Blogs

President’s Letter – 2026, Issue 1

By Shannon Barnet posted 4 days ago
Dear AAAM Members, It is a privilege to serve as President of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) during such an important period for our field. Around the world, road trauma remains a major public health challenge, and the work of AAAM’s international and interdisciplinary community has never been more relevant. One of the things I value most about AAAM is the way it brings together experts from diverse backgrounds — clinicians, engineers, behavioural scientists, epidemiologists, public health practitioners, and policymakers — who share a commitment to improving injury prevention and ...

AAAM Launches New Digital Experience and AIS Website to Enhance Access, Engagement, and Collaboration

By Shannon Barnet posted 4 days ago
AAAM is excited to announce the launch of a new and enhanced digital experience, including a dedicated website for the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and a full redesign of AAAM’s main website. These updates are designed to better serve AAAM’s global community by improving navigation, expanding access to key resources, and creating a more modern, user-friendly platform. The new AIS website provide s streamlined access to essential injury scaling information, training materials, and tools, while the refreshed AAAM website highlight s the association’s programs, publications, and opportunities for member engagement. In the ...

Meet AAAM's New Board Members and Subcommittee & SIG Chairs

By Shannon Barnet posted 4 days ago
AAAM is proud to welcome and congratulate the newly appointed board members and vice chairs of several AAAM Committees and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) . These individuals will play a vital role in advancing AAAM’s mission and supporting our global community of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. We are pleased to welcome Scott Gayzik , PhD , to a new leadership role on the AAAM Board of Directors as Treasurer. A member since 2008, Scott has been deeply engaged in AAAM’s leadership and scientific initiatives, including serving on the Scientific Program Committee (SPC) from 2016 to ...

Save the Date: AAAM’s 70th Annual Scientific Conference

By Shannon Barnet posted 4 days ago
Mark your calendars for AAAM’s 70th Annual Scientific Conference , taking place October 20–23, 2026, at the Costa Rica Marriott | Hotel Hacienda Belen in La Ribera de Belén, Heredia, Costa Rica. This milestone event will bring together leading researchers, clinicians, engineers, and policymakers from around the world to share the latest advancements in automotive and transportation safety. AAAM’s Annual Scientific Conference serves as a global forum for presenting cutting-edge research and fostering collaboration across disciplines, all with the shared goal of preventing injury and improving post-crash outcomes. Attendees ...

AAAM’s 2025 Webinar Highlights

By Shannon Barnet posted 4 days ago
2025 was a strong year for AAAM’s webinar series . We hosted five highly rated online webinars, the most popular of which reached more than 300 registrants. AAAM’s Scientific Program Committee’s Education Program Subcommittee hosted these interactive and educational events for both members and nonmember automotive safety professionals alike. In February, AAAM’s Child and Youth Global Road Safety Special Interest Group launched the 2025 webinar series with “ Child Restraint Systems – Handling Used or Expired Products Responsibly, Sustainably, and Ethically ,” which offered 1 CEU for Child Passenger Safety Technicians ...

AAAM Member Spotlight: James Fell

By Shannon Barnet posted 4 days ago
Meet James Fell, AAAM member and Senior Research Consultant at James C Fell Consulting LLC. Get to know James in his own words. How long have you been a member of AAAM? I’ve been a member since 1970, so more than 55 years. What inspired you to join AAAM? Discussions with Don Huelke back when he was President of AAAM inspired me to join. What are your main areas of interest in the field of Automotive Medicine? My main areas of interest include research on impaired driving, evaluating countermeasures to reduce impaired driving, and driver behavior ...

CAISS Spotlight: Donna Nayduch

By Shannon Barnet posted 4 days ago
Meet Donna Nayduch . Donna is a Trauma Program Director for Samstaff . How long have you been using AIS? I’ve been using AIS since 1987. What inspired you to obtain CAISS credentials? As AIS faculty since 2000, earning the CAISS credential was an expectation as well as a way to demonstrate the credential’s importance. It’s good for faculty to lead by example. What are your main areas of interest in the field of injury scoring? I wouldn’t say I have one main area of interest ; I really enjoy everything about ...

Upcoming Conferences & Opportunities for Road Safety Professionals - April 2026

By Shannon Barnet posted 4 days ago
While these are not events or conferences with any direct affiliation with AAAM, we implore all members and peers to connect to improve the future of road traffic safety. May 2026 28th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles — May 12–15, 2026, in Toronto, Canada June 2026 2026 Walk, Bike & Roll New York Symposium — June 2–3, 2026, in Tarrytown, NY, USA August 2026 IACP Impaired Driving and Traffic Safety (IDTS) Conference — August 21–23, 2026, in Anaheim, CA, USA #inroads #Featured

AAAM Membership & Marketing Committee Vice Chair Featured in PBS Nova

By Michael Baccelli posted 9 days ago
Multi-vehicle pileups are difficult to analyze. Forensic crash investigation can only study the aftermath of these deadly incidents by picking through the debris left behind. Investigators rarely get to see exactly how the crash unfolded, as each of these highway accidents is unique. In a recent documentary, PBS Nova went behind the scenes of a new experiment aimed at simulating a multi-vehicle pileup. Recreating multi-vehicle accidents is a significant engineering challenge and requires intense preparation. Emily Thomas, PhD, CPST, Vice Chair of AAAM’s Membership and Marketing Committee was featured in this PBS Nova documentary and shares her ...

AAAM Member Spotlight – Kristofer Kusano

By Michael Baccelli posted 9 days ago
Meet Kristofer Kusano, AAAM member and Staff Safety Researcher at Waymo. Get to know Kristopher in his own words. How long have you been a member of AAAM? At least 9 years? I was a student member, I think from 2010 to 2015, then a professional from 2021 to present. What inspired you to join AAAM? My advisor, Clay Gabler, loved AAAM as an organization and conference, and he made it no secret to his students. I began attending the AAAM annual meeting as a graduate student. Some of my very first papers and presentations as an aspiring scientist were at AAAM. As I started and progressed through my career in industry, AAAM continued to ...

AIS Digital Is Here: Injury Coding, Reimagined

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
AAAM is excited to announce the launch of our AIS Digital Dictionary , the app version of the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS©) Dictionary. This innovative tool provides you with searchable, real-time access to the AIS 2015 Dictionary across all your devices—phone, laptop, tablet, or desktop. With the AIS Digital Dictionary, you’ll benefit from: Immediate updates and clarifications 3D anatomical visualization of injuries Case summary tools with VAID (Avatar) for PI meetings Quick access to rules, guidelines, and AIS resources HIPAA-safe, secure use with no patient data stored The AIS Digital ...

President’s Letter – 2025, Issue 2 - September 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Sep 26, 2025 Dear AAAM Members, As we move into the final stretch of 2025, the AAAM community has much to celebrate. The long-awaited digital version of the AIS Dictionary has launched, allowing users to access AIS codes and guidelines across digital devices, with enhanced features to support accuracy and speed in trauma coding. Learn more about this AIS Digital Dictionary app here. In October, our focus as a community of scientists, physicians, engineers, and public health leaders turns to one of the most exciting events on our calendar: AAAM’s 69th Annual Scientific Conference , happening October 7-10, 2025 . This ...

In Memoriam: Remembering Past AAAM President B. Tilman Jolly - September 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Sep 26, 2025 AAAM honors the legacy of B. Tilman Jolly, who passed away in April at the age of 64. Tilman Jolly first joined AAAM in 1995 after years of involvement in traffic safety, emergency preparedness, and vehicle safety engineering. In the 1990s, he led a group of experts to provide recommendations relating to injuries caused by airbags to the National Highway Safety Administration. The resulting recommendations reassured the public of the benefits of airbags and spurred on a national campaign to transport children in the rear seat. Established as an expert in automotive medicine and safety, B. Tilman Jolly was elected to serve as AAAM ...

AAAM’s 69th Annual Scientific Conference Boasts Exciting New Offerings - September 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Sep 26, 2025 Time is running out to register for AAAM’s 69th Annual Scientific Conference . Discover the latest automotive safety innovations and research, and network with a global community of automotive safety researchers, engineers, doctors, nurses, educators, scientists, and more, when you join us in Indianapolis, IN, USA, October 7-10, 2025. New in 2025, AAAM is pleased to offer an in-person, interactive Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) Workshop for professionals who use or want to better understand the AIS and ISS in clinical research, trauma registries, injury prevention, and policy-making. Also new this year, AAAM has partnered ...

AIS15 and Clinical Documentation Courses Coming to Chicago This November - September 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Sep 26, 2025 AAAM is proud to partner with the American College of Surgeons to offer two in-person AIS courses as part of the ACS’s TQIP Annual Conference in Chicago. These in-person, instructor-taught courses will both be held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Read on for more information. AIS15 Onsite Course November 6-7, 2025 | 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Central time This two-day course teaches trauma professionals how to use the Abbreviated Injury Scale when classifying traumatic injuries. Participants will learn the history of AIS, the structure of the code, rules and guidelines, the configuration of the Injury Severity Score ...

New Frontier for AIS: AAAM Helps Develop Veterinary-Abbreviated Injury Scale for Civilian and Military Working Dogs - September 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Sep 26, 2025 Several years ago, military researchers interested in Military Working Dog (MWD) protective equipment and survivability met with military veterinarians to discuss the need for a tool to gather and analyze injury data for canines.  It was decided that the human Abbreviated injury Scale (AIS) could be adapted for use in canines and would meet a critical need for a universal veterinary injury scale.  A collaborative research agreement was set up between the military and AAAM after the AAAM Board approved the project and provided seed funds for support.  The project was a joint effort between the civilian and military worlds, with the goal of ...

Looking Back at AAAM’s 2024 Webinars - March 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Mar 6, 2025 By: Valentina Graci, PhD – Chair of the Education Program Subcommittee 2024 was a strong year for our AAAM webinar series . We hosted seven online webinars, which were highly rated and, in some cases, reached up to 200 registrants. AAAM’s Scientific Program Committee’s Education Program Subcommittee hosted these interactive and educational events not just for members but for all those interested in automotive safety. In January, we launched the year with “ The Road Safety Experts’ Journey: Protecting Kids From Concept to Practice ,” featuring a panel of automotive safety experts discussing the multifaceted world of child safety in ...

Statement from the AAAM Board of Directors - March 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Mar 17, 2025 The Board of Directors would like to address the recent editorial published in Traffic Injury Prevention and the concerns it has raised within our community. Although Traffic Injury Prevention is an official journal of AAAM and includes its conference proceedings, and while we respect the editor’s right to share his perspective, AAAM does not necessarily endorse all the arguments presented therein. This statement is the result of careful and transparent discussions among the AAAM Board and AAAM’s Scientific Program Committee leadership, informed by valuable member feedback. We want to assure our entire membership that we are an organization ...

President’s Letter – March 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Mar 3, 2025 Dear AAAM Members, Greetings! I hope this message finds you well and energized for the year ahead. As we enter 2025, I am honored to continue serving as President of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. It is a privilege to work with such an exceptional community dedicated to improving road safety and saving lives worldwide. Reflecting on 2024, I am deeply grateful for the remarkable efforts of our committee chairs, members, volunteers, and staff. Your unwavering commitment and passion are the driving force behind AAAM’s continued success. Together, we have made significant progress in adhering to our organization’s ...

AIS Certification Board Spotlight – Kathryn Loftis, PhD, CAISS - March 2025

By Michael Baccelli posted 03-19-2026
Mar 3, 2025 Meet Kathryn Loftis, PhD, CAISS. Kathryn is a Biomedical Engineer and Injury Biomechanics Research Analyst at the Department of Defense in the United States. How long have you been using AIS? Since about 2006-2007. I started with AIS 98, then moved to AIS 2005 update 2008, then helped with developing AIS 2015. I’ve also been a faculty with AIS since about 2015. What inspired you to obtain CAISS credentials? I had been coding for a number of years in graduate school, but once I joined the workforce, I really wanted the credentials to back up my AIS coding experience. Thankfully my research job was supportive and so I took an AIS ...