Handling Concerns Regarding Sessions Approved by the Program Committee

The Annual Meeting Guidelines state that the Program Committee is responsible for shaping and preparing the annual meeting program and is given final authority for all sessions that appear on the official meeting program, within the boundaries established by the Guidelines. (Section 2, 2.) The Guidelines also state that “The Council Committee on the Annual Meeting is responsible for overseeing the policies and guidelines of the Program Committee and the annual meeting. The AHA Council is ultimately responsible for articulating the policy goals to be achieved by the annual meeting program, and thus has final policy approval.” (Section 7, 1 and 2.)

While Council generally trusts the good judgement of the Program Committee, circumstances may arise in which new information comes to light after the committee makes its decisions or in which pertinent information has been withheld from the committee. In such cases, concerns may arise that allowing a session to move forward as accepted would constitute a violation of the AHA’s Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct and/or its Code of Professional Conduct at Officially Sanctioned AHA Activities.