Dear Colleagues,
The 66th Annual Scientific Conference of AAAM is fast approaching. With the title “Safety for All” I hope that after this long time with travel restrictions, we all see each other at our Annual Conference.
In my mind, the Annual Conference together with all the education and service around AIS is the flagship of our Association. Among the many lessons learned during the pandemic, the need to see each other and keep in close contact is one of the most important. This is why I strongly encourage each of you to come to Portland in October and see old friends and meet new colleagues. I would like to thank all our sponsors that are essential to ensuring that we can put together a very exciting program. Please make sure that you register as soon as possible to facilitate the organization of the event.
Thanks to the work of the Scientific Program Committee, we will have the opportunity of attending excellent presentations showing cutting-edge research covering all cells in the Haddon Matrix. I am also looking forward to the meetings of the Special Interest Groups and to the dedicated meeting times during lunch for members of the AAAM Committees. In addition, we will have the opportunity of meeting and learning from two extraordinary keynote speakers: Leah Shahum (Founder and Director of the Vision Zero Network) and Cecilia Sunnevång (Vice President of Research at Autoliv).
I would like to remind you that the Board of Directors is finishing the draft of a new Strategic Plan for the Association. We will be presenting the outcome of this process during the Annual Business meeting at the Conference. I strongly invite you all to join the meeting so that you can provide your ideas and feedback. Mobility is changing and the safety needs will change accordingly: AAAM does not want to wait for this process to occur, but we as an organization would like to lead the way so that even more lives are saved.
As I introduced in my last message, the AIS committee is in the process of developing a digital AIS version. This is a huge effort for AAAM financially but mainly based on the voluntary work that as members we dedicate to our Association. This AIS digital version will facilitate that more users have access to AIS and, eventually, that the quality of injury databases is improved worldwide. We will be learning more about this tool during the Conference.
Before finishing, I would like to take a moment to remember Anne McCartt, former President and active member of AAAM for a very long time. As we were preparing this edition of INROADS, we received the sad news of Anne’s passing. From here, I would like to thank Anne for her service in AAAM and the reduction of road traffic-related injuries in general. She should be an inspiration for all of us and her contribution to the field will be long remembered.
AAAM gets reinvigorated always after the Annual Conference and I am looking forward to seeing what new initiatives will arise after our meeting in the Fall. See you all there!