Celebrating AsMA’s Diversity, Internationalism, and Mosaic of Interests and Voices - Building Aerospace Medicine Throughout the World
AsMA is an international association both of individual members and of associations. In my opinion, this is one of AsMA’s great strengths because it increases diversity, giving smaller organizations a place to grow and, in some cases, develop into a larger organization such as the Civil Aviation Medical Association, the International Airline Medical Association, and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, which started as a Constituent Organization of AsMA.
All Constituent and Affiliated Organizations must have a mission and goals similar to those of the Aerospace Medical Association and provide their members with educational meetings and opportunities for networking and advocacy within AsMA and within their own professional communities and nations. This increases the value of AsMA to its members and helps maintain and increase our membership. Organizations must apply for Constituent or Affiliate status. The written application is sent to AsMA’s Executive Director to be presented to AsMA’s Council, where approval requires a two-thirds vote. The application must include a copy of the organization’s Constitution, Bylaws, or other instruments of organization in addition to a statement of its mission and goals. Prior to Council approval, the Executive Committee reviews the application and makes a recommendation to the Council. Discontinuation or change in status of a Constituent or Affiliate Organization is similarly reviewed and approved by Council, though this is rare. Neither Constituent nor Affiliate Organizations can represent AsMA to any outside person or organization except when authorized to do so by the Association Executive Committee.
Citation: Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance 96, 4; 10.3357/AMHP.964PP.2025
Constituent Organizations must have a minimum membership equivalent to 2% of the active membership of the Aerospace Medical Association, or approximately 50 members in 2025. Full members of a Constituent Organization must be members of the Aerospace Medical Association, though they may have sustaining partners who are not active AsMA members, and who do not count toward the 2% criterion for Constituency status. Most Constituent Organizations designate a Representative and Alternate Representative to attend AsMA Council and Nominating Committee meetings. By January 1 each year each Constituent sends a current roster of members in good standing with their names, residence, and connection with aerospace medicine or its allied sciences, and the names of their Representative and Alternate Representative, to the AsMA Executive Director. Constituent Organizations also submit a report to the Executive Director at least one week before the fall and spring Council meetings, including the names of new Officers as they assume their roles in the organization, so that their names and titles can be posted on the Constituent Organizations’ website linked to AsMA’s website. AsMA Constituent Organizations and their Presidents are:
Aerospace Human Factors Association, President Harriet Lester, M.D.; Aerospace Medicine Student and Resident Organization, President Michael Stephens, M.D.; Aerospace Nursing and Allied Health Professionals Society, President Tamara Averett-Brauer, MN; Aerospace Physiology Society, President Capt. Vikas Kumar, USAF; American Society of Aerospace Medicine Specialists, President Patrick Birchfield, D.O., MPH; International Airline Medical Association, President Rui Pombal, M.D.; International Association of Military Flight Surgeon Pilots, President W. David Smith, M.D., MPH; Life Sciences & Biomedical Engineering Branch, President Emmanuel Urquieta, M.D., MS; Society of NASA Flight Surgeons, President Moriah Thompson, M.D., MPH; Society of U.S. Air Force Flight Surgeons, President Col. Tory Woodard, USAF, MC; Society of U.S. Army Flight Surgeons, President Erik Johnson, D.O., MPH; Society of U.S. Naval Flight Surgeons, President: Daniel Monlux, M.D., MPH; Space Medicine Association, President Andrea Hanson, Ph.D.; and Space Surgery Association, President Danielle Carroll, M.D., FAWM.
Citation: Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance 96, 4; 10.3357/AMHP.964PP.2025
Citation: Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance 96, 4; 10.3357/AMHP.964PP.2025
Affiliate Organizations have no minimum membership and no requirement for their members to be members of the Aerospace Medical Association, though AsMA membership does require applications for Affiliate status, including a copy of the organization’s Bylaws, mission, and goals, in addition to a current demographic description of its leadership and membership. Affiliates are expected to advise AsMA’s Executive Director at least annually of the names of new Officers and to confirm their desire to remain an Affiliate. AsMA Affiliate Organizations can be found on the AsMA website at https://www.asma.org/about-asma/affiliates.
Citation: Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance 96, 4; 10.3357/AMHP.964PP.2025
Both Constituent and Affiliate Organizations may actively participate in AsMA’s activities. Constituent Organization members may participate in decision-making activities, including recommending AsMA Resolutions or AsMA Bylaws changes, and holding leadership roles on the AsMA Executive Committee or Council. Many AsMA members are members of both Constituent and Affiliate Organizations. Both Constituents and Affiliates should encourage their members to submit abstracts for presentation as part of the AsMA Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) and should brainstorm on future panels at least once a year. In some cases such as IAMA (Saturday) and CAMA (Sunday), they may present a program of their own within the Annual Scientific Meeting structure. Others may have a breakfast or luncheon speaker during the AsMA meeting. If you are a Constituent or Affiliate Officer or President, you should also consider sending a member to participate in AsMA Committees such as the Air Transport Medicine Committee (ATM), Global Liaison and Outreach Committee (GLOC), or the Bylaws or Resolutions Committee, depending on your needs and interests (see my President’s Letter of March 2025 [Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2025; 96(3):189–190] for more information on Committees).
Information on AsMA’s Constituent and Affiliate Organizations and their leadership is available on the AsMA website, www.asma.org. Click on the tab “About AsMA,” then “Constituents” or Affiliates” in the dropdown menu or in the left-hand column. Thank you to all who are members of our Constituents and Affiliates. You and your ability to network regularly with others who have similar interests play a key part in building and maintaining the largest aerospace medical association in the world.
AsMA also has an active auxiliary organization, the Wing of AsMA. Membership in the Wing is open to all spouses, domestic partners, and adult family members of AsMA members. Spouses, domestic partners, and adult family members of UHMS members are also welcome to attend and participate in Wing activities and tours at the Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta from June 1-6, 2025. I look forward to seeing you there!
AsMA is a family. No one belongs here more than you!
