Membership Application

The Macula Society Credentialing Committee welcomes your application to our society. Our mission is to promote research and publication in macular and retinal vascular diseases. The purpose of the following information is to describe the membership application process, and to clarify what we (the Society and specifically the Credentialing Committee) are looking for in new member applications.

The bylaws of the Macula Society mandate the following minimum requirements for consideration as a Macula Society Active Member:

1. MD degree, license to practice medicine, and Board certified (ABO) or the equivalent of these requirements from countries outside the US.
2. Posterior Segment Fellowship (at least 1 year).
3. At least 3 years in post-fellowship practice (>50% of time devoted to diseases of the posterior segment).
4. Authorship as first or corresponding author of 2 or more publications on posterior segment diseases that have been published within the preceding 4 years in refereed, peer review journals.
5. Recommendation letters by 2 active members of the Macula Society, neither of whom is on the Credentials Committee. A current Macula Society member may only write a letter of recommendation on behalf of two applicants in a given year.

The above minimum criteria do not ensure admission; rather, these criteria provide a basis for selecting our future membership from the best possible applicant pool.

The process by which applicants are elected to Macula Society Membership is as follows:

1. Any individual who feels that he/she may be eligible for membership, according to the criteria described above, may apply to the Macula Society.
2. The applicant accesses the Macula Society application through a link on the Macula Society website and completes the application as indicated on the website.
3. Two active members of the Society must provide recommendation letters for the applicant. Active members may provide no more than two recommendation letters during each application year. The applicant selects an eligible active member’s name from the drop-down list on the Macula Society membership application form. The selected member will then be notified by E-mail that he/she has been asked to provide a recommendation letter, which he/she will then upload to the Macula Society website. Once the selected member's second letter has been uploaded, the letter-writer’s name (the selected member) is automatically removed from the drop-down list for that year. Applicants should email the Macula Society members they have selected directly to ensure their commitment to writing a letter of recommendation before submitting the application.
4. The Credentials Committee reviews completed applications for membership according to criteria described below, and then recommends to the Macula Society members the nominees for election to the Macula Society. An application must be full complete by the application deadline or the application will not be considered. An affirmative vote of a simple majority of ballots received (when the number of ballots received is greater than 50 percent of the active voting members) is required for election to the Society. If 50 percent of the active members do not vote, immediate re-balloting may be initiated by the Society Secretary. If an applicant’s membership is denied, the applicant will need to submit a new application along with new letters of recommendation each year. Membership applications will not be allowed to carry over year-to-year.

Applicants are ranked by the Credentialing Committee according to a point system that is specific for each criterion, as described below. The organization of the curriculum vitae (CV) is important. It is helpful for you to include subheadings in the CV that correspond to the specific criteria by which the application is reviewed. As an alternative, in addition to the complete CV, an abbreviated CV summary can be submitted that includes your relevant accomplishments listed under these specific subheadings. Remember that if you are reapplying, you must submit a new application with new letters of recommendation (letters from a previous year’s application will not carry over, but a letter-writer who has written a letter previously may write a new letter for the current year). Also please see stipulation in #5 above. Any re-submitted application will be judged on all criteria as usual and also on the application improvements since the previous submission. Thus, it is highly recommended that you submit a cover letter to explain where you have enhanced your application from the previous submission, so that the Committee can easily see the new information since the previous submission. The criteria by which the applications are judged, and the information to be included in the CV or CV summary that addresses these criteria are as follows:

Commitment to an academic mission of research or training (1-10 points). List years of practice after fellowship and indicate any associated academic ranking. The Committee will evaluate any academic ranking or position that represents commitment to an academic mission of research or training.

Quality of post-doctoral training (1-5 points). List your post-doctoral fellowship training institution(s) and the dates during which you were at that institution.

Number and impact of publications (1-10 points). Priority is given to publications in journals with high impact factors. Additionally, priority is given to major articles, then case series, and less priority to single case reports. Finally, first or senior authorship is given priority. The H-index is a useful metric to judge the impact of the publications and should be reported where requested in the application. Electronic versions of the top 2 articles should be included in the application (i.e. PDF format). Do not include manuscripts that are 'submitted', no value will be attributed to non-peer reviewed work. Articles 'in-press' are acceptable as long as revisions are not pending.

Grant support (1-10 points). Support for independent research (e.g. R01), is especially highly valued and should be specifically highlighted. Other forms of grant support, such as that for clinical trials, are also valued. Identify the source of the funding (e.g. NIH, Foundation, Industry, etc.). Non US applicants should report any equivalent types of funding as these will be considered as well.

Letters of recommendation (1-10 points). Letters of recommendation (in English) need to be received by the review deadline. If both letters are not received by the application deadline, the entire application will not be considered. These letters should include examples of achievements of academic value accomplished by the applicant and qualifications of the candidate that would further the mission statement of the Macula Society

Service Work (1-10 points). This would include for example, service to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), State Societies, National and International Subspecialty Societies.

Each member of the Credentialing Committee assigns points for each of the criterion for every applicant and the total points are summed and a rank list is generated for the applicants. Following discussions, acceptance letters are sent out to the highest ranked applicants.

Affiliate Members:

Affiliate members are those persons, other than practicing physicians, whose primary interest is in the basic scientific disciplines related to the purpose of the Society. The application process and criteria for application review are the same as those for active membership.

Additional information regarding membership:

Rights and Privileges of Members – Associate, affiliate and honorary member shall exercise all the rights and enjoy all the privileges of active members except for the right to vote, to hold office or membership on committees.

Fees and Assessments – Application fees, annual membership dues, scientific meeting registration fees, assessments and other fees for each class of membership shall be established annually by the Executive Committee. Annual dues shall be established on the basis of the calendar year. The dues for a calendar year shall be payable to the Treasurer not later than the date of the annual meeting and shall be considered delinquent if not paid by the following annual meeting. Assessments and fees shall be payable at such time or times as the Executive Committee shall determine. Emeritus members and honorary members shall be exempt from annual membership dues

We look forward to reviewing your application for membership in the Macula Society.

Sincerely,

Lloyd Paul Aiello, MD, PhD
Credentialing Committee Chair