PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
We Did IT! SPA Calls for Proposals for Young Investigator Research Grant
By Shobha Malviya, MD, FAAP
SPA President
As I am writing this message I am hopeful that many of our young members are glued to their computers drafting their Specific Aims, fine tuning their Methods or editing their proposals yet one more time. The deadline for the initial short two-page proposal for the SPA Young Investigator Research Grant was May 13. The Grant Review Committee led by Dr. Chuck Berde will now get to work reviewing the proposals and identifying those with the most merit. Successful applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal with a more complete and thorough description of the project, budget, timelines, plans for analysis, and future development. The deadline for the full proposal will be August 15th making for a very busy summer for a few aspiring young investigators. For further information about this opportunity please visit: http://www.pedsanesthesia.org/young_investigator.iphtml
Our recent spring meeting in Phoenix was highly successful with a record breaking number of attendees. In addition to the high attendance we had an excellent program in terms of content, speakers and topics that were highly relevant to most practice settings. I would like to thank Sam Wald (program chair), Joe Tobias (AAP Section Chair), Rosalie Tassone (workshops), John Fiadjoe (PBLDs), Kim Battle (Association Manager) and our three young observers, Tarun Bhalla, Christina Diaz and Inger Aliason for their tireless effort in putting the meeting together and running it seamlessly. Kudos also to Toyin Olutoye, Alan Tait and the Research Committee for their hard work in coordinating the presentation of 345 abstracts at the meeting. For the first time we had more than 1000 meeting attendees – representing one third of our members! Even so, I would like to reach out to members who have, as yet, never attended a meeting as well as to those who attend infrequently. I invite you to participate in the activities of your society in one of numerous ways - come to a meeting, submit an abstract, write an article for the newsletter, or attend a committee meeting to see what it’s all about. Please email me at smalviya@umich.edu or via Kim in the management office at kim@societyhq.com with questions or suggestions regarding how SPA can serve your needs.
The Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS) celebrated its 10th anniversary and both CCAS and the Society for Pediatric Pain Medicine (SPPM) had excellent conferences one day prior to the SPA meeting.
Going forward, we have some exciting educational offerings coming up. The association of Pediatric Anesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (APAGBI) is hosting a joint meeting with SPA on May 13th through 15th in Aberdeen. Several SPA members are on the program and some have submitted abstracts. I hope to see many of you in Aberdeen.
SPA will continue to offer the Intensive Review of Pediatric Anesthesia (IRPA) as an online course. The management office is busy compiling lectures that were recorded in Phoenix by several leaders in our specialty and some young talented members. Please stay tuned for an SPA broadcast email regarding the availability of this course later this month. Our annual meeting will be held on October 23, 2015 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. The program committee comprising of Randy Flick (Education Committee Chair), Nina Deutsch, Peggy McNaull and Julie Williamson (Young Observer) have developed an outstanding constellation of topics that will be covered by several renowned speakers. Attendees will be eligible to earn up to four MOCA credits that may be applied towards Part II: Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment - Patient Safety requirements. Please click on http://www.pedsanesthesia.org/meetings/2015annual/SPA_Annual_15_brochure.pdf to view the program. I am proud to announce Dr. Bill Greeley as the recipient of the second Myron Yaster SPA Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Meeting. Please join me in San Diego to honor Dr. Greeley for his countless achievements and service to our Society.
In closing, I would like to tell you that my work for the society has been a gratifying experience. It has been a privilege to work with several past and current leaders with one single agenda – the improvement of perioperative care that we provide to children. Please consider joining us in this worthy enterprise.
