Dear colleagues,

It is our great pleasure to invite you to join us for the 44^th Annual North American Meeting to be held between October 23-26, 2022, in Seattle, USA.

Following the tradition of previous meetings, SMDM22 will offer attendees the opportunity to explore diverse topics in medical decision making by providing highly interactive forums for the presentation of novel research of various methodologies, as well as analytical models applied to health-related decisions. It will also serve as a great opportunity to network with colleagues from around the world.

SMDM22 is being planned as a face-to-face meeting, however, we are following the developments, regulations and restrictions related to COVID-19 globally. We are considering other options, such as hybrid and fully virtual meeting formats, to ensure the safety of our members and attendees and equitable access to meeting content. The details of the program will be announced on the meeting website as well as on social media channels and by email.

Seattle is the largest city and also the cultural & business center of the U.S. Pacific-Northwest region. Famous for its coffee culture, music, art, developing tech, life science and global health industries, Seattle is a perfect location for our SMDM annual meeting. This dynamic, urban city surrounded by a rugged coastline and mountainous rainforest is open for you to explore.

Economic growth in prosperous cities like Seattle has revealed vast inequities between populations. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has brough longstanding inequities in health to the forefront. We hope that our SMDM22 theme “Better for Whom? Advancing Equity in Medical Decision Making” will allow us to build upon the excellent work our scientific community has done to improve equity in health, access to care, and decision making using rigorous and systematic approaches.

The program will include symposia, oral presentations, posters, and workshops around the meeting theme. We will also have Lee Lusted student presentations, a special keynote session, career development activities, and an advocates-for-equity session.

We very much look forward to your participation in SMDM22.

Olga Kostopoulou, PhD                     Sarah Munro                          Davene Wright

SMDM President                               Meeting Co-Chair                   Meeting Co-Chair