Another spring has come and gone, and already the Annual Meeting Planning Committee is hard at work ensuring that our meeting next May in Florida will be a great one. Before we move on, though, let's take a look back at SOAP 2003. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words - I'm sure most of you would rather take a pictorial look than wade through my prose anyway! These pictures are work of Divina Santos, MD, Alex Pue, MD, and Barry Corke, MD.
The meeting began on Wednesday evening with the traditional opening reception, a gathering of old friends and a chance to meet new ones.
Long a leader in the field of Obstetric Anesthesia as well as an outstanding educator, Brett Gutsche, MD, has been a ubiquitous presence at SOAP's annual meetings for as long as most of us can remember, as well as a subtle and influential guide for the Society. This year, it was the Society's turn to repay Dr. Gutsche by presenting him with the Distinguished Service Award, reserved for those who have made major and lasting contributions to SOAP.
Marc Van de Velde, MD, PhD, of Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium, moderates one of the Oral Presentation sessions. Jane Huffnagle, DO, from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia also presided over an Oral Presentation session.
The Zuspan Award is given each year to further new knowledge in the field of women's reproductive health and to enhance the interaction between obstetricians and anesthesiologists in developing joint research and scholarly pursuits. This year's investigations concerned maternal mortality (Elizabeth Bell - U.N.C.); decision to delivery intervals (C. Holcraft, et al - Johns Hopkins); fetal effects of regional analgesia (N. Patel, et al - Royal Free Hospital, London); and preeclampsia (Anthony Maratea - M.G.H., Boston). Here Dr. Maratea accepts the award from the awards sponsor, Fred Zuspan, MD, Editor-in-Chief of American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology for his presentation "Altered vasoactivity as a marker for preeclampsia".
Ruth Landau, MD, of the University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland presents one of two papers she co-authored in the "Best papers of the Meeting" session. Dr. Landau won the award for the paper " Genotype of the beta-2 adrenergic receptor determines the response to tocolysis", an investigation conducted in collaboration with colleagues from Columbia University in New York.
Raymond Glassenberg, MD (right, Northwestern University) won the "Research in Education" Award for his presentation of "The Virtual Spine". He is shown here with his father and co-author S. Glassenberg, MD.
The "Gerard W. Ostheimer Anesthesia Lecture: What's New in Obstetric Anesthesia" is always one of the highlights of the meeting. This year, Audrey S. Alleyne, MD, of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, delivered the review. Dr. Alleyne is shown here with current First-Vice President William Camann, MD, a former student of Dr. Ostheimer's, who provided the introduction for the session, as well as giving a refresher course lecture during the split session Thursday afternoon on "Regional anesthesia and the outcome of labor".
A panel
discussion on Education focused on the current challenges facing those involved
in training the next generation of Obstetric anesthesiologists. Moderated by
Linda Polley, MD, of the University of Michigan (far left), panel members included
(left-to-right) long-time SOAP member, Nancy Oriol, MD, currently Dean of Students
at Harvard Medical School in Boston; Craig Leicht, MD from Western Pennsylvania
Hospital in Pittsburgh; Rita Patel, MD of the University of Pittsburgh; and
Medge Owen, MD from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
Each year, AstraZeneca honors a member of SOAP for their career-long contributions to the field of Obstetric Anesthesia with the Nils Lofgren Award, named after the developer of lidocaine. This year the award was presented to Sivam Ramanathan, MD from the University of Pittsburgh, shown here with his wife and SOAPer's Mark Zakowski, MD of Los Angeles, and Board Member Divina Santos, MD.
In the turbulent world where medicine and politics intersect, it is good to know that anesthesiologists in general and obstetric Anesthesiologists in particular are well represented by our leaders. This year's meeting included a panel discussion on "Politics, Anesthesia and Obstetrics". Moderated by SOAP representative to the ASA House of Delegates (and a State Representative in Maryland) Andrew Harris, MD (the tall one!), the panel included (left to right) David Birnbach, MD (Chair, ASA Committee on Obstetric Anesthesia), Thomas Purdon, MD (Immediate Past President of ACOG), and James Cottrell, MD (ASA President). Much of the discussion focused on areas of mutual concern to the specialties of Obstetrics and Anesthesiology.
The Annual Business Meeting is also the time for the official changing of the guard. Here, incoming President Richard Wissler, MD (University of Rochester) presents a ceremonial gavel to out-going President Joy Hawkins, MD, (University of Colorado). On behalf of the whole Society, thanks for all the hard work, Joy.
Several positions on the Board of Directors were voted on. Andrew Harris, MD was reappointed to another term as SOAP representative to the ASA House of Delegates. McCallum Hoyt, MD, was also re-elected by acclamation to another term as Treasurer.
Four sites were proposed for the 39th Annual Meeting in 2007 - Toronto, Chicago, Albuquerque, and Banff, British Columbia. In what is perennially the most hotly contested election, Banff got the nod. The beauty of the scenery and the favorable exchange rate (for those of us south of the border) should make for a great meeting.
In a closely contested election during the annual business meeting of the society, sitting newsletter editor, David J. Wlody, MD, from the Downstate Medical Center of the State University of New York (Brooklyn), was elected to Second Vice-President of the Society, narrowly edging David Campbell, MD and Richard Smiley, MD. One of the great strengths of the Society is that there is never a shortage of highly qualified individuals ready and willing to assume the tasks and responsibilities of leadership.
The "What's New in Obstetrics?" session serves to remind us that we do not practice in a vacuum, that our concerns (and those of our patients) are intimately involved with those of out Obstetric colleagues. Kathy Reed, MD, of the University of Arizona in Tucson updated us on issues ranging from prematurity and hypertension, to antibiotics and VBAC. Her overarching theme came down to this: "Communication between our specialties is what is most important."
In the second of three poster review sessions, Michael Paech, FANZA, of King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women in Perth, Australia, reviewed some of the more than 100 abstracts presented.
While many of our concerns end with delivery, Kevin Coulter, MD, from U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, delivered the "What's New in Neonatology" address pointing out that for our neonatology and pediatric colleagues, the work is just beginning. His talk focused on the perinatal complications of maternal drug abuse, both short- and long-term.
Scott Segal, MD, led a lively session at the "Breakfast with the Experts" on Saturday morning. A special thank you to all the "experts" who helped make this session such a success.
John Thomas, MD, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine oversaw the last of the poster review sessions.
The Fred Hehre Lecture honors one of the pioneers of obstetric anesthesia. It allows an individual who has made significant contributions to our field free rein to discuss his or her work, or any issue they feel of import to our members. This year, medical historian Donald Caton, MD, from the University of Florida in Gainesville spoke on the relationship between social forces and the development of our specialty. His book "What a Blessing She had Chloroform" should be on every resident's (and attending's!) reading list.
This year the Annual Banquet, a western-themed cookout, was the final event of the meeting. In addition to one last chance for some fun with good friends and colleagues, it is also the forum for the presentation of many of the prestigious awards the Society bestows on presenters. Here President Dick Wissler presents the awards from the Gertie Marx Symposium for the best presentation of research by a resident physician. Third place went to Brendan Carvalho, MB (Stanford University), for "Ultra-light PCEA techniques in labor: minimizing physician workload while optimizing outcome". Second place went to Johanna Bray, MD (Royal Free Hospital, London) for "Suprasternal Doppler estimation of cardiac output: standard vs. sequential CSE epidural anesthesia for cesarean section." First prize in the Symposium went to Rebecca McClaine, MD (Duke University) for her presentation "Effects of maternal general anesthesia on fetal physiology." Dr. Landau received the award for the "Best Paper of the Meeting".
As my last (semi-) official act as Meeting Host, I'd like to thank all of the people who made the meeting such a success - the Faculty, the presenters, the attendees, the sponsors, and the management team at Ruggles.