International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA)

The International Medical Informatics Association is an independent organization established under Swiss law in 1989. IMIA was originally established in 1967 as Technical Committee 4 of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP - www.ifip.org). In 1979, it evolved from a Special Interest Group of IFIP to its current status as a fully independent organization. IMIA continues to maintain its relationship with IFIP as an affiliate organization. IMIA also has close ties with the World Health Organization (WHO - www.who.int) as a NGO (Non Government Organization), and with the International Federation of Health Records Organizations (IFHRO).

Purpose, Goals, Objectives
IMIA plays a major global role in the application of information science and technology in the fields of healthcare and research in medical, health and bio-informatics. The basic goals and objectives of the association are to:

* promote informatics in health care and research in health, bio and medical informatics.
advance and nurture international cooperation.
* to stimulate research, development and routine application.
* move informatics from theory into practice in a full range of health delivery settings, from physician's office to acute and long term care.
* further the dissemination and exchange of knowledge, information and technology.
* promote education and responsible behaviour.
* represent the medical and health informatics field with the World Health Organization and other international professional and governmental organizations.



In its function as a bridge organization, IMIA's goals are:

* moving theory into practice by linking academic and research informaticians with care givers, consultants, vendors, and vendor-based researchers.
* leading the international medical and health informatics communities throughout the 21st century.
* promoting the cross-fertilization of health informatics information and knowledge across professional and geographical boundaries.
* serving as the catalyst for ubiquitous worldwide health information infrastructures for patient care and health research.

MedInfo
IMIA organises the internationally acclaimed triennial “World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics” - commonly know as MedInfo. The event provides both a high quality scientific exchange of current research and thinking in health and biomedical informatics and an opportunity for formal meetings and informal networking of IMIA's members. The event is jointly hosted by IMIA and one of its Member Societies. The selection of the host society is determined through a vote of the IMIA General Assembly.

The next MedInfo will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in September, 2013, with the Danish Society of Medical Informatics providing the local organisation of the event and the MedInfo2013 Scientific Programme Committee being responsible for the scientific content.

Learn more about the IMIA here: http://www.imia-medinfo.org