The AHA's Council reached the following decisions at its meetings held on January 5 and 8, 2012.

• Approved the minutes of the June 2011 meeting.

• Approved the selection of the Honorary Foreign Member for 2012 (to be conferred at the 2013 Annual Meeting)..

• Approved nominations from the AHA's Committee on Committees for 2012.

• Approved a clarification of the conflict of interest statement for all prize and program committees.

• Approved a revision to the application process for the Asher Prize.

• Accepted a $100,000 bequest for the William Gilbert Prize, and agreed to (1) shift from a biennial to annual distribution of the prize; (2) confer prizes on both the author of the article and the journal that publishes it; and (3) change the name to the William and Edwyna Gilbert Prize (in recognition of her generous contribution).

• Approved a recommendation from the Teaching Division to only allow the selection of one award recipient per prize.

• Approved a change in the call for nominations to the annual Equity Award.

• Accepted the annual audit report for the fiscal year 2010–11.

• Approved the nomination of Anne McCants (MIT) as chair of the 2014 Program Committee.

• Approved the establishment of a task force to review the affiliated society program.

• Approved an adjustment to the Association's Site Selection Policy (as recommended by the Task Force on Disability) that directs staff to review all meeting locations to assure that they provide full access for attendees.