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J Am Med Inform Assoc 16:429-438 doi:10.1197/jamia.M3238
  • Perspectives on Informatics

Don E. Detmer and the American Medical Informatics Association: An Appreciation

Table 1

Recent Initiatives Under Detmer's Leadership

AMIA Strategic Goal Examples Comments
1. AMIA and its members will advance the development and implementation of health information and communications technology and practices, including a health communications and information infrastructure capable of supporting care of individual patients, clinical research, translational bioinformatics, public health/population health and personal health management. a. Summit on translational bioinformatics Introduced in 2008 with a larger, successful second meeting in 2009. The meetings will be held annually.
b. New features and foci at the annual fall and Spring Symposia Several new tracks at the fall meetings and major emphases on clinical research informatics and public health informatics at the spring congress.
c. Digital Patient Record Certification Program (Developed with CS Placement, Inc) An initial building block for widespread education regarding any use of computers displaying identifiable patient data.
2. AMIA will offer leadership and collaboration in clinical healthcare and research informatics, public health/population informatics and translational bioinformatics, including advocacy for research support.

  1. CDC cooperative agreement to strengthen the breadth and depth of the public health workforce by providing training in public health informatics.

  2. Support from Federal Agencies (e.g., AHRQ) and private entities (e.g., Commonwealth Fund) to complete policy white papers.

  3. Establishment of an industry advisory council (IAC) (2007) in recognition of the key role commercial organizations play in our association and in the field of informatics.

  • Formal collaborative relationship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) national center for public health informatics (NCPHI).

  • AMIA has completed and published several research papers on topics including, “The Intersection of Patient Safety and HIT” and Clinical Decision Support (CDS).

3. AMIA will expand the size of and strengthen the competency of the health informatics workforce in the US and support the continued development of the health informatics profession. a. Clinical informatics as a medical specialty With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AMIA has worked to define a core curriculum for clinical informatics and to work with the American Board of Medical Specialties, through the American Board of Preventive Medicine, to pursue possible clinical informatics board certification, initially for physicians.
b. The AMIA 10 × 10 program This program has resulted in training of informaticians around the nation, and the development of an array of program offerings.
4. AMIA will contribute to the development of sound state, federal, and global policy on health information technology issues. a. Annual health policy meetings, now in their 4th year Diverse stakeholders from a wide range of public and private organizations have met to discuss issues such as “Secondary Uses of Health Data” and “Informatics and Evidenced Based Care”. Reports and collateral materials have been published from these meetings.
b. Advisor to Federal Government, with visible presence on Capitol Hill and before advisory committees such as NCVHS ARRA legislation reflects Federal acceptance of issues brought before the Congress in part through AMIA's efforts.
5. AMIA will provide thought leadership and be a catalyst and incubator for new ideas that can be developed by the informatics community. a. AMIA's leadership seen in areas such as principles of data stewardship and the need for a trained and educated healthcare workforce. Work face legislation developed with input from AMIA was incorporated into ARRA bill.
b. AMIA members have been repeatedly recognized for their skills and expertise. AMIA members appointed to prominent positions on Federal and national advisory boards and committees such as AHIC, NeHC, the HIT Policy Committee, the IOM, and the NCVHS
c. Gates and Rockefeller grants to advance global biomedical and health informatics training and education.

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