American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine May 2017 - 3

President's Message
A Pillar of Research
Taking over as your president this past April, at our very successful
Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting, I
continue to be in awe of what a vibrant organization ASRA is.
Just 3 years ago, ASRA had only two staff members working in
a tiny office in Pittsburgh, embarking on a new and challenging
adventure under self-management. Today, we have six staff
supporting a dynamic, flourishing organization with 12 standing
committees, 10 special interest groups (SIGs), and more than
4,500 members. As I take the baton from former President Oscar
de Leon-Casasola, MD, I look forward to continuing to build on
the organization's successes and helping it to grow in impact and
influence.
As an anesthesiologist specializing in pain medicine, my activities
are divided between research, teaching, and clinical practice at
Rush University, and I am involved in clinical and basic research
in both acute and chronic
pain. Research is truly one
of my passions, and it will
be a significant theme of
emphasis throughout my
presidency.

A critical component of these grants
is bringing the study findings back
to our members following project
completion. We require grant
recipients to provide updates on their
projects after 1 year at the relevant
annual meeting, and we publish
summaries of those updates on our
website. For example, Carl Koller
Memorial Research Grant recipient
Barys Ihnatsenka, MD, shared an
update on his exciting work using a
Asokumar Buvanendran, MD
mixed-reality simulator at the 41st
ASRA President
Regional Anesthesiology and Acute
Pain Medicine Meeting in 2016 in New Orleans.
Grant recipients are encouraged to submit their completed findings
to Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine for publication. To see
the published findings of
past recipients, please
visit www.asra.com/
research and click on the
links under each grant.

"ASRA's mission is built around the two
pillars of education and research."

ASRA's mission is built around the two pillars of education and
research. Most ASRA members are aware of our popular annual
meetings and weekend courses that continue to draw the highest
quality faculty and large audiences who are very much appreciated.
However, you may not be as familiar with all of the activities that
we do around research.
In 2016, we increased the amount of grant money available through
the ASRA research grants to $200,000 annually, and we hope to be
able to continue to increase grant amounts as we attract funders
and build our investment reserves. This increased funding allows
us to provide funding for larger projects addressing both regional
anesthesia and chronic pain medicine. We have also identified
specific research priorities to help guide grant applicants in their
development of projects that support our strategic plan. The Carl
Koller Memorial Research Grant was first awarded in 1986 and is
now given in even-numbered years. In 2016, we selected the Carl
Koller Memorial Research Grant recipient, Harsha Shanthanna,
MBBS, MD, MSc, and his team at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada, who are studying postsurgical pain after
thoracoscopic surgery.
The Chronic Pain Medicine Research Grant, first given in 2011, is
typically awarded in odd-numbered years but was not awarded in
2015. In 2016, we selected Shalini Shah, MD, and her team at UC
Irvine for a project that will look at the use of Botox in pediatric
migraine patients.

The process of developing and submitting a grant application
can sometimes be intimidating. ASRA has looked at some of the
challenges of this process and identified a couple of ways to help
ease the burden. One tactic will be a transition to a "letter of intent"
(LOI) format for research grant applicants. Instead of completing the
entire grant proposal for review, applicants will be asked to prepare
an LOI describing their research goals. Members of the selection
committees can then review and provide direction to support
applicants in preparing full proposals.
Furthermore, although these grants are competitive, we intend to
provide mentorship to applicants who have not been successful
in receiving funds to help them develop their proposals further.
I strongly believe that mentoring the next generation of pain
medicine researchers is one of ASRA's duties.
Another way that ASRA will be able to aid in developing quality
research will be through the recently established Professional
Development Committee. Led by Board Member Brian Sites, MD,
this committee will provide unique mentoring opportunities such
as aiding faculty members with presentation skills, helping new
researchers develop hypotheses, and teaching the art of reading
and interpreting scientific papers. At this writing, the committee
is developing a survey to assess members' interests and needs in
these areas.
As a testament to the increasing influence of our organization and
our members' research, we received a record number of abstract

American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
2017

3
http://www.asra.com/research http://www.asra.com/research
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine May 2017
