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The Origin of the Institute For Advancement of Medical Communication
(IAMC)
The information explosion resulting from the accelerating pace of biomedical research offers a tremendous challenge that of using this abundance of new information to promote further expansion of knowledge and to better man's health. Yet the very success of the research effort paradoxically engenders serious problems, for the communication system serving the biomedical community is already overloaded to the point where breakdown threatens. With increasing frequency, research workers, health science practitioners, and spokesmen for the public are recognizing the magnitude of the opportunity and the gravity of the problems.* The one hope of finding solutions to these problems lies in using the tools and methods of science to investigate and treat the disease that threatens future progress - progressive deterioration of scientific communication. On this premise the Institute for Advance of Medical Communication (IAMC) was founded in 1958 as an independent, non-profit organization devoted solely to promoting better communication among biomedical scientists and health science practitioners. The encouragement of Chauncey D. Leake, Ph.D., Homer W. Smith, Sc.D., and Irving S. Wright, M.D., and funds supplied by Mrs. Mary Lasker, provided the necessary support.
Structure
IAMC offices in New York City, Washington, D. C., and Bethesda, Maryland, house a professional staff engaged fulltime in research and training. This staff represents many disciplines and a wide experience with the techniques and media useful in biomedical communication. Additional personnel are employed part-time for specific projects. A Scientific Council, consisting of scientists, educators, and practitioners, provides the viewpoint of generators and users of biomedical information and guides the staff in the development of the Institute's program. The staff also enjoys the informal counsel of eminent specialists in the many fields related to IAMC work, such as publishing, pedagogy, editing, survey methods, conference management, television, technical writing, documentation, computers, illustration, and audiovisual media.
Support
Since the Institute is not endowed, it depends upon grants and contracts for carrying out specific projects. Contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations provide general support.
Activities
IAMC activities fall into four categories: (i) The Institute conducts research aimed at increasing the effectiveness of information services and of professional communication in the biomedical field. (9) To develop workers qualified for research of this type, it maintains a training program. (3) It offers service to professional organizations by acting as a clearing house for new developments in biomedical communication, by advising on specific communication problems, and by helping plan conferences concerned with the exchange of information among scientists and practitioners. (4) It endeavors, by the process of cata4ysis, to speed the evolution of a better communication system for biomedicine.
Future
In the few years of its existence, the Institute has gained the acceptance of the biomedical community and has attracted a group of creative individuals dedicated to the advancement of medical communication. This foundation makes a new phase of growth possible. While maintaining the adaptive flexibility of an independent organization, the Institute will expand its cooperation with professional associations and agencies responsible for serving the information needs of research workers and practitioners. The on-going information services of these associations and agencies, their publications, and their meetings will provide a laboratory for investigating the basic processes of biomedical communication and a realistic setting for evaluating the promise of new approaches to old problems. This widening program of research and development, supplemented by enlarged IAMC service and training activities, will potentiate the catalytic effect on which the larger success of the Institute ultimately depends.