




Purpose: A small group of physicists formed the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) in 1958 "to promote the application of physics to medicine and biology, to encourage interest and training in medical physics and related fields, and to prepare and to disseminate technical information in medical physics and related fields."
Membership: All memberships are renewed annually and follow the calendar year schedule. Status of membership in AAPM should reflect a current Member’s career position. Members are required to change their membership status as their position in the medical physics profession changes.
AAPM is composed of 8,500 medical physicists, 30% of whom serve in at least one of 300 committees. In this introduction, Bruce introduces us to the leadership structure and how you can get involved in AAPM. Your local Chapter can help you make connections with other medical physicists, Chapter leadership can help convey your questions and ideas to AAPM leadership, and after observing your Chapter, you could run for Chapter office. Attending committee, subcommittee, working group, and task group meetings gives you an opportunity to hear about what that group is doing, join as a guest so that you'll receive their e-mails, and potentially volunteer to help that group.
Melissa recommends joining leadership at the Chapter meeting and volunteering for the less glamorous subcommittees, working groups, and task groups. The more you're involved, the more people know you, and the more likely you are to be asked to serve or recognized when you apply. We have Yellow Pages ads called the committee classifieds, which allow you to see what committees need help, and applying for these is a great way to get involved. Most committees meet Saturday and Sunday of the AAPM Annual Meeting, and you can come be a guest of almost any of these committees.