Special Message from the AMIA President and Board Chair
Dear AMIA Members,
Happy 2022! I am grateful to be part of our amazing organization and to have the opportunity to serve you as your new President and Board Chair.
For those who do not know me, I am Gretchen Purcell Jackson, a surgeon scientist and clinical informatician. I develop scientific strategy for Intuitive Surgical, a surgical robotics company, and I practice pediatric surgery part-time at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. I have been an AMIA member for over 30 years, beginning with student membership while in a National Library of Medicine training program and continuing participation throughout my career as a surgical resident, academic clinician scientist, informatics director of graduate studies, and now, an industry scientist.
We held our first 2022 AMIA Board meeting two weeks ago where we welcomed seven new faces to the Board of Directors: Kenrick Cato, Arlene Chung, LaVerne Manos, Scott McGrath, Deepti Pandita, Rachel Richesson, and Jessica Ruff. I am inspired by the goals of our Board members, with the most common themes being to grow and diversify our membership.
It is important that we remain committed to transparency between the AMIA Board and membership, and I will provide regular updates throughout my term. In addition, Board members will host town halls to engage with YOU, our members, in both virtual and in-person formats at AMIA meetings. We want to hear from you – what are your goals for AMIA in 2022?
Advancing informatics with scientific evidence remains paramount, and I look forward to the new AI Showcase at the AMIA meetings, the creation of a task force led by Sarah Collins Rossetti and Kenrick Cato to implement the 25x5 vision, the launch of AMIA Inclusive Language Guidelines from the DEI Committee led by Tiffani Bright, Oliver Bear Don’t Walk IV and Robert Lucero, a new Governance Committee led by Philip Payne and Judy Murphy, and continued success of our AMIA meetings and educational offerings.
Thank you all for your commitment and engagement in AMIA. Please reach out to me or any of our board members with questions, concerns, and your suggestions for AMIA’s role as we work to advance health care through informatics.
I am honored to work with you and look forward to defining our next chapter.
More soon!