AAHCI is a global non-profit organization seeking to improve health and well-being worldwide by assisting developed and developing academic health centers and systems to best align their missions of health professions education, research, and patient care.

AAHCI, a member-based association founded in 2008, is a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC).  Membership in AAHCI is focused on promoting best practices and bringing together institutions that serve the academic health center mission.

AAHCI also serves as a bridge between its international members and AAHC’s US based members, with the goal of advancing and applying knowledge to improve global health.

Established:
AAHCI: 2008
AAHC: 1969

Type:
Association

Structure:

A volunteer Board of Directors governs the parent organization, AAHC, with the purpose of serving the membership at large.  The Board sets policies and approves important initiatives for both AAHC and AAHCI. 

The AAHC Board of Directors has the authority to determine membership eligibility of any given institution.AAHCI has as its membership those non-U.S. institutions that qualify as an International Institutional Member or Associate International Member. 

Its governing body is the member-elected AAHCI Steering Committee which suggests strategic and program priorities.  The Chair of the AAHCI Steering Committee serves as a full member of the parent AAHC Board.

Membership:

AAHCI Institutional Members must be accredited, degree-granting institutions of higher education that:

• Educate a wide variety of healthcare professionals
• Offer comprehensive basic and advanced patient care
• Conduct a broad spectrum of biomedical and health services research

AAHCI Institutional Members must have within their institutions:

• A school of medicine
• At least one other health professions school or program (such as allied health, dentistry, graduate studies, nursing, pharmacy, public health, or veterinary medicine)
• One or more owned or affiliated teaching hospitals or health systems

Institutions that do not qualify as Institutional Members may apply for an Associate Membership. AAHCI’s Associate Membership program provides an opportunity for institutions that do not meet the criteria of an academic health center to gain the benefits of membership.  Associate members would fall under one of two categories:

1. Institutions that have declared their intent to become a full academic health center
2. Institutions that share the same missions as AAHCI Institutional Members and are approved (on a case-by-case basis) by the AAHCI Steering Committee

Focus / Key Aspects:

To mobilize experience and expertise of individuals within academies in order to

• facilitate the provision of evidence-based advice to governments and international organizations on critical global health issues
• assist in the creation of academies where none exist and build the capacity of existing academies to provide this evidence-based advice
• promote cooperation among academies of the world by exchanging information and sharing expertise
• support projects of member academies to improve health and strengthen health-related research and higher education in their countries
• issue consensus statements on matters of importance to global health
• convene workshops and conferences to share experiences and discuss emerging issues in global health

Goals:

• Facilitating academic health centers to become agents of change embodying the ideals of enhancing health and well-being worldwide;
• Strengthening the academic health center mission areas of education, patient care, and research through the promotion of best practices and international collaborations ;
• Positioning academic health centers as important infrastructure and vital economic engines for their regions; and
• Increasing the influence of academic health centers in public policy.

Partner Institutions:

AAHCI partners extensively with organizations across the globe.

Motto:
Leading institutions that serve society

Core Values:

• Social Responsibility
• Leadership
• Innovation
• Collaboration
• Trust and Integrity