American Clinical and Climatological Association

            The American Clinical and Climatological Association is unusual among medical organizations in a number of ways.  The very substantial professional accomplishments and expertise of the members of the Association, cutting across, as they do, multiple disciplines within the broad scope of medicine, provide a unique forum for sophisticated discussion and consideration of a wide array of topics.  The program content retains an important clinical flavor, but is broad enough to embrace molecular biology at the one extreme and health policy at the other.  These factors distinguish the Association in important ways from the meetings, for example, of clinical specialty or research societies.  While bench research is easily accommodated within the programming of the Climatological, it is not a requisite for inclusion in the program.  Of great importance is the feeling of warmth and friendship that characterizes the meetings of the Climatological.  These personal relationships are so important in maintaining the spirit and flavor of the organization as to make especially significant the personal characteristics of the prospective member and his or her spouse.

            Beyond the above, it is important to realize that the Annual Meeting in an important sense IS the Association, and provides not only a forum for intellectual exchange, but an important opportunity for the members to meet in a social context which includes spouses.  The inclusion of spouses is, in fact, inherent in the structure of the Association and certainly in its persistently warm and engaging flavor.  Inclusion of spouses is not only unique among medical societies, but is critical to the Climatological.

            Willingness to participate in the Annual Meeting is an integral ingredient of membership, as is honoring the opportunities associated therewith, including submission of abstracts for presentation in the program as well as participating in active discussion of the papers presented.  It is important for prospective members to recognize that the requirement for attendance at no less than one meeting in three is important in maintaining the warm relationships that characterize the Association.  Prospective members should be aware that the Council of the Association regards failure to fulfill this obligation as an indication that the Association and its activities are not priorities of the individual.  Expulsion from the organization uniformly results.

            These notes are offered to clarify and emphasize the distinctive features of the Climatological, and in an effort to avoid ambiguity about the ways in which it differs from other medical societies both in spirit and intent.

Jeremiah A. Barondess, M.D.