American Medical Association Interim Meeting 2010: San Diego

I spent this weekend in San Diego at the AMA Interim meeting, specifically in the Resident and Fellow Section of the organization. My role at the meeting this year was the culmination of the work I have done with the other members of my Committee on Scientific Research. We hosted hundreds of posters and oral presentations from students and residents presenting research on basic science, clinical science, health policy, and clinical vignettes. I was impressed at the breadth and depth of the presentations and glad to see so many people who chose to present their research at the AMA.

This research symposium has been going on for several years now and one of the great things about it is the number of people that it brings to the meeting that otherwise might never have taken any part in the AMA. While the AMA is well known to the public for being a heavy hitter in Washington when it comes to health policy, the AMA actively plays roles in a lot of other areas, including science. For example, the Physician Consortium on Practice Improvement (or, PCPI) is an AMA led initiative to help derive clinically important and relevant measures for determining quality medical care. A little more obvious is the independent Journal of the American Medical Association. The AMA also has a Council on Science and Public Health who examines important scientific issues on the AMA's behalf.

Anyway,  I didn't present any of my own science this time around since I was helping to run the show, but congrats to everyone who participated and the winners of the symposium!.