Keywords Biomedical and health informatics - medical informatics - health informatics - academies
of science - International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics
Objective
This paper will present the author's visions for IAHSI, the newly founded International
Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (“the Academy”,[1 ]
[2 ]). These visions have been put forward for discussion specifically, but not exclusively,
to the inaugural class of the Academy, organized at the 2018 Medical Informatics Europe
conference, with its distinguished members, many of whom have influenced the author's
career significantly.
Background
Before presenting these visions, it is necessary to discuss two experiences of the
author that significantly shaped the visions presented here.
In 2009, the author was elected a member of the Braunschweig Scientific Society (Braunschweigische
Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft, BWG,[3 ]
[4 ]). BWG is a scientific society which, according to its bylaws and objectives, is
analogous to other academies of sciences. BWG has the right of co-option allowing
members to nominate and elect other scholars based on their academic reputation as
the only path to membership. Established by the State of Lower Saxony as an independent
institution with a civic mission, its objectives are to promote collaboration of natural
sciences, engineering sciences, and humanities. This is accomplished through meetings
and committees tasked with certain assignments. BWG supports the transfer of scientific
knowledge and advises the public in various ways. Annually, the Carl Friedrich Gauß
Medal is awarded by BWG to outstanding scientists. The number of full members younger
than 70 years old is limited to a maximum of 100 scholars.
In 2013, the author was nominated by the World Health Organization (WHO) to become
a member of WHO's eHealth Technical Advisory Group (eTAG,[5 ]). One objective of this group of 32 experts from all WHO regions is to review WHO's
eHealth activities and to make recommendations on priorities. eTAG's first meeting
took place December 12-13, 2013, in WHO's headquarter in Geneva, Switzerland. During
the meeting's intensive discussions on how health care can be improved globally through
eHealth, the author recognized the need for WHO officials to receive high-level and
unbiased information on informatics’ contributions and best practices on its use to
stimulate improvements in people's health and well-being. The author further realized
that a scholarly society such as BWG but devoted to biomedical and health informatics
and established on an international level might help with this mission. IMIA, the
International Medical Informatics Association[6 ], seemed to be a well-suited parent organization for establishing such an international
academy.
During the eTAG meeting, the author discussed this idea with Hyeoun-Ae Park (then
IMIA President-Elect) and Antoine Geissbuhler (then immediate Past-President of IMIA),
who are both also members of WHO's eTAG. These discussions were followed up by calls
to Lincoln Assis Moura (then President of IMIA), Peter Murray (then CEO of IMIA),
and Alexa McCray (then President of ACMI,[7 ]). On January 10, 2014, the author submitted a proposal for establishing such an
international academy under the roof of IMIA[8 ]. In the meantime, the idea of a scientific society in medical informatics has become
reality. With the commitment of many colleagues, in particular of Ted Shortiffe and
Patrice Degoulet, who served as co-chairs of IMIA's IAHSI Task Force[1 ], of IMIA's Presidents Christoph U. Lehmann and Hyeoun-Ae Park, and with the strong
support of IMIA's CEO Elaine Huesing, the Academy was established, and in 2017 its
first 120 members were elected as the inaugural class.
Visions
In this early phase for the Academy, it is of utmost importance that its objectives
and activities will be well chosen. The author's visions, denoted with V
i
, i ∊ {1, 2, …, 8}, are intended to aid in the discussion of the Academy's objectives,
activities, and priorities. As they are one individual's visions, they certainly will
be subjective. For brevity, the term informatics is used instead of biomedical and
health informatics[2 ].
V1 : The Academy should attempt to contribute to the health of the people in our world
The Academy should serve the people in the world and promote health, dignity, and
participation. How this can best be achieved will remain an ongoing debate. The objective
to contribute to the health of people worldwide through informatics should always
be the Academy's first priority. The Academy's activities should permanently be evaluated
on how well this objective is achieved.
V2 : The Academy should be engaged in advising governments and organizations on developing
health and science through informatics
The Academy should serve governments and (primarily international) organizations by
providing information and by advising on informatics’ contributions to health and
well-being. The Academy should achieve this by elaborating recommendations, distributing
best evidence, reporting on important international developments, suggesting research
priorities, and other activities.
V3 : The Academy should stimulate progress in informatics research, education, and practice
Advice can only be valuable if based on solid facts and evidence. To support the advisory
role mentioned in V2 , the Academy must advance research in the field. This could be achieved by Academy
members, e.g. working through committees of the Academy, and producing evidence on
certain relevant informatics topic and presenting or publishing their work products.
Progress might also be achieved through Academy awards to outstanding informatics
research or education or practice with global impact.
V4 : Academy members should share and exchange knowledge
Academy members should share and exchange their knowledge on important developments
in informatics. This should be achieved through both physical and virtual meetings.
Topics for discussion should be of international relevance and originality with the
potential to have an impact on the visions V1 to V3 .
V5 : The Academy's structure and organization should follow the tradition of scientific
societies
The Academy should be organized as a scholarly society, similar to other academies
of sciences. This includes the right of co-option allowing nomination and election
of its members, based on an extremely careful selection process. This process should
be based on the eligibility criteria mentioned in[10 ] and should consider a scholar's accomplishment, recognition, and global engagement[3 ]. As an international academy, the Academy should continue to consider regional balance.
The number of members younger than a certain age should be limited to a fixed number.
V6 : Academy membership is one of the highest honors in informatics internationally
The Academy serves as the international honor society in informatics. As mentioned
in[2 ] “Academy membership will be one of the highest honors in the international field
of biomedical and health informatics.” A careful selection process and strict eligibility
criteria, mentioned in V5 , will be an important prerequisite for achieving this. Academy members will be guided
by the principle to “practice successful, tolerant, and peaceful collaboration across
and beyond our nations and cultures” (see also[6 ], IMIA statutes, §2.1). Honoring outstanding persons is an important but not the
most important activity of the Academy. As in other scholarly societies, receiving
the honor of being IAHSI member will hopefully be combined with strong motivations
to support and, if possible, actively participate in the activities mentioned before.
V7 : The Academy should meet where IMIA meets
The Academy has been established under the roof of IMIA with strong links to IMIA
and its member societies. The Academy's physical meetings should take place at IMIA
meetings, in particular at MedInfo congresses, and at events and places where the
annual IMIA General Assembly gathers. Locations and events with IMIA Board meetings
may also be considered. Meeting jointly with IMIA serves to achieve two purposes:
to remain internationally balanced and to foster the Academy's close relationship
to IMIA.
V8 : The Academy's structure and organization should be lean and unbiased
The Academy's structure and organization should be lean. Closely cooperating with
IMIA in this matter will be helpful. As customary for scientific societies, the Academy
should be organized in an unbiased fashion without undue influence from any outside
sources. Discussions on finances, on statutes, and on other organizational matters
(including an appropriate web presence) are of course necessary. They should, however,
by no means, become the major activities of this scholarly society. The objectives
mentioned before should have priority. Priorities should be ranked as these visions
have been ranked, with V1 as highest priority, followed by V2 , etc.
Remarks
It is my hope that presenting these visions will stimulate a fruitful discussion on
the Academy's role and development. These visions certainly are subjective. They are
intended to stimulate discussions beginning in 2018 at the first Academy meeting.
The Academy is timely, necessary, and of importance. Finding the right path and setting
the right priorities through the members of the Academy's inaugural class is crucial
for a good and sustainable future.
[Figure 1 ] intents to visualize the visions and their priorities.
Fig.1 Pyramid of Visions for IAHSI, the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics,
ordered by priority.
