American Association for the History of Medicine: Report of the Eighty-Seventh Annual Meeting
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The eighty-seventh annual meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine was held in Chicago, Illinois, May 8–11, 2014, at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel. The following summary has been prepared by Jodi L. Koste and is intended for the information of the members of the association. The official minutes and reports are preserved in the Office of the Secretary. The final meeting program, featuring the titles of the papers and names of all the presenters, may be found on the AAHM website at http://www.histmed.org/meetings.html.
Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Council of the American Association for the History of Medicine, Inc.
May 8, 2014
The regular meeting of the council of the AAHM was called to order by President Nancy Tomes at 1:00 p.m. in the Dearborn Room of the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel. All officers and council members were present except Stephanie Brown Clark. Gary Ferngren, Scott Podolsky, and Mindy Schwartz, council Class of 2017, and Chris Crenner, candidate for vice president, were welcomed as observers.
Council revised the minutes of the meeting held May 16, 2013, to include its decision to create a reciprocal agreement with the American Association for the History of Nursing (AAHN) to allow members of each organization to attend annual meetings at the member rate. After approving [End Page 526] the amendment to the minutes, council approved them as published in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine Vol. 87, No. 3, 2013, 436–69. The council reviewed, discussed, and accepted the following reports of the secretary, treasurer, and the association’s standing and ad hoc committees.
Report of the Secretary (Jodi Koste)
During the past year the Office of the Secretary has handled the business of the association with a focus on membership, the annual meeting, the AAHM website, and routine operations. The officers held regular conference calls throughout the year to address these and other issues of concern to the association.
Virtual Council Meeting: The council met via conference call on December 6, 2013, to discuss the business of the association. The officers reported on the Ad Hoc Membership Committee, the annual meetings, and the Clio Project. Council elected Paul Berman to complete the unexpired term of Sandra Moss, council member in the Class of 2016, who resigned in the fall. Council approved a Twitter policy of best practices for the AAHM developed by Heidi Knoblauch. It is now available on the AAHM website at http://histmed.org/documents/TwitterAAHM12–2013. pdf. Council endorsed a proposal to name the Lifetime Achievement Award in memory of Genevieve Miller. The proposed name will be presented to the AAHM membership for a vote at the 2014 meeting. Council will ask the Program Committee to consider language in the call for papers stating that preference will be given to those who have not presented in the preceding year.
By unanimous email vote the council approved the establishment of the George Rosen Prize, the creation of a standing committee on student affairs, and a change in the number of council members and officers who make up a quorum at regular and virtual council meetings. Bylaws changes and additions reflecting these council motions will be presented to the membership at the 2014 business meeting.
Membership: The fluctuating membership of the association continues to be a concern although it is an issue that many other professional associations in the American Council of Learned Societies continue to face. Membership peaks by calendar year’s end but drops significantly at the beginning of the next year when members fail to renew in a timely fashion due to a variety of factors. In the last three years the membership has almost reached the 1,000 mark by the time of the annual meeting. Last year council approved a motion to offer a year of membership as part of the non-member registration fee for the annual meeting. This policy [End Page 527] helped to push the AAHM membership to 1,007 by the end of April. This includes 134 student members (131 in 2013), 842...
