After thoughtfully considering many different options and ideas, AMIA has made the decision to shift our live AMIA 2020 Annual Symposium to a virtual event. We know that many of our members and attendees work in health care environments and are directly impacted and involved in COVID-19 relief efforts. We have no way of knowing how COVID-19 will be affecting our communities in November. AMIA leadership made this decision for your safety and the safety of your families at home.
Our signature event always draws participation from around the world. Hosting the Annual Symposium online will enable more people than ever to take part in the event regardless of physical location. With no need to worry about travel restrictions or expenses, we hope hosting the meeting virtually will welcome more people into the AMIA community than ever before.
The virtual event takes place on the dates of the originally scheduled AMIA 2020 Annual Symposium from November 14-18. We received a record number of submissions this year –more than 1,350 which is close to a 15 percent increase! As leaders in health care innovation, the contributions received by the Scientific Program Committee (SPC) demonstrate we need informatics now more than ever.
The AMIA 2020 Virtual Annual Symposium will be a full conference experience, and will feature the same high-quality, science-based learning opportunities AMIA conferences are known for. There will be plenty of opportunities for conversations and networking between attendees, presenters, exhibitors, sponsors, and informatics leaders.
As you may know, we held a fully virtual AMIA 2020 Clinical Informatics Conference (CIC). We surpassed our registration goal and offered three sensational days of presentations. It was a beneficial learning experience for the AMIA CIC Program Committee, members, and staff. We are committed to applying these lessons to our virtual Annual Symposium building on recent success.
AMIA recognizes and greatly appreciates the hard work and dedication many of its members put into developing the conference — especially our SPC and speakers. We have two engaging keynote presentations on tap for the Annual Symposium:
- Ruha Benjamin, PhD, will open the conference. She is a professor of African American studies at Princeton University and author of People’s Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier (Stanford University Press). She has studied the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine for more than 15 years and speaks widely on issues of innovation, equity, health, and justice in the U.S. and globally.
- Our closing keynote speaker is AMIA member Josh Denny, MD, MS, FACMI. Josh is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program. He has been involved in All of Us from its inception, first as a member of the Advisory Committee to the (NIH) Director Precision Medicine Initiative Working Group, which developed the program’s initial scientific blueprint. He led the program’s initial prototyping project and served as the principal investigator for the All of Us Data and Research Center.
The Virtual Annual Symposium will have two pricing structures: AMIA 2020 Virtual Plus and AMIA 2020 Live Virtual. Virtual Plus includes the Live Virtual plus six months access to the entire digital collection. The Live Virtual includes access from November 14-18. All those who have already registered for the live Annual Symposium will automatically be registered for Virtual Plus.
To continue to support the next generation of informatics professionals, we’ve significantly reduced the student member registration rate for the Live Virtual event. All student members can register at a 30 percent discount off the original live meeting rate. I hope this encourages more students to attend this premier informatics event.
We’ve also extended the Early Bird deadline to August 27. Don’t miss your exclusive member savings! For information on the pricing structure, visit the registration page. All who submitted a contribution to AMIA 2020 Annual Symposium will receive a decision from the SPC later this week.
AMIA is committed to providing the utmost flexibility to our members and conference attendees as we navigate through these changes. We know you value the in-person meeting. While this Symposium will be presented a bit differently, we’re confident it will be one of our best to date and a conference to remember!