Article I: Name and Purpose

A.   The name of this organization is the Behavioral Medicine Research Council (BMRC).

B.   The mission of the BMRC is to identify strategic, high-priority research goals and encourage multidisciplinary and multicenter research            networks to pursue them. The BMRC will focus on long-term behavioral research goals that fall into both clinical (relating to the direct              treatment or observation of individuals) and basic-discovery (relating to the theory or feasibility of treatment of individuals) categories.             Further, the BMRC will commission overview papers on its findings and create an online registry of existing resources to inform                         researchers and organizations about existing networks and collaborations. This registry will also serve as a platform for researchers to           share information both within a given network and between networks.

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Article II: Membership

A.    Qualifications

1.    The BMRC shall consist of current members of the following organizations: the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (ABMR), the American Psychosomatic Society (APS), the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM), and the Society for Health Psychology (SfHP).
2.    Council members will normally hold the highest degree possible in their field and will have made noteworthy contributions to the field of behavioral medicine. Preferred members will have served on major committees or in leadership positions within their organization.
3.    Other organizations may be invited to participate in BMRC. 

i.    A proposal to join the BMRC from an organization that is not already represented in the Council may be voted on by current members at any point in the calendar year.

ii.    In order to be included in the BMRC, an organization must receive a majority vote by council members. 
iii.    The organization in question will be asked to nominate two members to begin their term in January of the year following their election into the BMRC.

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B.    Appointment to the BMRC and Term Length

1.    New members will be selected by their society to serve on the BMRC.
2.    The board should always maintain two members from each of the constituent organizations.

i.    If a member leaves the board before the end of their term, it is the society’s responsibility to replace him or her within thirty days of resignation.

3.    A single term for members of the BMRC is three years.

i.    The initial BMRC will contain four members with a term length of two years and four members with a term length of three years to control for member turnover.
ii.    Each member subsequently nominated to the BMRC will serve a three-year term.

4.    Six months prior to the end of the term, societies will receive an update of the representative whose term is ending and will be asked to either re-nominate that member for a second term or select a new representative to join the BMRC the following year.

i.    A president-elect who is at the end of his or her term should be re-nominated in order to continue serving as president for the following year.

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C.    Meetings

1.    All members must attend every meeting. Unless otherwise determined by the president, meetings will occur quarterly with one in-person meeting each year.
2.    The president will preside over all meetings.
3.    The president or secretary will send out meeting agendas at least five days before conference calls and at least fourteen days before the annual in-person meeting.

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D.    Member Responsibilities

1.    The BMRC will select at least two strategic research goals per year.

i.    The BMRC will have autonomy to determine selection, prioritization, and dissemination of each strategic research goal.
ii.    BMRC members will participate in writing groups for each of the topics.
iii.    BMRC members are responsible for vetting the articles and determining whether a given topic warrants the long-term investment necessary to pursue it as a strategic research goal.
iv.    The BMRC will facilitate an initial conference call to encourage the formation of a research network to address the strategic research questions deemed valuable by the BMRC.

2.    All members will be involved in commissioning articles on strategic topics in behavioral medicine as decided by the BMRC. Members will work together to disseminate the articles and communicate findings and strategies within the field of behavioral medicine.
3.    Members are responsible for promoting the work of the BMRC through article publication, media, and maintaining a presence at relevant health conferences.
4.    The BMRC is responsible for exploring and maintaining an online Behavioral Medicine Research Network (BMRN) Registry to identify the networks working toward strategic research goals.

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Article III: Officers

A.    The officers of the BMRC include the president, president-elect, and secretary/treasurer.

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B.    Duties

1.    President: the president oversees the strategy and direction of the BMRC. He or she will organize and preside over all in-person meetings and conference calls. The president will involve the president-elect in key strategic decisions and delegate additional tasks to prepare him or her to become president in the following year.
2.    President-Elect: the president-elect will work closely with the president on all executive matters. The president-elect will also preside over the timelines and expectations of the writing groups. In the event of the president’s absence at any meeting, the president-elect will serve as chairperson.
3.    Secretary/Treasurer: The secretary/treasurer will oversee communication efforts within the BMRC as well as with the four behavioral medicine societies and outside organizations. He or she will communicate financial statements and ongoing financial activity within the BMRC and with the four behavioral medicine societies. The secretary/treasurer will preside over the dissemination process and the BMRN. He or she will also keep minutes at all meetings and will be responsible for sending out the meeting minutes in addition to reminders for upcoming meetings. In the event that both the president and president-elect are absent at any meeting, the secretary/treasurer will preside over the meeting. 

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C.    Officer Elections and Voting

1.    Officer elections will occur every fall within the BMRC for the next year’s term.
2.    An officer will be admitted to office after receiving at least a majority vote from the board.
3.    Voting can occur online or in person. Online elections will be completed via an anonymous web platform overseen by the standing president.

4.    Board members can nominate themselves or other members of the BMRC for officer after completing one year as a member.

5.    Each year, the members will vote for a secretary/treasurer and president-elect. The outgoing president-elect will become president at the beginning of the term.

6.    The current president cannot be elected as president-elect. However, a former president that is currently a BMRC member can be elected.​

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D.    Terms

1.    The term for the president, president-elect, and secretary/treasurer begins on January 1 following the fall election.
2.    The president and president-elect each serve for one year. Given that the president-elect becomes the president the following year, it is a two-year term as officer.
3.    The secretary/treasurer has a one-year term.

 

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Article IV: Writing Groups

A.    There will be writing groups for each of the identified strategic research goals.

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B.    Formation

1.    Writing groups will be decided upon by the BMRC.
2.    All members of the BMRC are expected to participate in at least one writing group.

3.    Writing groups may include non-BMRC experts from the ABMR, the APS, the SBM, and the SfHP.

4.    Editors of journals that publish BMRC articles and key personnel at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other research funding sources may not participate in writing groups.

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Article V: Amendments

A.    These bylaws can be amended, repealed, or altered in whole or in part. Amendments may be proposed by any member of the BMRC. In the case of a proposed amendment, the member should email the proposal to the president of the board in advance of the agenda for the next meeting.

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B.    The board members will vote at the next in-person or phone meeting. The proposed amendment will be adopted in the event that a majority of the BMRC casts an affirmative vote.

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Article VI: Funding

A.    The BMRC will be expected to minimize all costs and pursue no-cost methods whenever feasible.

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B.    Some costs are expected to maintain the BMRN and uphold the mission of the BMRC.

 

C.    As costs arise, the president of the BMRC is required to compose a budget and request whatever support it needs for subsequent years from constituent organizations.

 

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Article VII: Enactment

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A.    The bylaws will be instated by majority vote at the ABMR Conference in June 2019.

1.    All proposed amendments after the BMRC meeting in June of 2019 will follow the procedures outlined in Article V.

 

B.    The BMRC will nominate and vote on a president-elect and secretary in the inaugural officer election, which will take place in the fall of 2019.

1.    Dr. Karina Davidson, the inaugural president, will serve as president through the end of 2020.
2.    The president-elect and secretary/treasurer roles will become effective January 1, 2020. 

3.    Nominations (self or other) can be submitted to bmrcouncil@gmail.com or stated at the ABMR Conference.

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