Each year, at the ASA Annual Meeting in October, Anesthesiology sponsors a special ‘Journal Symposium.‘ The specific areas of focus have included vascular biology, the toxicity of inhaled and local anesthetics, awareness during anesthesia, the biology of sleep, acute respiratory failure, and, in 2002, chronic pain. The Symposium typically involves one or two invited lectures (by experts both inside and outside of our specialty), as well as a formal poster-discussion session. The posters are selected by a group of our Editors from among the thousands of abstracts submitted to the meeting.

In October 2003, the Journal Symposium is entitled

“Preconditioning against Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury”

This is a subject of intense interest in recent years (see the July 2002 issue of Anesthesiology). Abstracts will be selected by the Symposium organizers, Drs. Zeljko Bosnjak and David Warltier (the 2001 ASA Excellence in Research Award recipient), both from the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Investigators from around the world with an interest in this subject are encouraged to submit their work to the ASA for the Annual Meeting. Abstracts demonstrating the results of clinical studies of pharmacologic preconditioning (in any organ) are particularly encouraged. Abstracts should be submitted via  the usual online process (which can be accessed via  the Web sites www.ASAhq.organd www.anesthesiology.org). Interested individuals should be sure to check the special box for Journal Symposium.

Anesthesiology, in conjunction with the Society for Obstetrical Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP), is planning something new in 2003. To promote and highlight new and innovative research in the field of Obstetrical Anesthesia, we are organizing a special abstract presentation session. This will be an oral  presentation session, without posters. A committee made up of Journal Editors and representatives of SOAP, working together with the Subcommittee on Obstetrical Anesthesia and Perinatology (Annual Meeting), chaired by Dr. David Wlody, will select abstracts for this session. Selected authors will then be invited to prepare a formal 10-minute oral presentation of their work. Experts in the appropriate areas will be invited to participate in the discussion of each presentation. The ASA will do its best to minimize the number of conflicting poster or poster-discussion sessions. Our goal is to gather as many individuals with an interest in Obstetrical Anesthesia as possible to participate in this session.

Individuals are specifically encouraged to consider submitting their work for this session. Abstracts should be submitted to the ASA Annual Meeting using the standard process. Authors should specifically request Obstetrical Anesthesia as the major subject area. In addition, authors should notify the Anesthesiology editorial office via  e-mail (anesthesiology@uiowa.edu) regarding their interest in being considered for this session.

We look forward to seeing many of our fellow researchers and clinicians at these two valuable and interesting sessions. An announcement regarding the specific abstracts and speakers, as well as the location, date, and times, will appear in the September 2003 issue of Anesthesiology.