design a solution to a problem in informatics.

The Student Paper Competition, so students from all computing, information science, and design disciplines will have a venue for recognition of their work.

Special social events to dispel the myth that informaticians are all work and no play!

We are back in Washington, D.C. for 2013, in lovely Dupont Circle. It is a great location in a great city, and there is much to do outside of the Symposium, but I know that the program will keep you happily busy inside.

I again invite you participate by submitting your best work as a paper, poster, or abstract, convening a workshop or panel, or just attending to take it all in and get familiar with the field.

We welcome participation by those in translational bioinformatics, clinical research informatics, clinical informatics, consumer health informatics, and public health informatics. But that’s not all: computer scientists, information scientists, computational biologists, social scientists, and any others who work with information in health domains are very much welcome, and strongly encouraged to participate!

I look forward to seeing you in November!

John H. Holmes, PhD, FACE, FACMI

Chair, Scientific Program Committee

Associate Professor of Medical Informatics in Epidemiology and Director, Doctoral Program in Epidemiology at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine