ASRA: Expanding in All Regions of the World

he American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA), with a membership approaching 7,400, is one of the largest subspecialty societies in anesthesiology. The mission of ASRA is to associate physicians and scientists who are engaged in regional anesthesia for surgery, obstetrics and pain medicine; to encourage education and research in these areas for the benefit of physicians and the public; and to publish the highest quality scientific information on these subjects. ASRA is a vibrant and growing Society with activities on numerous fronts.

Annual Educational Meetings
ASRA hosts two annual meetings per year. The Spring Annual Meeting concentrates on topics of regional anesthesiology and acute postoperative pain control. The most recent Spring Annual Meeting was held in Palm Springs, California, on April 6-9, 2006. This was the largest meeting in recent years with 730 registrants. The Fall Annual Meeting concentrates on chronic pain topics with some discussion of acute postoperative pain as well. The most recent ASRA Fall Meeting was held in Miami, Florida, on November 17-20, 2005, and was attended by 622 registrants. Upcoming meetings planned by the Society include the Fall Annual Pain Medicine Meeting to be held on November 16-19, 2006, in San Francisco. The program chair for this meeting is Christine G. Peeters-Asdourian, M.D. The next Spring Annual Meeting will be held on April 19-22, 2007, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The program chair for this meeting is Timothy J. Brennan, M.D., Ph.D.

Research
ASRA is increasing its investments in support of medical research. The Society funds the Carl Koller Award for Research on a biannual basis. Recently this award was increased from $50,000 to $75,000. Numerous high-quality applications for this award have been submitted, and the Research Committee has recently selected two projects for funding:

1. “Brain Mapping of the Effect of Intravenous Lidocaine on Cold Allodynia,” by Michael A. Froelich, M.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham.

2. “Clinical Impact of Epidural Anesthesia Simulation on Short- and Long-Term Learning Curve and Complication Rate: High Fidelity vs. Low Fidelity Model Training,” by Zeev Friedman, M.D., University of Toronto.

Resident/Fellow Activities
ASRA has an active and expanding resident section, which seeks to increase the involvement of residents and fellows in their anesthesiology residency and fellowships in regional anesthesiology and pain medicine from across the country and plans specific resident education activities for both annual meetings. The resident section has requested additional opportunities for regional anesthesiology education, which has been provided in the form of a regional anesthesiology camp led by ASRA during the ASA Annual Meeting. ASRA has increased its efforts to attract resident membership, including the development of new tools and materials for resident education in regional anesthesiology. ASRA provides resident research awards, resident travel awards for the annual meetings and, in the past year with generous support from Advanced Bionics, has been able to introduce the ASRA Pain Medicine Fellowship Scholarship Award, which supports fellowship education in pain medicine for three institutions on an annual basis with an award of $60,000 per institution. ASRA is committed to increasing the value of resident membership both for residents and their training programs.

Web-Based Education
ASRA is in the midst of an extensive program to update and invigorate its Web site. Improvements will include an entirely new look, which will debut this summer. There will be many new features for Society members, such as a new Web-based education section on regional anesthesia that will be led by André P. Boezaart, M.B., Ch.B. The Web site also will include a new patient information section on regional anesthesiology and pain medicine. It will provide much better information to the membership about upcoming meetings and activities of the Society as a whole.

Publications
ASRA has two educational and informational publications. The first is the journal Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Joseph M. Neal, M.D. The journal has had steady growth in the number and quality of manuscripts submitted for publication. In the most recent review of journal impact factor, it has moved to the number four position out of the current 22 major anesthesiology journals worldwide. The second publication is a quarterly newsletter, ASRA News, which is under the leadership of Editor Brian M. Ilfeld, M.D. The newsletter provides both educational articles for the membership as well as a means to update the membership on the activities of the Society and its members.

ASRA is a vibrant and growing organization with numerous benefits for its members. We are actively seeking to increase services to our membership and the general public regarding regional anesthesiology and pain medicine, and we value involvement and input from members in all areas. On a personal note, I am honored to serve the Society and its membership as President and hope that I will have the opportunity to see you at one of the annual meetings in the near future.

Richard W. Rosenquist, M.D., is Professor of Anesthesia and Director, Pain Medicine Division, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. He is a member of the Committee on Pain Medicine and the Scientific Content Subcommittee on Pain Medicine.