ASA Annual Meeting Wrap-Up

Thanks to many people, the ASA 2005 Annual Meeting in Atlanta was a success on all fronts. The Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) is most appreciative of the extra efforts made by the ASA staff as well as FAER’s own sponsors and supporters for their patience and flexibility. With the help of our Board of Directors, Research Councils and many ASA Members, the 2005 Annual Meeting allowed FAER to continue executing its strategic plan while enhancing the scope and impact of its programs. In 2005, FAER committed to invest more than $2 million in the FAER/ASA Research Program, expanded the opportunities for residents to partake in the Annual Meeting and sponsored the first Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship program. FAER could not have done so much without the time and talents of our supporters.

Unfortunately the Centennial Gala had to be postponed until the next ASA Annual Meeting. The Gala will be held on October 16, 2006, in Chicago. Please visit <www.FAER.org> for details.

Resident Scholars Program
FAER and Abbott Laboratories again sponsored the FAER/Abbott Resident Scholar Program at the 2005 Annual Meeting. For the second year, 20 resident scholars also participated in the Society for Education in Anesthesia scholar program. These programs acquaint residents with advances in the specialty and increase their awareness of current educational, scientific and political issues. By attending the Annual Meeting early in their careers, residents meet ASA leadership and see the value of their involvement with the Society and specialty. The Resident Scholar Reception included 15 Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellows and featured an announcement of the 2006 FAER/Abbott-Volwiler and Tabern Resident Scholar Program, in honor of Ernest H. Volwiler, Ph.D., and Donalee L. Tabern, Ph.D., developers of the anesthetic Pentothal^®.

Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship Program
Last year at the ASA 2005 Annual Meeting, FAER inaugurated a medical student symposium where 12 students presented results from their FAER fellowship experience. More information about this exciting program is available in FAER’s January 2006 update, which will be included in the January ASA mailing or on our Web site at <faer.org/medicalstudents.php>.

Celebration of Research
The Celebration of Research luncheon was held on Monday, October 24. Opening comments from Michael M. Todd, M.D., preceded presentations by ASA award recipients. Debra A. Schwinn, M.D., Program Director, Cardiovascular Genomics Center for Genomic Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, introduced the Excellence in Research Award recipient, David S. Warner, M.D. Carl Lynch III, M.D., Ph.D., introduced the third annual Presidential Scholar Award recipient, Zhiyi Zuo, M.D., Ph.D. Winners of the Residents’ Research Essay Contest awards, as determined by committee review of full-length manuscripts, were introduced: Edmund H. Jooste, M.B., Ch.B., Columbia University, New York, New York; Peter Nagele, M.D., Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; and Bettina Jungwirth, M.D., Klinikum Rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München, München, Germany.

Fifth Annual FAER Honorary Research Lecture
Alex S. Evers, M.D., presented the Fifth Annual Honorary Research Lecture following the Celebration of Research Luncheon. FAER created this annual lectureship as a means of recognizing outstanding scholarship by an anesthesiologist to encourage young anesthesiologists to undertake careers in research and teaching, which are crucial if anesthesiology is to improve its reputation as a medical specialty contributing innovation and excellence in patient care. Dr. Evers was formally recognized for his novel and important contributions in basic science investigations, most notably in the mechanisms of anesthesia. The topic of Dr. Evers’ lecture “Understanding Anesthetic Steroids: Sites and Mechanisms of Action” is a result of his earlier research focusing on anesthetic steroids (also referred to as neurosteroids) and the use of biochemical methods to study their binding to protein targets in the brain. Specifically his work has identified detailed mechanisms of biophysical action, delineated structure-activity relationships and demonstrated the existence of two distinct sites of anesthetic steroid action on the GABAA receptor. Dr. Evers’ research has shed considerable light on the interactions of the anesthetic steroids with their principal protein target, the GABAA receptor. His group most recently has identified antagonists of anesthetic steroid action and is narrowing in on the precise binding sites for anesthetic steroids.

FAER Panel
The FAER Panel “Clinical Research in Anesthesiology: Who Should Do It, How to Do It, How to Fund It, and How to Publish It” was held immediately following Dr. Evers’ lecture. Attendees were presented with an opportunity to understand the importance of clinical research to anesthesiology, pathways for a career in clinical research, funding opportunities for clinical research, issues related to publication of clinical research and issues related to multidisciplinary, translational research. Ronald G. Pearl, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Anesthesia at Stanford University Medical Center, moderated the panel. Panelists were: David O. Warner, M.D., Professor of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, “Clinical Research: Why It’s Difficult and Why It’s Important”; Alison Cole, Ph.D., Deputy Assistant Director for Research Training, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, “Funding Opportunities and Career Development Pathways for Clinical Research in Anesthesia”; Michael M. Todd, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of Anesthesiology and Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, “Publishing Clinical Research”; and David J. Clark, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anesthesia, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California, “Pharmacogenetics and Anesthesia.”

Academy of Anesthesia Mentors
Due to the abbreviated meeting format for the ASA 2005 Annual Meeting, the FAER Academy of Anesthesia Mentors Committee, chaired by John P. Kampine, M.D., Ph.D., did not meet. It will, however, meet in May at the Association of University Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting to be held on May 11-13, 2006, in Tucson, Arizona.

The FAER staff is looking forward to a year of progress while fulfilling our mission and providing key resources to the ASA membership for expanding and reinforcing the scope and impact of anesthesiology. We look forward to the ASA Annual Meeting in Chicago in 2006.