Welcome from AMIA Senior Advisor

Some time ago, AMIA felt that interested scientists should be able to go to a single destination to get a reliable periodic update on the doings of the world's major biomedical and healthcare standards setting organizations. With Board approval to start up a publication for this purpose, it was decided that The Standards Standard should be global in scope, headed by a well known and highly regarded member of the standards community, focus on major international standards bodies and expand its coverage over time. Dipak Kalra emerged quickly as the publication's editor in chief. He is Clinical Professor and Director of the Faculty Centre for Health Informatics and Multiprofessional Education (CHIME) in the Division of Population Health at University College London. 

 

After months of planning and a pilot issue published on the web last year, Dr. Kalra and I become more convinced of The Standard Standard's potential value to both experts and the broader community. Critically, Ted Shortliffe, President and CEO of AMIA, gave the publication his blessing. With the recent addition of Nancy Light as AMIA Vice President for Marketing & Communications, The Standards Standard gained a Managing Editor who put new life into the look and feel of the Standard. With her help, The Standards Standard is now ready to move to 'prime time.'

 

As editor in chief, Dipak has established an initial editorial board, comprised of experts who can speak officially for their respective organizations and who combine rich knowledge of the health informatics standards landscape with a wide understanding of the challenges of their adoption, usage and usefulness. We are optimistic that as the Standard matures it will not only serve the standards community but also become a very useful adjunct to greater understanding of the role of standards and their continued development. I'll leave it to Dr. Kalra to introduce his editorial board and just tell you that I am very excited about this initiative and pleased that I'll also be an editorial board member of The Standards Standard. 

 

Yours sincerely, 

 

Don E. Detmer, MD, MA