Membership
- Why Join the SSCI?
- Benefits of Membership
- Members & Membership Application
- Eligibility
- Fellowship Nomination Instructions
- Printable Instructions
Why Join the SSCI?
You belong to national organizations and attend national meetings, so why spend additional time and money on a regional organization and a regional meeting?
Actually, regional organizations and meetings are quite different from their national counterparts, and they serve a different purpose. Being smaller, regional organizations offer greater opportunity for members to participate in organizational activities. Members represent institutions with common challenges, and creative solutions to your problems are often a first name phone conversation or email query away. Among regional organizations, the SSCI remains among the strongest and most financially sound. Its forefathers are the likes of Tinsley Harrison, Paul Beeson, Arthur Guyton, Grant Liddle, and other great academicians with roots in the south.
The SSCI's mission focuses on supporting and mentoring the next generation of academicians - it's less about us and more about them. The organization meets that mission by co-sponsoring the Southern Regional Meeting (SRM) in New Orleans each year as a forum for all residents, fellows, and junior faculty to present their work and interact with experienced investigators and regional academic leaders. Through that supportive environment, we seek to project the excitement of research that will encourage some of these trainees to pursue an academic career. In addition, the SSCI sponsors the American Journal of the Medical Sciences (AJMS) and offers this as a publication venue for complete and scientifically sound research, as well as symposia and other scholarly works.
Benefits of Membership
- Expand your leadership activities beyond your local institution.
- Enhance your personal interactions with academic leaders throughout the South.
- Subscription to The American Journal of the Medical Sciences.
- Free page charges for publication in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences.
- Commit a part of your time to building a future generation of academicians.
- Have a venue (SRM) for all trainees and junior faculty in your group to present their work (generous travel awards for trainees cover most of their travel expenses).
- Attend an annual scientific meeting that is more enjoyable than overwhelming.
Eligibility
The SSCI now has three classifications of membership. The first is a new opportunity for membership in the SSCI.
Members
Any person holding a doctorate (or equivalent degree from an international institution) Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Pharmacy, or Doctor of Science shall be eligible for membership. Membership will be conferred upon completion of an application and payment of initial dues and renewed based on the annual payment of Society dues. Any qualified Member is eligible for advancement to SSCI Fellow. Annual dues are $125 and includes a subscription to The American Journal of the Medical Sciences.
Fellows
Any Member who has accomplished meritorious scholarship in a branch of the medical sciences related to clinical medicine and enjoys an unimpeachable reputation in his profession shall be eligible for advancement to SSCI Fellow. Highly qualified individuals who are not members may apply for direct election as SSCI Fellows. Fellows of the SSCI may use this honorary designation in their signature line - FSSCI.
Emeritus
An SSCI Fellow may become Emeritus by his/her own choice after ten years of Fellow status membership and at the age of 65 years.
Any Member who has accomplished meritorious scholarship in a branch of the medical sciences related to clinical medicine and enjoys an unimpeachable reputation in his profession shall be eligible for advancement to SSCI Fellow. Highly qualified individuals who are not members may apply for direct election as SSCI Fellows. Fellows of the SSCI may use this honorary designation in their signature line - FSSCI.
Fellowship Requirements
Fellowship is open to those with MD, PhD, DO, or PharmD degrees based on broad academic criteria that are considered by the Council prior to its annual meeting. In general, the SSCI is interested in attracting Fellows at or above the Assistant Professor level who have demonstrated meritorious scholarly activities with promise for, or evidence of, academic leadership. Recognizing that academic medicine has multiple distinct career pathways - clinical research, basic science research, educational scholarship/research, or combinations of the three - the SSCI has established different selection criteria based on an individual's primary academic focus.
For those whose career emphasizes research (basic science or clinical investigation), criteria such as research independence and originality, publications, independent grant support, and local/regional/national academic recognition will be examined more closely than clinical activities.
For clinician educators/scholars, criteria such as clinical teaching responsibilities, curriculum development, academic leadership appointments, scholarly activities, and recognition as a clinical academic authority will be weighed more heavily than traditional research criteria. The applicant will select which pathway best defines their career path and, thus, which set of criteria will be weighed most heavily by the Council. Members of the ASCI and AAP are automatically given fellowship upon application.
Guiding Principles of Fellowship
Fellows assume an obligation to actively continue in medical scholarship. They shall pay membership dues, have voting privileges, and may hold office. They shall receive all regular communications of the Society. Fellows are expected to manifest sustained interest in the Society by attending the annual meeting on a regular basis.
At the time new Fellows are notified that they have been elected to SSCI fellowship status, the notification will ask them to accept this offer contingent upon the following commitments: (i) attendance at the annual meeting at least two out of every four years; and (ii) agreement to pay dues annually.
Fellowship Nomination Instructions
All applicants must be nominated, and their nomination seconded, by Fellows of the SSCI through the online nomination form located at www.ssciweb.org The individuals nominating and seconding should be Fellows knowledgeable in the nominee's area of emphasis (investigator or educator).
A complete nomination package consists of:
- Completed "Application for Fellowship" form, including selection by the nominee of the pathway that best describes his/her academic career (see Requirements above) and a brief statement explaining why the nominee seeks Fellowship in the SSCI.
- A complete and current curriculum vitae.
- A nominating form from a Fellow of the SSCI (see Nomination Instructions.)
- A seconding form from a Fellow of the SSCI (see Nomination Instructions.)
Nomination Deadlines
The Fellowship nomination deadlines are April 15 and August 15 of each year.
NOTE: For 2023, the deadline for nominations has been extended to September 15.
