Special Message from the AMIA President and Board Chair
After careful consideration and based on the growing outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S., we are shifting our live AMIA 2020 Clinical Informatics Conference (CIC) to a virtual meeting. 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.
The virtual conference takes place on the dates of the originally scheduled AMIA 2020 Clinical Informatics Conference. Our goal is to provide a virtual experience that enables attendees to participate in a live streaming, multi-track virtual conference. If time doesn’t permit participation May 19-21, content from the entire activity will be available to registrants on a learning platform. The CIC focuses on evidence, analytics and best practice in the clinical setting – insight that is needed now more than ever.
As you may know, we also cancelled our AMIA 2020 Informatics Summit and put together a “light” virtual Summit this week, with select presentations from the original full program. We were delighted that close to 2,000 unique attendees were able to join us virtually – a blend of our loyal members and those new to AMIA.
The AMIA 2020 Virtual Clinical Informatics Conference will be a full conference experience. AMIA recognizes and greatly appreciates the hard work and dedication many of its members put into developing the conference — especially our Program Committee and speakers. This conference has nearly double the submissions as last year’s CIC, and when held live, doubled in size every two years. We look forward to bringing the CIC to everyone in this creative and innovative way.
The Virtual CIC has a different registration pricing structure than the original live meeting. The virtual conference platform is an expense for AMIA, and registration fees are necessary for our operations. All those who have already registered for the live Clinical Informatics Conference will automatically be registered for the virtual conference. For information on the pricing structure, visit the registration page. All presenters will receive an email from AMIA with information about virtualizing their sessions.
AMIA is committed to providing the utmost flexibility to our members and conference attendees as we navigate through these changes. As you know, AMIA is a nonprofit organization and relies heavily on the revenue from our scientific conferences to continue with operations and continuing our mission. While cancelling these live events are necessary for the health and well-being of all involved, it creates a significant loss for the organization. If you are not able to attend the virtual event, we ask that you consider donating your conference registration to AMIA. In return, you will sustain our work during this challenging time as we move forward with future AMIA initiatives. Donations of any size are fully tax deductible.
We appreciate your flexibility during this tumultuous time around the globe. We are committed to delivering the full Clinical Informatics Conference experience and will communicate updates regularly.