About the Member Councils

Why Create Member Councils?

Academy leaders have been working to find a new way to engage members and offer them the opportunity to build a sense of community within the Academy. After several years of evaluation and consideration, the AAPM&R Board of Governors approved a method for the membership to evolve into communities that generally reflect physiatric clinical practice.

Additional information:

• Connecting With Your Academy: Member Councils
  A letter from David Bagnall, MD, chair of the AAPM&R Membership Committee

• PASSOR Integration

What Are Member Councils?

Member Councils are divisions or constituencies of the Academy membership that allow members to share common clinical interests and to work together to meet the needs of members in those clinical areas. Councils are a new benefit of membership; members do not need to pay an additional fee to join a Member Council.

This new structure is beneficial to members because it

• creates a way for all Academy members to interact with each other, to have a voice within the Academy, and to have greater access to Academy leadership;

• provides an opportunity to find a community of colleagues with like-minded clinical, educational, research, and advocacy concerns;

• improves the structure for leadership development and in turn provides an opportunity to participate in decisions at a national level within the Academy itself; and

• allows development of clinically specific rehabilitation research, educational content including the Annual Assembly courses, and journal support.

Five Member Councils were created to reflect five major areas of clinical practice. Each Council has an identical governance structure; identical voice, input, and impact within the Academy; and identical responsibilities to their clinical constituencies and the specialty as a whole. As an integrated system, this new membership model gives equal opportunity to all physiatrists, regardless of their clinical realm.

How can I join a Council?

Members have the flexibility of selecting or changing their enrollment at any time online (as part of their member profile) or by calling the Academy’s national office.

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