News Room

Press Releases

February 2010

MLA Announces Election Results: Gerald (Jerry) Perry, AHIP, to Serve as 2010/11 MLA President-elect

MLA Announces Election Results: Gerald (Jerry) Perry, AHIP, to Serve as 2010/11 MLA President-elect

The Medical Library Association (MLA) is pleased to announce results for the 2010/11 election for MLA president-elect, incoming MLA Board members, and Nominating Committee members. The newly-elected officials will begin their terms following MLA '10, May 21-26, 2010, in Washington, DC.

Gerald (Jerry) Perry, AHIP, director, Health Sciences Library, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado-Denver, Aurora, CO, was selected by the membership to serve as MLA president-elect, 2010-11. This is the third time Perry has been elected to serve the association. He was a member of the MLA Board of Directors 2002-05 and was elected to the MLA Nominating Committee in 2008. Perry is currently serving on the 2010 National Program Committee and has served as a member of the JMLA (Journal of the Medical Library Association) Editorial Board and the Task Force on MLA's Research Policy Statement. His section activities include Relevant Issues Section chair and liaison to Section Council. Perry has also been active in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Health Science Librarians SIG, serving as cochair and program chair. He is currently a member of the Midcontinental Chapter and in 2002 served as program chair for the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona joint meeting with the Northern California and Nevada Medical Library Group.

Perry is a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals. His other professional honors include: Commitment to Diversity Award for Faculty, University of Colorado-Denver; Emerging Leaders Program, University Leadership Development Institute, Office of the President, University of Colorado System; and National Library of Medicine/Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Leadership Fellows Program.

On being chosen as MLA president-elect, Perry stated, "I am honored and thrilled to have been elected by my peers. I cannot think of a better time to be an information professional. Whatever happens nationally with health insurance reform, change is coming and with it opportunities to bring attention to the role that quality information plays throughout the entirety of the health enterprise. And with the current emphasis on translational sciences, we are experiencing a heightened appreciation for evidence and assessment metrics, for data management and curation, and for creating pathways to the right answers. We happen to do all these things, and we do them well. Our association is vibrant and our members are innovative and engaged. We're leading change in how people connect with and apply health information. As president-elect, and then president, I intend to champion MLA and our members as leaders in this health information revolution."

Two new board members selected to three-year terms, 2010-13, are Marianne Comegys, library director, Medical Library, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport, LA and Rikke Ogawa, emergent technologies coordinator and health and life sciences librarian, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, University of California-Los Angeles.

The nine MLA members elected to serve on the MLA Nominating Committee (to be chaired by MLA Immediate Past-President Mary L. Ryan) are:

Margaret Bandy, AHIP
Janis F. Brown, AHIP
Gary D. Byrd, AHIP, FMLA
Rebecca Davis, AHIP
Jacqueline D. Doyle, AHIP, FMLA
Lynn M. Fortney
Thomas W. Hill
Anne M. Linton, AHIP
Katherine Stemmer Frumento, AHIP

MLA, a nonprofit, educational organization, comprises health sciences information professionals with more than 4,000 members worldwide. Through its programs and services, MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public.

For more information, please contact Evelyn Shaevel , shaevel@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x14.