Membership Engagement Advisory Board (MEB)

It gives us great pleasure, as members and Co-chairs of the Association of University of Anesthesiologists (AUA) Membership Engagement Advisory Board (MEB), to introduce our committee to the AUA. The MEB has several initiatives to meet the goals of the latest inaugural board of the AUA. After input from the AUA council, several of you as members, and our own group meetings, we have identified the following goals for the committee:

Support the Transition from Associate AUA Member to Full Member Status

The creation of the Associate membership category has served our academic community well. We have now identified many of our future leaders. These members need our support to develop them into the leaders they hope to be. We believe that engagement from the full members to serve as mentors serves this purpose best. We also believe that hearing the needs from the Associate members is critical.  This effort is being led by MEB member, Dr. Maria Bustillo.

Review Eligibility Criteria for AUA Membership

We have created a taskforce to review our published membership criteria. We aim to make recommendations to the AUA council for changes to consider as well as potential feedback to anesthesiologists who do not yet meet the eligibility criteria. This effort is being led by MEB member, Dr. Keith Vogt.

Increase Outreach to Solicit New Members

We believe that there are accomplished academic anesthesiologists in departments not well represented in the AUA. It would be useful to reach out to academic chairs to solicit their accomplished faculty for potential AUA membership. MEB co-chairs, Drs. Armstead and Aziz will lead this effort by highlighting to the targeted academic anesthesiology shares the value of AUA membership.

In addition, MEB members will encourage all active members to nominate individuals who meet membership criteria in academic anesthesiology departments that have AUA members. As a reminder, we would like to emphasize that the second round of member nominations runs from June 12 to September 24, 2023.

Finally, the MEB is excited to announce the establishment of MEB awards which will address three levels of membership support and activity. The new awards will be announced and awarded at the Annual Meeting each year. The three new awards are:

Lifetime Achievement Award

The AUA Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest and most prestigious award given to a member of the organization recognized by the broader academic anesthesia community as a significant leader in the academic anesthesiology profession. Selection for this honor recognizes an individual’s outstanding and sustained contributions to the academic anesthesia profession and AUA, as well as exemplary professional practice and leadership. 

Active Member of the Year Award

The AUA Member of the Year Award is given in recognition of an active member for their commitment to the advancement of academic anesthesiology and their dedication to developing scholars, educators, practitioners, and the next generation of leaders in academic anesthesiology.

Rising Star - Associate Member of the Year Award

AUA is committed to cultivating the next generation of our profession. AUA’s Rising Star - Associate Member of the Year Award was established to identify the next generation of leadership in academic anesthesiology. It is designed to recognize associate members who have already made an impact on the profession and have demonstrated their ability to lead the next generation of academic anesthesiologists.

Any member of the AUA can submit the name of individuals for consideration for these awards. Members are also encouraged to self-nominate. Applications will be open from September 29, 2023 to December 31, 2023 at 11:59 pm PT. Visit AUA’s Membership Engagement Advisory Board Member Awards page for more information.

Based on this report, we hope that the goals of the MEB, in service to AUA and its members, will be supported by collaboration with other committees / Boards and realized with great enthusiasm.

Authors

Valerie E. Armstead, MD, DABA, FASA

AUA, Co-chair, Membership Engagement Advisory Board

Professor of Anesthesiology, Clinician Educator

Department of Anesthesiology

Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Michael Aziz, MD

AUA, Co-chair, Membership Engagement Advisory Board

Professor & Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs

Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine

Oregon Health & Science University

Portland, Oregon