The mission of the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society (AGOS) is to promote excellence in women’s healthcare through advocacy for research and clinical training and the development of academic leaders in obstetrics and gynecology. AGOS is an organization composed of individuals attaining national prominence in scholarship and leadership in the discipline of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health. AGOS leadership is committed to enhancing diversity and inclusion across our membership.
The AGOS Bylaws specifically state that a candidate for membership must have completed medical school training at least ten years previously and shall have demonstrated outstanding talent and ability as a clinician, teacher, investigator and leader in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. Candidates will be evaluated on the basis of 1) prior training, current academic rank, and specialty/subspecialty focus; 2) scholarly productivity; 3) major institutional and national leadership roles and 4) how the candidate would contribute to enhancing the diversity of AGOS diversity.
Guidelines specific to these evaluation domains are provided as follows. This outlines the most common pathway to membership. However, we recognize that there are some individuals of high achievement whose careers do not fit well into traditional categories and they will be evaluated on the basis of their accomplishments and impact on women’s health.
- A candidate for membership should be an outstanding leader in academic obstetrics and gynecology who is recognized nationally for their work. They should have good character, high ethical standing and recognized ability as a physician, educator, scholar, and leader. Candidates will generally be at the level of associate professor or higher.
- AGOS values scholarship in a number of contexts including, for example, biomedical science discovery and integration, clinical trials, health services research, and education. As such, candidates should have at least 20 significant first or senior authored original publications in peer reviewed journals and demonstrate likelihood of continued future scholarly contributions. Other activities indicative of scholarly productivity might include, for example, contributions to books, point of care medical resources, development of evidence-based web tools or national guidelines, publications related to medical education, and development of innovations in medical education. Evidence of extramural funding from federal agencies and national foundations is taken into consideration. Other sources of research funding (for example, institutional and/or industry funding) is also recognized. Service on editorial boards and study sections for the NIH or other major research funding organizations is deemed indicative of scholarly productivity and leadership.
- AGOS values leadership, particularly at the national and international level. Evidence of leadership might include, for example, major institutional roles (dean, chair, division director, program/fellowship director, service line director, CMO, etc.), and/or major national and international roles or appointments (professional society leadership position, election to be an officer in major national organizations or international societies, etc.). Other evidence of leadership will be taken into consideration.
- Supported by the knowledge that diverse backgrounds and ideas are crucial to academic excellence, AGOS seeks to build an organization whose members are diverse in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, cultures, backgrounds and life experiences, and the breadth and depth of the discipline of obstetrics, gynecology and women’s health. The potential for a candidate to contribute to enhancing and respecting diversity in the organization will be considered.
While each of these domains will be evaluated separately, an aggregate evaluation of these domains will form the basis for selecting candidates for potential AGOS membership. Although successful candidates need not be strong in all categories. they must have a strong application overall.
A requirement for all candidates is that they must have attended at least one AGOS Annual Meeting prior to becoming a member and preferably before applying.