Happy New Year!
As we begin 2024, I wanted to thank all AMIA members for the opportunity to serve this fantastic organization as I transition into the Past President role. We have had an amazing year, with growth of individual and organizational memberships and record-setting scientific meetings! I enjoyed seeing and spending time with the more than 2,300 attendees that helped make this year’s AMIA Annual Symposium in New Orleans so inspiring and fun.
I thank and congratulate the Scientific Programming Committee including chair, Genevieve Melton-Meaux, along with her vice chairs: Kenrick Cato, Arlene Chung, Hojjat Salmasian, Nicole Weiskopf, Laura Wiley, and Rui Zhang. Hojjat Salmasian has a tough act to follow as chair of the 2024 Annual Symposium, but I have no doubt he will deliver. Start preparing your submissions for the March 18 deadline! Additionally, keep in mind early bird rates when registering for the 2024 AMIA Informatics Summit in Boston, March 18-21.
One of the great privileges of the President role is selecting the Leadership Award recipients with AMIA’s CEO, Tanya Tolpegin. In 2023, we acknowledged Julia Adler-Milstein for creation of the AMIA Policy North Stars; Judy Murphy and Philip Payne for developing the new AMIA governance structure, which will help us scale our impact as a growing organization; Deepti Pandita for her work on the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) in informatics (PINA); and Sarah Rossetti, Kenrick Cato, and the 25x5 Task Force, for their efforts to reduce clinician documentation burden. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude for a few of the outgoing committee chairs and group leaders: Oliver Bear Don’t Walk (DEI), Aarti Chandawarkar (Academic Forum), Patricia Dykes (Nominating), Paul Fu and Jonathan Nebeker (Health Systems Council), Laura Heermann Langford (FAMIA), Cathy Ivory (HICC), Todd Johnson (Accreditation), Christoph Lehmann (Ethics), Bruce Levy (Physicians in AMIA), Jenna Marquard (Membership), Scott McGrath (Working Group Steering), Eneida Mendonca (Publications), Judy Murphy (Governance), Brigitte Seroussi (Awards), Donghua Tao and Tiffany Leung (Women in AMIA), and Peter Tarczy-Hornoch (Biomedical and Health Informatics Academic Leaders). I am indebted to the AMIA Board for their leadership over the last two years. I extend special thanks to outgoing treasurer Neil Sarkar and AMIA Board members, Susie Hull and Laura Heermann Langford, and I enthusiastically welcome new treasurer, Jim Cimino, and new AMIA Board members: Oliver Bear Don’t Walk, Aarti Chandawarkar, Tiffany Leung, and student representative, JaMor Hairston. None of AMIA’s work would be possible without the phenomenal AMIA staff. I thank CEO Tanya Tolpegin and senior staff, Amanda Hanova, RaeLynn Gochnauer, and Jeff Williamson, and every member of the AMIA team for keeping us financially sound during turbulent times, optimizing our operations, and sharing their passion and friendship. Please take a moment today to send thanks to your favorite AMIA staff member.
It has been a privilege to dedicate time to this organization and to get to know those members who are committed to fostering our vibrant professional home. Over the past two years, I have witnessed AMIA members standing shoulder-to-shoulder, regardless of professional setting, working together in the name of progress. Individual member engagement is strong and continues to thrive as does AMIA.
To all those who shared advice, laughs, tears, hugs, hilarious late-night texts, and memes, THANK YOU. There are a LOT of you, and I cherish many fond memories. During my past president year, I look forward to nurturing several pet projects, including the AI Showcase and relationships with other organizations, and of course, spending even more time with members. I could not be more delighted to hand over the leadership of AMIA to my surgical sister, Genevieve Melton-Meaux. Genevieve is an outstanding informatics leader and compassionate clinician, and I know our organization is in good hands (ha ha -- get it?).
Yours sincerely,
Gretchen Purcell Jackson, MD, PhD, FACS, FACMI, FAMIA
AMIA President and Board Chair 2021-2023
Vice President and Scientific Medical Officer, Intuitive Surgical
Associate Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics, and Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center