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August 2002
Volume 66 |
Number 8
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| Alan D. Sessler,
M.D., to Receive 2002 Distinguished Service Award |
Neil Swissman, M.D., Chair
Committee on Distinguished Service Award
The 2001 ASA House of Delegates voted unanimously to award the
Distinguished Service Award to Alan D. Sessler, M.D. This award
is the highest tribute the Society can bestow to an anesthesiologist
for lifetime achievement and meritorious service to the Society
and to the specialty of anesthesiology. It will be presented to
Dr. Sessler in Orlando, Florida, at the ASA 2002 Annual Meeting
on Monday, October 14. The presentation will immediately precede
the Emery A. Rovenstine Memorial Lecture in the Auditorium of
the Orange County Convention Center.
Any ASA member or component society may nominate an ASA member
for the award. The nominations are reviewed by the Committee on
Distinguished Service Award, which consists of the three most
recent past presidents and the three most recent recipients of
the Distinguished Service Award. The committee may then select
one individual for nomination at the opening session of the House
of Delegates, where the individual must receive a two-thirds vote
of those seated in the House.
Dr. Sessler was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, where
he attended the Boston Latin School. He received his A.B. from
Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and his M.D. from
Tufts University Medical School in Boston. He then returned to
Hanover for his internship and began residency in anesthesiology
at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Subsequently, he served
at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Illinois, and as medical
officer on the U.S.S. Des Moines in the Mediterranean. In 1962,
he was a Fellow and then Consultant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minnesota, where he remained throughout his practice. He still
maintains an office for the Foundation for Anesthesia Education
and Research (FAER) in the department. During his years at Mayo,
he served on 36 committees, was professor at Mayo Medical School,
Director of the Anesthesiology Residency Program and Chair of
the Department of Anesthesiology. He also was a member of the
Board of Governors and Dean of the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine.
Extramurally, he is a trustee of the Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinic,
the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and the Dartmouth Hitchcock
Medical Center. He was a Director, Secretary-Treasurer and President
of the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) and a representative
to the American Board of Medical Specialties. Dr. Sessler has
worked with the ASA-supported foundations: on the Living History
Committee of the Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, as an
Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation board member and as a Director,
President and currently Executive Director of FAER.
Dr. Sessler was an examiner and governor of the American College
of Anesthesiologists. He was President of the Minnesota Society
of Anesthesiologists and a member of the Minnesota Medical Association,
the American Medical Association, Society of Academic Anesthesiology
Chairs, Association of Anesthesiology Program Directors and Association
of University Anesthesiologists.
He is a member of 13 professional societies, including ASA, where
he has been a Delegate, Director, Vice-President for Scientific
Affairs, twice Chair of the Section on Annual Meeting, chair of
eight different ASA committees and a member of eight additional
committees. He is a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Anaesthetists
of England and of Ireland.
Dr. Sessler is married to Martha A. Smith, M.D., also an anesthesiologist,
and they have a daughter and two sons. Not terribly handy at home
repair and maintenance, 10 years ago, Dr. Sessler, at Martha's
suggestion, sold the house and moved to a townhouse where they
currently reside. They enjoy walking, reading, gardening, Elderhostel
travel and their three grandchildren.
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Neil
Swissman, M.D., is a private practitioner in Las Vegas, Nevada,
and Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Nevada-Reno
College Medical School, Reno, Nevada. He is ASA Immediate
Past President. |
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