on’t sit alone in your room over a room-service breakfast! Stroll down Michigan Avenue in beautiful downtown Chicago to the Hilton Chicago and enjoy breakfast with colleagues during one of 12 upcoming ASA Breakfast Panels, some of which are available every morning of the ASA Annual Meeting. Participants will have a choice between three Breakfast Panels on Saturday and Sunday and two Breakfast Panels on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. All Breakfast Panels are scheduled to occur at the Hilton Chicago from 7 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. This year, more time is allotted between the panels and the beginning of most morning sessions (9 a.m.) to give meeting attendees time to travel from the Hilton to McCormick Place.

ASA advises that you purchase tickets for your selections as soon as possible. You can register online at <www2.ASAhq.org>, or you can purchase these tickets using your registration book that was mailed to members in June. These popular sessions usually sell out long before the meeting starts.

On Saturday you can begin your Annual Meeting experience with a choice of three Breakfast Panels. The Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists will sponsor “Racial and Gender Outcome Differences in CV Anesthesia and Medicine,” moderated by Solomon Aronson, M.D., as part of the cardiac anesthesia track. Or one can choose the panel titled “Thinking About Installing an AIMS? What You Need to Know!” that will be moderated by Ravindra V. Prasad, M.D., and sponsored by the Society for Technology in Anesthesia. In addition to the Breakfast Panels traditionally sponsored by subspecialty organizations, this year’s choices will include an ASA-sponsored Breakfast Panel “What’s the ASA Doing for Me? Reports From Five ASA Committees,” moderated by Robert E. Johnstone, M.D., which also will occur on Saturday morning.

On Sunday the Breakfast Panel menu includes a choice of three options. The American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists and ASA will jointly sponsor “The ICU of the Future,” moderated by Stephen O. Heard, M.D., in the critical care medicine track. As a contribution to the regional anesthesia track, the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine will sponsor “Regional Anesthesia and Anticoagulation: Beyond the ASRA Guidelines,” moderated by Timothy J. Brennan, M.D. The third choice for Sunday morning includes a panel sponsored by the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology titled “Can Anesthesia Affect Long-Term Outcome?” This panel will be part of the obstetric anesthesia track and will be moderated by David J. Wlody, M.D.

On Monday morning, the Society of Neurosurgical Anesthesia and Critical Care will sponsor a Breakfast Panel moderated by Alex Y. Bekker, M.D., Ph.D., titled “Intracranial Hypertension: Significance, Measurement and Treatment” as part of the neuroanesthesia track. The second selection on Monday morning will be part of the pediatric anesthesia track, “Minimally Invasive Surgery in Pediatrics: Smaller Scars and Different Problems,” from the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Anesthesiology, and moderated by Constance S. Houck, M.D.

Tuesday morning’s offerings include the pain medicine track component sponsored by the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine and is titled “2006 Update on Implantable Devices for the Treatment of Pain,” moderated by Sunil J. Panchal, M.D. Catherine K. Lineberger, M.D., will moderate the Breakfast Panel “Assessment Tools for the Next Phase of the Outcomes Project” on behalf of the Society for Education in Anesthesia.

To wrap up the week, Wednesday Breakfast Panels will include the American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists’ “Making Perioperative Care Safe,” which will be part of the critical care medicine track, moderated by Jeanine Wiener-Kronish, M.D. The alternate option will be “Success in the Brave New World of Ambulatory Surgery,” sponsored by the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia as part of the ambulatory anesthesia track, and will be moderated by Shireen Ahmad, M.D.

The expanded choice of Breakfast Panels certainly presents a variety of options for nearly anyone’s anesthesiology diet! Please plan to enjoy as many of these Breakfast Panels for which you have the appetite!

M. Christine Stock, M.D., is James E. Eckenhoff Professor and Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.