As I reflect on the end of my term as President of the Association of University Anesthesiologists (AUA), I feel gratitude. It has been a privilege to engage with so many talented individuals who have inspired me by their commitment to the AUA and to academic anesthesiology more broadly.

As we approach the eagerly awaited gathering in St. Louis, I am thrilled to present the communications report in this edition of the AUA Update.

Q: I have served as a mentor for many years to at least two dozen mentees. Is there anything new I can learn from this workshop?

Absolutely! We learn something new every time we teach the workshop. Much work has been done in recent years to advance our understanding of developmental relationships, which include mentoring, advising, sponsoring, and coaching. We’ll discuss these differences and challenge you to think about which approach is best for a given situation. Many of the best mentoring relationships develop organically. Formalizing a mentoring relationship by setting ground rules and commitments at the start helps a mentee learn to manage up and creates a structure for dealing with conflict or dysfunction if it develops. And your wisdom and experience will enrich the learning of all participants making the workshop even more valuable!

This spring, the membership engagement board winds up their first year of service to the AUA membership and potential new members. Drs. Bustillo and Vogt led a group tasked with reviewing and revising AUA membership nomination checklists and guidelines.  These new revised guidelines make it clearer for potential members and those nominating them which academic physicians meet our honorific thresholds for memberships as full or associate members.  Our committee also created three awards to honor members for their outstanding work. These awards will be presented at the 2024 AUA Annual Meeting.

Our chosen field is one that currently wrestles with a diversity of challenges that threaten both the specialty and those who work to administer anesthesia in a safe and efficacious manner. Only recently has the anesthesiology workforce weathered a global pandemic that saw members of our profession thrust into the frontlines of a struggle of epic proportions.  Emerging from this epidemiological calamity, our academic colleagues face a variety of insults that continue to threaten and overwhelm professional recovery efforts.

In AUA Update 2023 Issue 4, Drs. Chang and Pawar penned The Leaky Pipeline: How Are We Addressing This Problem? In a continuation of their reporting, they will now provide AUA members with a summary of state and national DEI anesthesia and health sciences-related pipeline initiatives in the U.S.