A Call to Action

IMIA Presidency

My time as President of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) is quickly coming to an end and I will turn over the gavel to Prof. Sabine Koch at the end of MedInfo, in Lyon, France, in August of this year [1]. Relinquishing the office will be bittersweet. While I tremendously enjoyed working with IMIA’s CEO and admire and appreciate the many dedicated volunteers on the IMIA Board of Directors and in the working groups of the organization, it also has been a challenging time due to effects of MedInfo 2017.

The task of standing up the new Academy (The International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics) was complex and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank the transition team of Drs. Shashia B Gogia, Carola Hullins, Sabine Koch, Anne Moen, and Brigitte Seroussi, who assisted in the planning and execution of the first board election for the new Academy. The new Academy now operates with its own leadership under the presidency of past IMIA President Prof. Reinhold Haux. The Academy has already passed its bylaws and has begun to elect the second class of fellows.

• References

• 1 Lehmann CU. Taking up the Gavel. Yearb Med Inform 2018; 27 (01) 1-2
• 2 United Nations. International migration report. Available online at https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/migrationreport/docs/MigrationReport2017_Highlights.pdf . (Last accessed 6/14/2019)
• 3 Brown SH, Fischetti LF, Graham G, Bates J, Lancaster AE, McDaniel D. , et al. Use of electronic health records in disaster response: the experience of Department of Veterans Affairs after Hurricane Katrina. Am J Public Health 2007; 97 (01) S136-S141
• 4 Allen A. Lost in translation: Epic goes to Denmark. Politico. Available online at https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/06/epic-denmark-health-1510223 . (Last accessed 6/14/2019).