The journey to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)

The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Task Force on
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) was established to address systemic
racism and health disparities within biomedical and health informatics,
aligning with AMIA’s mission to transform healthcare through trusted
science, education, and informatics practice. AMIA member voices,
responding to police brutality and COVID-19's impact on Black and/or
African American communities, spurred the creation of AMIA’s DEI
initiatives. The Task Force proposed actionable recommendations to the
AMIA Board of Directors across five domains: translational bioinformatics,
clinical research, consumer, clinical, and public health informatics. In
the first 9 months, the Task Force (1) created a logic model to support
workforce diversity and raise AMIA's DEI awareness, (2) conducted an
environmental scan of other associations’ DEI activities, (3) developed a
DEI framework for AMIA meetings, (4) gathered member feedback, (5)
cultivated DEI educational resources, (6) created an informational session
on Board nominations and diversity, (7) reviewed the Board’s Strategic
Planning documentation to align DEI efforts, (8) led a program to increase
attendee diversity at the 2020 AMIA Virtual Annual Symposium, and (9)
standardized data collection of socially-assigned race and ethnicity data.
The Task Force’s collaborative and comprehensive approach helped AMIA
understand its member diversity within the context of systemic racism and
health equity. This work supported marginalized groups, broadened the
research agenda, and positioned AMIA as a DEI leader in informatics.
Transforming informatics and AMIA to represent the diversity of those AMIA
serves is a journey; AMIA’s journey is still unfolding.