Announcements: Announcement and Call for Abstracts

The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and its journal, Anesthesiology, announce the 25th annual Journal Symposium to be held at the ASA Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. The 2016 Journal Symposium will feature the following presentations:

Jerrold H. Levy, M.D., F.A.H.A., F.C.C.M., Professor of Anesthesiology, Duke University School of Medicine, and Michael J. Avram, Ph.D., Professor of Anesthesiology, Northwestern University School of Medicine

1. Critical quality of clot structure: Alisa S. Wolberg, Ph.D., F.A.H.A., Associate Professor Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2. Anticoagulation management for surgery and regional anesthesia: Marc Samama, M.D., Ph.D., F.C.C.P., Professor and Chair, Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Cochin and Hôtel-Dieu University Hospitals, Paris, France

3. Managing new anticoagulants: Purified and recombinant strategies for prevention and treatment of bleeding: Jerrold H. Levy, M.D., F.A.H.A., F.C.C.M., Professor of Anesthesiology, Associate Professor of Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine

In a perioperative setting, managing bleeding and coagulopathy are critical for clinicians. Perioperative bleeding is due to multiple causes including fibrinolysis, activation of inflammatory pathways, consumption of coagulation factors, dilutional changes, and other factors. Additionally, an increasingly frequent cause of bleeding is the perioperative use of anticoagulation and antiplatelet agents that until recently have no well-established reversal methods. New direct acting oral anticoagulants are frequently utilized for management of both venous thromboembolic prophylaxis and therapy, as well as stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation. As a result, new data and therapeutic approaches have emerged for understanding critical aspects of clot formation for hemostasis, management of perioperative anticoagulation especially for regional anesthesia, and specific antidotes for the novel anticoagulants.

Three experts will introduce these topics for the first 90 minutes of the symposium, with 25-minute presentations and 5-minute discussions. The speakers will discuss three different considerations from the basic science of clot structure, to new data and guidelines about managing perioperative anticoagulation, and novel considerations for the use of recombinant and purified therapeutic approaches to reverse anticoagulation and treating bleeding and coagulopathy.

We invite abstracts on this topic from all related fields: basic science, translational, clinical and quality research. The top eight abstracts will be presented orally during the second half of the symposium. Authors of these selected abstracts will be invited to submit their work to Anesthesiology for possible inclusion in an issue on this theme.

Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts on this topic for consideration for publication in Anesthesiology even if they are not presenting an abstract.

Deadline for submission is August 1, 2016.

The annual American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Award for Excellence in Research recognizes an individual for outstanding achievement in research that has or is likely to have an important impact on the practice of anesthesiology.

The individual’s work must represent a body of original, mature and sustained contribution to the advancement of the science of anesthesiology. The nominee need not be a physician, an anesthesiologist, or a member of the ASA, but must be presently engaged in research related to anesthesiology, academically accomplished with peer-reviewed publications and funded research, and nominated in response to a call for nominations. The completed application must include the nominee’s current curriculum vitae, a letter of nomination, and a seconding letter from two individuals with an understanding of the research contributions of the individual.

The 2015 Award for Excellence in Research was presented to Emery N. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., at the ASA Annual Meeting in San Diego, on Monday, October 26, 2015. Dr. Brown is the Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

The deadline for nominations for the 2016 Award for Excellence in Research is March 31, 2016. Please submit nominations or any questions regarding this award to Vicki Vass Tedeschi, Managing Editor, Anesthesiology; e-mail: managing-editor@anesthesiology.org.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Presidential Scholar Award recognizes colleagues who dedicate their formative careers to research.

The deadline for nominations for the 2016 Presidential Scholar Award is March 31, 2016. Anesthesiologists who are within 10 years of their first appointment to a department of anesthesiology, who are Board-certified in their country of practice, who are ASA members, and who are clinically active in anesthesia, intensive care, or pain medicine are eligible for the award. 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. The nominee’s department chair should submit a letter of support and the nominee’s current curriculum vitae as well as one seconding letter from a senior faculty member. Only one nominee per department will be accepted.

The recipient of the 2015 Presidential Scholar Award was Mark D. Neuman, M.D., M.Sc., Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who received the award at the ASA Annual Meeting in San Diego, on Monday, October 26, 2015.

Please submit nominations or any questions regarding this award to Vicki Vass Tedeschi, Managing Editor, Anesthesiology; e-mail: managing-editor@anesthesiology.org.

Anesthesiology will sponsor a Major Trials Session at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. The purpose is to provide a high-profile, large audience for initial presentation of major randomized clinical trial results. The session is designed for substantial trials, usual randomized and blinded, with clinically important primary outcomes. Articles selected for the Trials Session will be featured in ASA press releases.

Presentation at the Major Trials Session is restricted to results that have not been presented anywhere outside the authors’ home institution(s). All results presented in the Trials Session will be based on manuscripts that have been accepted for publication in the Journal, or in select major multispecialty journals, normally restricted to New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Other major multispecialty journals will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

In summary, we encourage investigators to take advantage of the Journal’s Major Trials Session, a high-profile forum for presentation of substantial clinical trial results.

Submission deadline is July 1, 2016.

View instructions for authors: http://anesthesiology.pubs.asahq.org/public/InstructionsforAuthors.aspx