History

The Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) is a professional multidisciplinary organization dedicated entirely to motor vehicle crash injury prevention and control.

 

It was founded in 1957 by the Medical Advisory Committee to the Sports Car Club of America by six practicing physicians whose avocation was motor racing. These physicians had the vision to recognize the need for clinicians to be directly involved in public policies and programs governing injury control for the general motoring public. In 1964, the bylaws were rewritten to give full and equal membership status to professionals who were not physicians. This action recognized that understanding injury and its prevention requires a broad based approach.

In 1973, AAAM assumed the lead role for continuing the development of a scale to classify injuries and their severity, originally begun by a joint committee of the American Medical Association (AMA), Society of Automotive Engineers and AAAM in 1969. The first scale was published in 1971 in the Journal of the AMA, titled: “Rating the Severity of Tissue Damage – The Abbreviated Injury Scale”. Publication of the 1980 revision of the AIS was enthusiastically embraced by the trauma research community as a useful and reliable injury assessment tool. Today, the AIS is the global system of choice for injury data collection and has become the basis for a number of derivative scales in use (e.g., Injury Severity Score, TRISS, ASCOT). Over the years, the AIS has been translated into French, German, Italian, Chinese, Spanish, and Japanese.

1957

Since its founding in 1957, AAAM has become known for its Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) coding dictionary, maps, and training around the world. This coding has greatly enhanced the ability for trauma professionals to improve patient care and share critical data on automotive crash and injury prevention.

Below are AAAM’s esteemed Past Presidents who have led the organization and advanced the mission with professionalism and passion.

* denotes deceased

1957-59

Abraham J. Mirkin, MD*

1989

Howard R. Champion, MD

1960

Paul F. Wallace, MD*

1990

David C. Viano, PhD

1961

Harold A. Fenner, MD*

1991

Peter Mucha, Jr., MD*

1962

Frank Barnes, MD*

1992

Charles A. Moffatt, PhD*

1963

C.T. Disney, MD*

1993

Thomas A. Gennarelli, MD

1964

William K. Keller, MD*

1994

Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD

1965

Joseph N. Janes, MD*

1995

Paul J. Hletko, MD

1966

John D. States, MD*

1996

Dominique Cesari, PhD

1967

Arthur H. Keeney, MD*

1997

Phyllis F. Agran, MD, MPH

1968

George G. Snively, MD*

1998

Leonard Evans, D Phil

1969

Peter Fisher, MD*

1999

Ian Civil, MBDhB

1970

Donald F. Huelke, PhD*

2000

Jeff Crandall, PhD

1971

Richard C. Schultz, MD*

2001

James Benedict, MD, PhD

1972

Richard E. Marland, PhD*

2002

Hugo Mellander, PhD/Prof

1973

James L. Weygandt, MD*

2003

Jeffrey Augenstein, MD, PhD*

1974

Julian A. Waller, MD MPH

2004

Uwe Meissner, MS

1975

Susan P. Baker, MPH

2005

B. Tilman Jolly, MD*

1976

Kendrick A. Sears, MD

2006

Mark W. Arndt

1977

W.D. Nelson

2007

Harry L. Smith, PhD, MD

1978

Norman E. McSwain Jr., MD*

2008

Anne T. McCartt, PhD

1979

J. Robert Cromack, PE

2009-10

Carl A. Soderstrom, MD

1980

James C. Andrews, MD*

2011-12

Brian N. Fildes, PhD

1981

Robert N. Green, MD*

2013

Mary Pat McKay, MD, MPH

1982

Patricia F. Waller, PhD*

2013-15

Frank A. Pintar, PhD

1983

Chandlee Hering, MD*

2015-17

Gary Smith, MD, DrPH

1984

Edward Moffatt, PhD, PE

2017-19

Joel D. Stitzel, PhD

1985

Marshall J. Blondy, MD

2019-21

Marilyn J. Bull, MD

1986

Murray Mackay, PhD, DSc

2021-23

Francisco J. Lopez-Valdes, PhD, CAISS

1987

Kimball I. Maull, MD

2023-25

Federico E. Vaca, MD, MPH

1988

James C. Fell, MS