The ABCs of AAIM
We Are the Alliance
More physicians in the United States practice internal medicine than any other medical specialty, according to the 2022 Physician Specialty Data Report published by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
In Canada, internal medicine represents a similarly large percentage of the total number of practicing physicians. When internal medicine’s subspecialties are added to the mix—gastroenterology, cardiology, and infectious disease, to name a few—the field becomes even larger.
Academic internal medicine includes not only patient care but also medical education and research. And it’s the people working in the field of academic internal medicine who are primary drivers of change within the overall health care system.
That’s where AAIM comes in.
AAIM: The Alliance
We’re the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, or AAIM, as some know us. We call ourselves the Alliance, in good part because it’s a name that suggests both collaboration and significant power. As the largest organization of its kind, the Alliance represents more than 12,000 members in the US and Canada, offering education, information, connections, and influence.
We provide opportunities to enhance career paths, helping to ensure academic internal medicine remains healthy as it cares for today’s patients and prepares professionals to care for tomorrow.
Harnessing Power
Before the Alliance was formed, the five founding organizations worked separately to support their unique constituencies. These organizations—AIM, APDIM, APM, ASP, and CDIM—represent the people working in academic internal medicine as physicians, researchers, educators, administrators, and other positions of leadership.
After careful evaluation, we determined that the members of each organization would be best served if we consolidated efforts—and the Alliance was born.
Today, we offer our membership even greater opportunities to influence change, affect policy, and grow their careers. AAIM President and CEO Polly E. Parsons, MD, MACP, FCCP, ATSF, puts it this way: “Once, each founding member spoke with its own voice; now we speak collectively, with the strength of one unified voice.”
That voice is informed by the years of expertise the AAIM staff has garnered as it collaborates with other stakeholders, including the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), and the American College of Physicians (ACP), to name a few.
There is power in collaboration. Working together, we shape outcomes within the field of academic internal medicine.