Annual Meeting CME Highlights a Favorite With ASA Online Learners! egister for up to 10.75 credits of AMA PRA Category 1TM continuing medical education, available in the “Continuing Education Resources” section of the ASA Web site www.ASAhq.org. Presentations include topics in ambulatory surgery, perioperative care of acute central nervous system injury, depth of anesthesia, obstetrical anesthesia, pain management, mechanical ventilatory support and use of clinical information resources in the operating room. Also included are the 2006 Emery A. Rovenstine Memorial Lecture “We Are What We Make,” and the 2006 Plenary Session Lecture “Vulnerability of Pulmonary Capillaries in Health and Disease.”

Call for Candidates for Presidential Scholar Award

he goal of the Presidential Scholar Award is to highlight research by faculty members in anesthesiology departments. The deadline for submissions for the 2007 award is March 31, 2007.

Anesthesiologists who are within seven years of their first appointment to a department of anesthesiology, who are board-certified, ASA members, and who spend at least two days a week in clinical practice are eligible for this award. Further, nominees must be academically accomplished with peer-reviewed publications and funded research. Candidates should be nominated by their department chair or by the Committee on Research after review of the current year’s grant applicants of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research. Only one nominee per department will be accepted.

The completed application must include documentation of the qualifications listed above; current curriculum vitae; letters of support from the chair, two other senior faculty and two current residents, postdoctorial students or fellows; copies of the three most important peer-reviewed publications; and a current five-year academic plan with anticipated major contributions to the field of anesthesiology (two-page limit).

The Committee on Excellence in Research will judge the applications and select a winner. The recipient of the Presidential Scholar Award will be asked to present a brief summary of his or her work at the Celebration of Research at the 2007 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California. The winner will receive a plaque, $1,000 award, travel reimbursement, plus one day’s lodging and per diem.

Applications should be sent to the attention of Judy Jacobson, ASA, 520 N. Northwest Highway, Park Ridge, IL 60068-2573.

Present Your Medically Challenging Cases at the 2007 Annual Meeting

wo years ago, a new section was introduced at the ASA Annual Meeting that allows physicians, both attendings and residents, to present medically challenging cases that they have managed. The section has been a resounding success with more than 250 cases being presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting. Discussion was lively. Why don’t you consider presenting at this year’s meeting in San Francisco? The section provides a dynamic and informative forum for physicians to share their experiences, teach others how they handled a difficult situation and receive feedback as to how others might have proceeded under the same circumstances.

If you have an interesting case that you think others would enjoy hearing about and discussing, please submit it for consideration. Medically challenging case presentations are open to ASA members, attendings and residents and must be submitted online on the Annual Meeting Web site at www.ASAhq.org. Deadline for submission is August 3, 2007.

Open Forum on Practice Guidelines on Respiratory Depression Associated With Neuraxial Opioids Set for April 19, 2007

he ASA Practice Parameters Task Force on Respiratory Depression Associated With Neuraxial Opioid Administration will hold an open forum in conjunction with the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) 2007 Annual Regional Anesthesia Meeting and Workshop on Thursday, April 19, at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The forum will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Stanley Park Ballroom. Please visit ASRA’s Web site www.asra.com for further information.