About ASCI membership

Membership to the ASCI is by election only and is considered an extraordinary honor in academic medicine and industry. Each year, ASCI members nominate those they feel have had significant accomplishments at a relatively early age — 45 or younger &mdash in their careers. The age limit — indeed, the Society itself — was established to provide a forum for younger researchers at the time (the early 1900s) by which to present their work. Meetings of scientific societies in the early 1900s were one of the primary modes of communicating findings, and established societies limited their membership (and, hence, those who could present research results) to more senior researchers. The ASCI distinguished itself by limiting induction to the Society to younger researchers.

Those interested in a detailed history of the ASCI can consult "History of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, 1909-1959," by E.R. Brainard, available at the following URL:

History of the ASCI (PDF)
The criteria for membership are listed in the Society's bylaws. Candidates for membership must be nominated by an Active, Foreign Associate, Senior, or Honorary ASCI member and have their nomination Seconded by an ASCI member in the same membership categories. Support of nominations may be provided by colleagues, collaborators, mentors, and others, regardless of whether they are ASCI members.

The nomination process

Membership nominations are received and checked to ensure they are complete. The ASCI works with Proposers, supporters of nominations, and also with nominees to collect all information intended to accompany the nomination. Nominations for the following membership year may be submitted in the Fall of the current year.

Following the deadline for receipt, nominations are assigned for review by the Council. Typically two or more Council members review a nomination, which each Councilor scores on an NIH-style 1-5 scale. All scores for a nomination are averaged, and a list of all nominations by average score is then available. This scoring and ranking takes place before the entire Council meets in person, usually early February each year, to discuss all nominations.

The limit of new members each year is 80, as established in the Society's bylaws. Beyond this, each Council determines the group that represents the best quality from the pool of nominations. The names of those who make the cutoff are then presented to the ASCI's Active members (those who are age 50 or younger) for a yes-or-no vote. The vote is for or against the entire list of nominees, not for or against each individual nominee, so it is rare that a member votes against the block (and no block has ever been rejected because of a majority negative vote).

The ballot is usually sent to the Active membership by the middle of each March, with results received a few weeks following, tallied, and audited shortly thereafter, after which the result is official.