The 2003 meeting included 240 peer-reviewed oral presentations in 60 concurrent panels and 125 posters in 6 areas.

Attendance at this year's meeting was 1,900 including representatives from 40 countries.

Attendees visiting the exhibition hall were able to visit 100 vendors who showcased the latest developments in technology and services.

ATA President COL Ronald K. Poropatich opened the meeting at a plenary on Sunday afternoon. The plenary featured remarks from Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, U.S. Surgeon General; Lt. General James Peake, U.S. Army Surgeon General; and Dr. Gloria WilderBrathwaite, Director of Mobile Health Programs in Washington, DC who helped kick off ATA's new consumer awareness initiative. Each speaker gave poignant talks about their life experiences and the importance of ATA's work as it relates to improving healthcare.

The session also provided a platform for the ATA Board to showcase a promotional video as a key element of its new 'Consumer Awareness Initiative'. This 30-second video clip (Windows Media Play Version 7 or above is required to view the video) captured the value of telemedicine. The video was made possible through the efforts of Dr. Joseph Kvedar and the technical staff at Partners Healthcare Systems in Boston.


At the plenary session on April 28, Mr. Phillip Bond, US Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology gave an outstanding lecture. His comments set three challenges for ATA to address in the coming year that included:

1. Develop a proposal for a state licensure compact that would address the potential need for a national medical response in time of a national health emergency. Bond pledged to take the proposal to the Department of Homeland Security for their action.
2. Conduct a study on what data is needed to assess the impact that telehealth investment. Bond pledged to take this proposal to the Economic Statistics Administration at the Department of Commerce, with the recommendation that they work with ATA to pursue the necessary answers.
3. To make the case for telehealth applications as a tool for catalyzing and supporting economic development. Bond pledged to take this study to the Economic Development Administration at the Commerce Department and pursuing the potential of development grants to support greater telehealth deployment.

Bond's comments were followed by a speech from MG Lester Martinez Lopez, Commander of the Medical Research and Materiel Command at Ft. Detrick.

Kenneth Bird Memorial Lecture
The Tuesday plenary kicked off a new feature of the association: the Kenneth Bird Memorial Lecture. The lecture is named for a true pioneer of telemedicine. In 1967, Dr. Bird created a two-way audiovisual microwave circuit that enabled physicians at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA to provide medical care to patients 2.7 miles away at the Logan International Airport Medical Station. Scientific papers were published documenting the results of over 1000 patients that used the system. Bird's son was on hand to help introduce the lecture. John Glaser, Chief Information Officer at Partners Healthcare Systems, Inc. in Boston, MA, provided the first Kenneth Bird lecture,(click here to view slides) discussing the role telemedicine plays within the Partners integrated Delivery Network.

The annual meeting provided a great venue for meeting old friends, sharing war stories, and learning about new technologies. It also provided a forum for the ATA Business Meeting and a chance to recognize through the presentation of awards to successful telemedicine champions and pioneers. The text from several of the plenary speeches as well as PowerPoint presentations from the concurrent sessions are available. Audiotapes of the sessions are available for purchase at http://www.aven.com.

AWARDS
(for a complete listing of awards click here)
The 2003 ATA President's Awards for the Advancement of Telemedicine was awarded to the Missouri Telehealth Network based in Columbia, MO and to Lloyd M. Aiello, MD, Director of the Beetham Eye Institute, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA. The awards, sponsored by AMD Telemedicine (AMD), Inc. were established to recognize a project, program, institution, or individual that has made a substantial contribution toward the advancement of telemedicine. A panel of distinguished experts in the field of medicine and technology selected the Missouri Program from an extensive list of programs operating throughout the world. In addition, for the first time, an individual was also selected to receive an award for innovation, leadership, program service and academic output. Lloyd Aiello, MD, is the first recipient of this award.

Major General John Parker (Ret) received the 2003 Maxwell Thurman Award. This award recognizes and showcases leaders in telemedicine and advanced medical technologies. The award was presented to General Parker by General Lester Martinez-Lopez, Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command Commanding at Monday's plenary session.

Best Poster Awards were awarded for the following posters:

• A Comparison of Telemedicine to Traditional Care Among Individuals with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome
• "ECHO-Pac: The Electronic Children's Hospital of the Pacific:" Teleconsultation Asthma Management for Children
• Automated Vital Signs Capture and Clinical Database Acquisition
• Evaluating Potential Telehealth Activities on Different Amounts of Bandwidth
• Health-e-AME: Implementation of a Website to Reach 609 Churches statewide
• Tele-Anesthesiology: Remote Physiologic Monitoring by Satellite Phone and the Internet for Anesthesia Delivery
• Telehealth Applications in the VA Health Care System in Hawaii
• Telehealth: Exploring Perceptions to Medicaid Reimbursement

People's Choice Award:

• Telepharmacy Offers Solutions to Hospitals Dealing with Critical Pharmacist Shortages.

(for a complete listing of awards click here)

Summary of the Business Meeting
The Business Meeting of the ATA was held on Wednesday, April 30, 2003. After general introductions of the 2003 officers and comments, Ron Poropatich, ATA President introduced the minutes from the previous year. He also highlighted the week's activities.

Jonathan D. Linkous, Executive Director of the ATA provided a summary of ATA's activities. This was followed by the announcement of new officers. These individuals will serve as the Executive Committee of ATA until the annual business meeting of the ATA in Tampa, FL in April 2004. The new officers are:

President: Ronald Weinstein, MD
President-Elect: Joseph Kvedar, MD
Vice President: Thelma McClosky Armstrong
Secretary: Charles R Doarn, MBA
Treasurer: Karen Rheuban, MD
Immediate Past President: Ronald Poropatich, MD

A complete listing of the board and officers and their backgrounds is available here.

Special Interest Groups
Further evidence of ATA's success as well as the maturation of telemedicine generally was demonstrated in the growth of the Association's Special Interest Groups (SIG). The SIGs hosted special forums during the meeting and several sponsored tutorials as well. SIG leaders gave their annual reports at the Annual Business Meeting including their agendas for the coming year and proposals for wider adoption by the ATA. All SIGs reported record turnout at their forums, and all proposed an active agenda for programs and activities for the coming year. These include special meetings, development of policy and clinical guidelines and discussion groups. To support these expanded efforts, individual Internet list servers and web pages are available for each SIG for communication among the members. Two new SIGs were established, Human Factors and International.