Important Announcement: IAIMS Consortium to Disband

On November 14, 2007 the Board of the IAIMS Consortium met to discuss the future of the organization. Several factors prompted the agenda item:

• In recent years, the Consortium has experienced a significant drop in active membership and meeting attendance.
• Fewer IAIMS grants are being awarded by the National Library of Medicine since NLM closed the IAIMS Operations Grant program in November 2005. Although Planning grants and Testing and Evaluation grants remain available, applications to those programs are decreasing.
• Lack of commonality in the purpose of IAIMS projects has decreased the value of Consortium meetings as a way to get information about grantsmanship and collaboration opportunities.
• Funding for information management and infrastructure projects is available from a number of sources in addition to NLM  (e.g. AHRQ, NCRR, NSF)
• The financial and human investment to plan and execute the annual meeting is not sustainable

Due to these and other factors as identified in the attached Board meeting minutes, a motion was raised and approved to disband the IAIMS Consortium as a formal organization.

The IAIMS Consortium will not accept new membership applications and future annual meetings will not be planned. The IAIMS Consortium website located at iaimscons.org will be taken down on October 1, 2008.  Please be sure to remove any links to the domain on your local websites prior to that date. Any future requests for information can be directed to the NLM Extramural Programs Office (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ep/).

We acknowledge all of the IAIMS award institutions, past and present, which have faithfully contributed to the IAIMS Consortium. We appreciate your effort and support throughout the years and wish you all the best in your informatics pursuits.

Sincerely,

Alan G. Robinson, MD

Chair, IAIMS Consortium