American Association for the History of Medicine: Report of the Ninety-Sixth Annual Meeting

Abstract

• American Association for the History of Medicine:Report of the Ninety-Sixth Annual Meeting

The American Association for the History of Medicine held its ninety-sixth annual meeting, May 11–14, 2023. 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 the names of all the presenters, may be found on the AAHM website at https://histmed.org/meetings.html.

Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Council of the American Association for the History of Medicine, Inc

May 11, 2023

The regular meeting of the AAHM Council was held in conjunction with the ninety-sixth annual meeting and called to order by President Barron Lerner at 1:15 p.m. in the Vanderbilt Room of the Kensington Hotel in Ann Arbor, Michigan. All officers were present and all members of council except Projit Mukharji attended. There was one correction to the published 2022 annual meeting of council as published in the Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 95, no. 4 pp. 661–99. On page 664 the first line in the first paragraph should read: "The HMF has six separate accounts. Their year-end balances for December 30, 2021." Council then approved the amended minutes. Council reviewed, discussed, and accepted the [End Page 658] reports of the secretary, treasurer, and the association's standing committees. Council discussed and passed motions on the issues summarized on p. 662.

Report of the Secretary

AAHM Council continued the practice of regularly meeting by Zoom throughout the year. The council members met June 13, 2022; August 31, 2022; September 29, 2022; December 6, 2022; January 19, 2023; February 23, 2023; March 24, 2023; and April 26, 2023 to address issues related to the governance of the association and its programs. Major issues addressed throughout the year were the continuing Centennial Campaign, operationalizing the Anti-Racism Statement, considering a Land Acknowledgement statement, reviewing a proposal for a biography prize, seeking a new candidate for the office of secretary, and enhancing a proposal from the Ann Arbor Local Arrangements Committee for a virtual component for the 2023 annual meeting. Council formed a subcommittee led by Vice-President Mary Fissell to search for a new secretary and issued a call for nominations. The subcommittee received four applications, interviewed two candidates, and submitted one recommendation to council for approval. Council endorsed the recommendation, and sent the name of the candidate to the Nominating Committee.

As in past years, the office of the secretary continued to provide support for all of the council's initiatives and accepted submissions for the association's website and newsletter. The secretary responded to numerous inquiries from members, the media, and the general public seeking expertise in the history of medicine. A more timely and expedient means of connecting our members to these queries from the media, in particular, would be useful and help in publicizing the association.

Council endorsed a statement drafted by the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians condemning the "flawed and troubling precedent" in the United States Supreme Court's majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson where the presented historical evidence failed to meet the high standards of historical scholarship. Council also voted to endorse the AHA statement opposing Florida House Bill 999, commonly referred to as the "divisive concepts" bill.

As of April 2023, there were 826 members of the association, 20 less than a year ago. The current profile includes 713 members from the United States (728 in 2022), 157 student members (153 in 2022), and 113 international members (118 in 2022). The association welcomed two new lifetime members in the past year. These membership figures [End Page 659] are consistent with those from the last five years but less than those from the period 2014 to 2016 when membership was around 1,000 individuals.

The AAHM Facebook group has 4,113 members as of mid-April 2023, an increase of 349 from 2022. It continues to be a viable channel for distributing queries from the...