President’s Messageby Dolores B. Njoku, MD
Dear Colleagues,
It finally arrived! Our second back to the university meeting for the Association of University Anesthesiologists (AUA) is in the books! Our theme was “Collaboration, Construction and Focus.” Hence, together with Harvard University, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Anesthesia Executive Committee, we formulated a collaborative, constructive and focused meeting that we sincerely hope will continue to inspire both our academic and non-academic colleagues. Interestingly enough, knowing that the majority of our residents are developed in academic centers dare we suggest that even the HCA Anesthesiologist could find community and commonality in the content of AUA 2025. In our annual meeting, we wanted to make space for honoring past and current successes as well as discussing past and current challenges. In honor of International Women’s Day, we paid homage to three iconic women who served as president of the AUA: Dr. Margaret Wood (1997-2000), Dr. Roberta Hines (2006-2008) and Dr. Jeanine Wiener-Kronish (2016-2018). Our keynote speaker, who is an expert in the education space, Dr. Lisa Howley provided a comprehensive journey for the transition to residency. Dr. Howley also encouraged discussions with the American Association of Medical Colleges that was both insightful and timely. For our president’s panel, the current chair of the Council of Faculty and Academic Societies (CFAS) as well as the Chair of Surgery at Yale and the incoming Dean of the University of Wisconsin – Madison Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Dr. Nita Ahuja provided insights and experiences regarding the leadership continuum. In case you were unable to attend the AUA annual meeting or if you want to spread the message to your divisions, departments and universities, both the Keynote and President’s panel lectures are available online. If you weren’t inspired by our representatives from the AAMC and the CFAS, Dr. Newman and Dr. Kohane guided us through space and time, respectively. Honestly, I am a long-time fan of space travel and Dr. Newman has only enhanced my fascination and respect with our Space Program. Dr. Kohane has enhanced my knowledge regarding the sometimes dreaded “AI” and has challenged us as a specialty to provide guidance and or recommendations with one voice. It is my opinion that AUA is poised for this challenge and in this way can fulfill our mission to “promote excellence in academic anesthesiology and our vision to advance academic anesthesiology as a dynamic specialty that makes significant contributions to medicine, science, and society.” My favorite part of AUA 2025 is always the oral and poster presentations. This is where it all begins and where it began for all of us on the council. Listening to the various presentations, I wonder, if am I listening to next AUA Executive Council members or even the next AUA President? Who knows? I truly hope so. Nevertheless, by the time the meeting ended the AUA executive council, AUA presenters and AUA staff were both elated and relieved. We had presented our best effort with a promise for further improvements in the future. Thank you to all that have reached out to me and provided me with your feedback! I am counting on you to have a stake in building this! It is our role and our legacy and now more than ever we need to own this.
In 2026, our annual meeting will be in Seattle, WA, March 26 – 29, 2026 and just happens to be sandwiched between National Puppy Day (March 23) and National Doctor’s Day (March 30). I am no expert on holidays but that looks fine to me! Make your plans to come together and share your voice as we continue to shape the future of Academic Anesthesiology! Working together we can get this done!
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