he Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) launched its Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship (MSARF) in 2005 for the expressed purpose of making an early impression on medical students about the value and appeal of a research career in anesthesiology. The FAER Board felt that this was an excellent complement to our long history of encouraging and supporting anesthesiology residents, fellows and junior faculty. Our goal is very specific: recruitment not only to the medical specialty of anesthesiology but generating a lifelong commitment to research in our specialty. In the coming years, as our MSARF alumni progress in their careers, we will measure our success. Academic anesthesiology departments and faculty members across the nation have been extraordinarily generous with their interest, financial support and mentoring of the FAER student fellows. More than 30 students were enrolled in the 2007, program with participation in research projects, including basic science, clinical research and health systems analysis. The students come together at the ASA Annual Meeting to present their research projects. One cannot leave this session without a tremendous sense of optimism about the future of research in anesthesiology. The accompanying report by one of our 2005 FAER MSARF participants similarly reflects the value of FAER’s investment in our medical students.

Alexander A. Hannenberg, M.D., is Associate Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Newton Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Massachusetts.

ASA and FAER Opportunities in Academic Anesthesiology:
One Medical Student’s Experience

Victor G. Moulin, Chair
ASA Medical Student Component

idway through my first year of medical school in San Antonio, Texas, I received an e-mail from David J. Jones, Ph.D., a dean in the school of medicine. As a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology in San Antonio, he had received word of the Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship being offered for the first time by FAER and suggested I apply for the program. I was delighted to learn of the opportunity and anxious about my chances of being accepted. I had no previous fellowship experience or similar awards. I applied.

Correspondence from FAER a few months later advised me that I had matched to Duke University Medical Center, my first choice and the most logical place for my fellowship because I had a year of clinical research there. I benefited from an amazing experience as a FAER MSARF program participant. Eugene W. Moretti, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology and my mentor, tailored my fellowship to broaden my professional horizons. My experience included meetings with the department chair, exposure to basic science labs, clinical shadowing in all of the subspecialties, and attendance at journal clubs, intensive care unit grand rounds and departmental grand rounds. I was introduced to every available opportunity in academic anesthesia with an end result of vigorously reinforcing my wish to travel on the career path toward academic anesthesiology. In addition, I continued my previous work on the research I had done as a clinical trials assistant. I was fortunate to be part of this work, which has since been published.¹

As a student, I had always been drawn to anesthesiology for its diversity and depth of knowledge. I asked myself, “What could be more attractive than a job in which I can pursue my scientific goals, care for a broad spectrum of patients and be a part of a team of stellar colleagues?” The FAER fellowship provided my foundation as a future anesthesiologist. I gained a new understanding of academic anesthesiology and pursued an independent study of perioperative genomics and its clinical applications. I now know for certain that academic anesthesiology is in my future. I hope to train in critical care medicine, becoming a researcher, a critical care specialist and a versatile operating room anesthesiologist.

Thankfully my professional growth experience did not end after my FAER fellowship summer in North Carolina. The fellowship allowed me to interact with additional mentors and physician scientists and enabled me to connect with ASA. Two opportunities for medical students occurred simultaneously for me: the FAER Medical Student Anesthesia Research Fellowship, inaugurated in 2005, and the ASA Medical Student Delegation, formed in 2003. Armed with my strong interest in anesthesiology and the knowledge gained from my fellowship, I applied for a position in the student delegation. The committee of officers, recognizing that I was a recipient of the FAER fellowship, selected me to lead the student delegation. During the 2005 ASA Annual Meeting in Atlanta, I had the honor of representing FAER and also the Medical Student Delegation leadership. What has happened since then can be seen on the delegation’s Web page www.ASAhq.org/msd and in the minutes of various student meetings.

I have been extremely fortunate that these academic and organizational opportunities existed during medical school. I cannot thank ASA and FAER enough for creating and supporting these extracurricular activities for medical students interested in academic anesthesiology. I believe that these medical student opportunities are invaluable and essential.

As a grateful student, I would like to thank the FAER Board, Eugene W. Moretti, M.D., Debra A. Schwinn, M.D., Kathryn P. King, M.D., Tong J. Gan, M.D., and Mark F. Newman, M.D., and all of the other professors who supported my fellowship activities by granting me their time and tireless efforts. In addition I would like to thank the department of anesthesiology at my medical school (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio) and professors Christopher A. Bracken, M.D., Ph.D., Mary A. Gurkowski, M.D., and J. Jeffrey Andrews, M.D., who continue to support my attendance at ASA meetings and my career in academic anesthesiology.

Reference:
1. Moretti EW, Morris RW, Podgoreanu M, et al. APOE polymorphism is associated with risk of severe sepsis in surgical patients. Crit Care Med. 2005; 33(11):2521-2526. Cited in PubMed; PMID:16276176.

Victor G. Moulin is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas.

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