CALL FOR ABSTRACTS — APHA 2026 Annual Meeting and Expo
Health Informatics Information Technology
Meeting theme: "Together We Thrive: Health Across the Lifespan"
Submission Deadline: Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Health Informatics Information Technology (HIIT) is an innovation-driven Section in the American Public Health Association (APHA). Our mission is to improve the public’s health and facilitate prevention through innovative and effective information technology and informatics applications. The 2026 conference will provide attendees with the opportunity to interact with and learn from national and global experts. HIIT sessions will explore a variety of topics related to the use of informatics and information technology in creating healthier populations and preventing violence.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are continually evolving and future applications in AI research are developing to understand the demand. The Health Informatics Information Technology (HIIT) Section would like to challenge you to provide solutions facing trends driving this innovation.
HIIT invites abstracts (250 words maximum) related to the following topics:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Case studies demonstrating implementation and measurable impact
Artificial Intelligence and Nursing Informatics; Clinical Decision Support and Training in Global Environments
AI Challenges in Public Health Infrastructure; Gaps, Barriers, Clinical Safety System and Sustainability
Data Governance, Ethics, and Policy for AI in Public Health Community oversight and public engagement
Equity-Centered AI and Geospatial (GIS) Public Health Informatics GIS-enabled health inequities and service gaps
Large Language Models (LLMs) in Public Health Informatics Use of LLMs for surveillance, reporting, and policy analysis
Governance, transparency, and risk mitigation for generative AI
Patient-Generated and Remote Monitoring Data for Public Health to ensure Trust Wearable and sensor data for population health surveillance
Robotics in Caregiving and Longterm Support Services, Informatics Integration, Ethics and Workforce Implications
Telehealth Informatics for Population and Public Health Impact Applications addressing rural, tribal, and underserved populations
Please note that the deadline for submissions of all abstracts to HIIT is March 31, 2026. There will be no extensions. Abstracts submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
It is extremely important to understand the following guidelines when submitting your abstract(s):
All persons making a presentation at the Annual Meeting must be an individual member of APHA in good standing at time of the meeting.
For each abstract that is submitted and accepted for the APHA Annual Meeting, only one author will be identified as the presenting author that way all communication from APHA will be sent to one individual.
All APHA presenters must pay a registration fee in order to participate in the program In addition if your abstract is accepted you are required to join Health Informatics and Information Technology (HIIT) section. HIIT membership status helps students to participate in the annual meeting.
Session presenters may not present more than 2 abstracts and cannot submit the same abstract to multiple Sections, Caucuses or Forums.
There are no changes to abstract format or session after June.
An author's abstract may not be presented at any other National meeting or published prior to presenting at APHA. This policy may be overridden at the discretion of the program chair if the abstract is being presented by the author internally within their organization.
Abstracts must be submitted electronically through the APHA website. Structured abstracts are required. All abstracts should be organized into sections, each with a section heading. Typical headings/sections for research presentations are:
Background;
Objective/Purpose;
Methods;
Results; and
Discussion/Conclusions. Do not include references or citations in the text of the abstract.
All abstracts must be submitted with at least two learning objectives in the proper APHA format (i.e., “By the end of the session, participant will be able to [explain, describe, …]”).
When submitting, please check the abstract title (Note: Only capitalize the first letter and proper nouns per APHA guidelines) and text for spelling and grammatical errors. Do not include your name or contact information in the text portion as this prohibits blind peer review. Failure to adhere to the guidelines may result in your abstract being rejected.
Lastly, all abstracts should contain enough details to evaluate the scientific value of the work rather than alluding to what “will be” included in the presentation. Abstracts that do not adhere to these requirements will not be reviewed. Please contact the program planners (contact information listed below) if you have questions.
Abstracts will be peer reviewed based on the following criteria:
Relevance of topic to HIIT and to APHA.
Clearly written and conveys essence of research. Contains innovative and state-of-the-art information.
Addresses populations that are underserved or bear a disproportionate burden.
Advances the field of health informatics and information technology.
Overall impression of abstract.
Following are instructions for submitting a proposal for an entire session:
Submit each abstract separately on the shared topic area. If a session proposal includes abstracts submitted to multiple topic areas, the session proposal will be considered incomplete.
Contact the Program Chairs (Iris Zachary, PhD, MS, FAMIA, ODS-C or Diane L. Adams, M.D, MPH, DABCHS, CHS-III) a) with a brief overview of the session (including relevance to health informatics information technology); b) at least three proposed learning objectives in APHA format for the entire session (all individuals abstracts that are part of the proposed session must have individual learning objectives); and c) title, first author and abstract number of all abstracts to be included in the session.
Moderators - are needed for all roundtable and oral presentation sessions. If your abstract is accepted, you may be asked to serve as a moderator of a panel or roundtable oral session.
Penalties
Following APHA guidelines, presenters and moderators who fail to show up for their presentation without notifying HIIT Section Program Planners in advance will not be permitted to present papers or posters at any APHA-sponsored meeting for two years following the “no-show” nor will they be invited to serve as a session moderator. Presenters whose abstracts were accepted for presentation but subsequently have withdrawn two or more times within the last five years may not be considered.
Continuing Education Credits
APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators and those certified in public health at its annual meeting. Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials.
For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit, each presenter, panelist, discussant and/or faculty must provide:
An abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names;
At least one MEASURABLE SINGLE outcome (“to understand” or “to learn” are not measurable outcomes and compound outcomes are not acceptable). Use ONLY the following measurable action verbs: Explain, Demonstrate, Analyze, Formulate, Discuss, Compare, Differentiate, Describe, Name, Assess, Evaluate, Identify, Design, Define or List.
A signed Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form with a relevant qualification statement, e.g., “I have been the principal or co-principal investigator on multiple federally-funded grants focusing on the epidemiology of drug abuse, HIV prevention and co-occurring mental and drug use disorders. Among my scientific interests are the development of strategies for preventing HIV and STDs in out-of-treatment drug users and reducing drug abuse in pregnant women. Please note that I am the Principal Investigator of this study is NOT an acceptable qualification statement.
All continuing education learning content must be of sound science or professional practice and serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills and professional competence of health professionals. If available, learning content should be evidence-based. A list of over 30 areas will be provided online for you to choose from. You will be asked to choose at least one or up to 6 areas that your presentation will address.
Thank you for your assistance in making your session credit worthy. Contact Alyssa.Holland@apha.org if you have any questions concerning continuing education. For program questions, contact the program planners listed below.
Ms. Donna Wright, Manager of Scientific Session Development, APHA will notify authors of accepted abstracts by Wednesday, June 3, 2026. All APHA memberships must be paid no later than Monday, June 30, 2026. As part of your membership, you can select HIIT as your primary affiliation at no additional cost.
Note: Submitting an abstract to the HIIT Section implies that you understand the terms of this Call for Abstracts.
