The Educational Advisory Board (EAB) was delighted with the 2019 AUA/IARS/SOCCA annual meeting held in Montreal, Canada this past May. Numerous features contributed to the success of the meeting.

Once again, AUA sponsored a science-focused, well-attended symposium at the IARS annual meeting. This year’s symposium “Anesthesia and Consciousness”, which was presented in Montreal on May 18, 2019, brought together an outstanding panel of experts to discuss how investigations of the anesthetized state inform our understanding of the nature and substance of consciousness. Audience members were treated to reviews of the cortical correlates of consciousness and of sensory awareness, learned about the neurobiology of arousal, and were introduced to the use of network motifs to assess awareness in disorders of consciousness.

The morning session on May 16 was moderated by SAB Chair Ines Koerner, MD, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University and Richard Levy, MD, FAAP, Columbia University and featured two presentations.

The first host program was moderated by Pierre Beaulieu, MD, PhD, FRCA, University of Montreal, and included “The Analgesic Power of Music” by Isabelle Pertez, PhD, University of Montreal, and “Computerized Clinical Decision Support for the Management of Critically Ill Patients” by Philippe Jouvet, MD, PhD, FRCA, University of Montreal.

The President’s Lunch featured Bruce Biccard, MD, University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, on “The Innovation of ASOS”; Julie K. Freed, MD, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin, on “Fundamental Scientist in Anesthesiology”; Jessica Spence, MD, McMaster University, on “Clinical Outcomes Scientist in Anesthesiology”; and Phillip Vlisides, MD, University of Michigan Medicine, on “Translational Scientist in Anesthesiology.”

Junior Faculty Research Award – Behrouz Ashrafi, MD, University of Miami: Total Intravenous Anesthesia with a Novel Formulation of Isoflurane Perfluorocarbon-based Nano-emulsion: Safety, Efficacy and Toxicity in Dogs.

The Host Program II of the AUA 2018 Annual Meeting, hosted by the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and The University of Chicago School of Medicine, and organized by Drs. Jeffrey L Apfelbaum, Peter Nagele, and Charles W Hogue, had three terrific speakers with captivating presentations showcasing the depth and diversity of research efforts at both institutions.

2018 saw a total of 291 abstracts submitted (>80% increase from 2017 of 159 abstracts). As in previous years, 16 oral presentations including 3 resident travel (including Margaret Wood resident research award) and 4 junior faculty awards (including 2 new awards by Y S Prakash) were given at the meeting. 76 abstracts were eligible for resident travel award (200% increase from 2017), 81 abstracts were eligible for junior travel award (55% increase from 2017).

The AUA 2018 Annual Meeting—co-hosted by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and The University of Chicago Medicine—in Chicago, Illinois, begins on April 26, 2018. The Education Advisory Board (EAB), Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), and the Host Institution Chairs, Drs. Robert R. Gaiser, Y.S. Prakash, Jeffrey L. Apfelbaum, and Charles W. Hogue, have organized a thought-provoking program addressing the latest breakthroughs and trends in academic anesthesia and the practice as a whole.

The attendees of the IARS, AUA and SOCCA Annual Meetings will have the opportunity to take advantage of a special Aligned Meeting and SOCCA Focus on Critical Care Day on Saturday, April 28. The thought leaders in academic anesthesiology will present a wide selection of robust education sessions highlighting pioneering topics in anesthesia and celebrating advances in education, science, research and the art of anesthesiology.