APA’s 2000 annual meeting in Chicago marks a major milestone in the Association’s commitment to educate members about computers and their use in psychiatry.

Prior to 1999 all computer-related presentations were reviewed by the Media Subcommittee of the Scientific Program Committee. The committee did an excellent job for years, but a number of factors, including the increasing significance of information technology in general as well as in psychiatry, the increasing demand for these presentations, and most importantly the leadership of APA President Allan Tasman, M.D., led to the creation of the Telecommunication Subcommittee. We hope this will result in attracting a greater number of computer submissions for the annual meeting. However, recognition must be given to those who have supported, promoted, and at times worked against tremendous organizational barriers to promote this area. Among those most noteworthy are Steven Hyler, M.D., Bert Warren, M.D., Jeb Tainter, M.D., and Ellen Rothchild, M.D.

Members of the Telecommunication Subcommittee, including Tom Kramer, M.D., and Ronnie Stangler, M.D., reviewed a number of computer-related sessions for this year’s annual meeting and selected the highest-quality sessions in a variety of formats: courses, workshops, and symposia in two full-days sessions. Within these two full-day sessions, there are more than 20 presentations.

The Office of the Future will return this year under the leadership of Ronnie Stangler, M.D. It will showcase potential information technology applications in the clinician’s office. Look for the exhibit in the APA Resource Center in McCormick Place.

For those with a yearning for even more presentations on computers, I strongly encourage you to consider attending the full-day meeting of the Psychiatric Society of Informatics, which is being held on Saturday, May 13, just prior to the start of APA’s annual meeting. This year’s theme is "Accelerating the Use of Information Technology in Psychiatric Care." More information is available at the Web site <www.psychinformatics.org/>.

We hope that this year’s annual meeting provides an exciting introduction to computers and their use in psychiatry for those with a nascent interest in this area, as well as an up-to-date overview for those who are already cyber conversant. There will be a whole lot of informatics for you, no matter what your level of interest or knowledge.