Academic Forum Purpose, Policies, and Procedures

Mission

The mission of the AMIA Academic Forum is to foster the development of biomedical and health informatics as an academic discipline. The Forum provides a vehicle for surveying and analyzing activities in academic units dedicated to biomedical and health informatics and for recommending best practices related to education, scholarship, faculty development, and faculty retention. The Forum provides a locus for discussion of national research initiatives in informatics and a round table that facilitates collaboration among different academic units to further their objectives for education and research.

Context

Academic units in biomedical and health informatics currently exist in many forms. There are major differences with respect to:

• Scope: Some limit themselves to informatics as applied to specific aspects of health or health care, whereas some include the entire spectrum of biomedicine; some emphasize foundational principles, and some emphasize more pragmatic work;
• Service role: Some provide some level of IT and informatics services to their institution, whereas others offer educational and laboratory-based research activities;
• Composition: Some draw on faculty members from a variety of primary departments, whereas others have a core group of faculty members who identify primarily with the informatics unit;
• Administrative placement: Some informatics units have longstanding departments or centers, whereas others are emerging within their organizational enterprise.

Academicians in biomedical and health informatics similarly are a diverse group, with differences in their formal training, scholarly activities, and expectations for teaching, for supervision of trainees, for independent research, and for clinical and institutional service.

There is wide variation in requirements for appointment and promotion of faculty, in faculty compensation, and in institutional support for scholarship. The character of academic work in informatics appears to be dependent on particular institutional idiosyncrasies, rather than on articulated policies and goals of the academic informatics units or on recognized professional standards.

As biomedical and health informatics becomes an entrenched component of the educational mission of academic medical centers and universities, and as informatics becomes a core component of new federal initiatives in biomedical research, it will become increasingly important for academic units in biomedical and health informatics to articulate standards and policies for education and scholarship. At the same time, the larger organizations in which these units are embedded will need to develop an enhanced understanding of the nature of academic work in informatics, and of the support that these units and their associated faculty members require to be successful.

Goals

1. The Forum will provide leadership to promote biomedical and health informatics as an academic discipline;
2. The Forum will provide guidance to academic institutions and to informatics units in their efforts to develop and sustain educational and scholarly activities in biomedical and health informatics;
3. The Forum will identify and communicate to participating academic units information on new research initiatives, opportunities for professional development, conferences and workshops, and other relevant academic activities.

Membership and Representation

The Academic Forum comprises informatics training programs and other organizations with a strong interest in academic informatics. Membership qualifications shall be posted on the AMIA Web site under the direction of the Academic Forum Executive Committee. Academic or other informatics research and training units will self-declare for membership by contacting the AMIA staff and by providing brief documentation of qualifications. More than one academic program may join; however each academic unit is considered as a separate member and as such pays dues as a separate member.

Each member institution designates representation to the Academic Forum. The representative participates as a liaison between the member institution and the Academic Forum. The representative of the full member institutions has the authority to vote on behalf of the member institution. Academic informatics units may appoint a primary and secondary representative to the Academic Forum such that the secondary representative may vote on behalf of the member institution when the primary representative is unavailable. When there is more than one member from an institution each unit may have its own primary and secondary representative (and thus their own vote). Only Full Members have a vote.

Qualification for Membership

1. Unit must have or demonstrate interest in post-baccalaureate training programs in informatics; for example foundations and government agencies may join as affiliate members if they have an interest in academic informatics, even though they may not have a training program
2. The primary and any secondary representative of both regular and affiliate member organizations must be AMIA members
3. Each member must belong to a not-for-profit organization

Dues

The Academic Forum is a self-sustaining membership unit of AMIA with resources provided through the collection of annual dues under the AMIA Membership Director. The dues are established by the AMIA Board of Directors in consultation with the Executive Committee during the annual AMIA budget process. Currently, dues are:

1. Full Member: $2,500 per calendar year per academic unit
2. Affiliate Member: $2,500 per calendar year
3. Emerging Program Member: $500 per calendar year for emerging programs such as those with an institutional commitment to building a program or programs in the early stages of development for a term of two years. The criteria of an Emerging Program will be determined by the Executive Committee, reviewed from time-to-time, and posted on the Academic Forum website

Governance

1. Executive committee, which serves for a calendar year, comprises the Chair, Chair-elect, Past-chair, Secretary, an At-Large Member, a liaison from the AMIA Board of Directors appointed by the AMIA Chair (ex-officio and non-voting), and AMIA President and CEO (ex-officio and non-voting)
2. The Chair, Chair-elect, and Past chair each serve one-year terms
3. Secretary serves a two year term, and no more than two consecutive terms
4. An At-Large member to serve a two year term to alternate with the Secretary’s term
5. These positions are elected by the majority of Academic Forum membership via electronic ballot through a vote by Full Members
6. Unscheduled vacancies for elected members of the executive-committee positions may be filled by a majority vote of the remaining executive committee for the remainder of the term
7. Nominations for the elected members of the executive committee are to be made by the representatives of Academic Forum Full Members in a procedure determined by the AMIA staff
8. Only individuals representing units that are Full Members of the Forum are eligible for positions on the Executive Committee
9. If a member of the Executive Committee relocates to an institution that is not a Forum member, or the institution that an Executive Committee member represents allows its membership in the Forum to lapse, the Executive Committee member shall vacate his or her position
10. Administrative support for the Academic Forum will be provided by AMIA as described in the section "Relationship to AMIA"

Duties of the Executive Committee

1. To plan and conduct meetings for Academic Forum members
2. To report annually to the AMIA Board following either meetings or actions taken by the Academic Forum
3. To appoint and dissolve task forces to address specific business of the Academic Forum
4. To work with AMIA staff to provide services of benefit to members of the Forum
5. To collaborate with the AMIA staff in preparation of the annual budget requesting funds though AMIA’s annual budget process. Requests for unbudgeted funds must align with financial policies and procedures of AMIA
6. To determine on an ongoing basis the qualification for membership. The executive committee will reassess annually its current policies and will define membership criteria that will maximize value to Forum members and benefits to the informatics community at large
7. To review and approve applications to join the Academic Forum for Full Members, Affiliate Members, and Emerging Program Members
8. To disqualify members who do not meet the Qualifications for Membership or due to nonpayment of membership fees.

Chair

1. The Chair presides at all meetings of the Executive Committee
2. The Chair or his/ her designee from the Executive Committee shall be a member, ex officio, with vote, on all task forces of the Academic Forum
3. The Chair or his/ her designee from the Executive Committee will present an annual report to the AMIA Board of Directors
4. The Chair or his/ her designee from the Executive Committee will preside at the Annual Meeting of the Academic Forum

Chair-elect

1. The Chair-elect automatically becomes the Chair at the conclusion of the term of the previous Chair
2. The Chair-elect (or Immediate Past Chair in the absence of the Chair-elect) performs the duties of the Chair during the absence or disability of the Chair

Secretary

1. The Secretary maintains, or causes to be maintained, minutes of meetings, records of activities, a list of the membership, or any other records required by law or by AMIA

At-Large

1. The At-Large member of the Executive Committee administers policies and procedures of the Academic Forum

Meetings

1. The Academic Forum holds a business meeting in conjunction with the AMIA Annual Symposium
2. Additional meetings will be scheduled as deemed appropriate
3. The Executive Committee meets at least quarterly in person or via teleconference

Task Forces

1. The AMIA Academic Forum achieves its goals by appointing task forces that perform specific duties as established by its membership
2. Member dues are allocated to enable task forces to carry out their charge
3. A task force shall dissolve once the specific duty has been accomplished
4. The Chair will appoint members to a task force
5. Task forces report their activities and recommendations in writing to the Executive Committee prior to deliberations with the full membership

Relationship to AMIA

1. The Academic Forum is a membership unit of AMIA
2. Specific AMIA staff will be appointed by the President and CEO of AMIA to provide necessary support for the Academic Forum
3. AMIA staff will be responsible for supporting operations of the Academic Forum including, but not limited to, meeting scheduling, developing agendas, assistance with meeting minutes, membership management, programmatic activities, financial management, and other logistics
4. Changes to the policies delineated in this document require majority votes of the Executive Committee, of the membership of the Academic Forum, and of the AMIA Board of Directors. Such changes will be presented in writing and, upon final approval by the AMIA Board of Directors, will result in new versions of this document