Dear Colleagues,
It might seem that the times between conferences is a slow time within our organization but I admit that one of the privileges of serving as President is that you get to see all the action that happens behind the curtain.
The Scientific Program Committee and, more specifically the Annual Program Subcommittee, are working hard to ensure great content for the upcoming 67th AAAM Conference in Indianapolis. I am very glad to share that, even without counting the Short Communications (do not forget that these are due by mid-April!), the number of submissions to the Conference has reached its peak number for the last years. We are excited about this increasing interest in the content of our Annual Conference and we are sure that the program will be, again, an excellent one. The new partnership with Accident Analysis and Prevention will also provide a great opportunity to increase the impact of the research being presented at the Conference.
I am also very glad to share that AAAM just finished a collaborative project with the European Union to facilitate the use of AIS in the EU country members’ national collision statistics. This is great news as it means that European Countries will share a common definition of what a severe injury is. Ultimately, this is the goal of the AIS: to become an international standard so that everybody can use it to prevent injuries. Our organization will seek further projects along these lines with the EU and other similar organizations.
Regarding AIS, we are seeing that after all the restrictions imposed by COVID, the number of courses is increasing rapidly. The American College of Surgeons is requiring the only use of AIS 2015 starting in January 2025, which will result in the homogenization of the different versions of AIS being used. The Task Force working on the development of AIS Digital is also making great progress to make sure that the tool is available to everyone as soon as possible.
Also, the Special Interest Groups are continuing their activities and preparing for their meetings during the Annual Conference. I have witnessed the tremendous success of the Motorcyclists’ Safety SIG call for proposals for a research mini-grant oriented towards providing small funding to individuals from Low and Middle-Income countries to start a pilot project focusing on the safety of the users of motorized two-wheelers. The group received ten excellent proposals from colleagues working to reduce deaths and injuries in these countries. This is one of the actions that are very much aligned with the new Strategic Plan.
And talking about the Strategic Plan, the Board of Directors is meeting in April to finalize the actions in the Strategic Plan. You will hear more about it during the Member’s meeting in October. We hope that this new plan will contribute to advancing the mission of our organization and increase its impact in the global arena.
In the meantime, I invite you to stay connected with AAAM by participating in several webinar offerings and by volunteering to become members of the different committees. It is thanks to all the volunteers that AAAM can serve the community more effectively: each of you can have an impact on the prevention of injuries worldwide!