President's Corner
Dear AACD Members:
Please join me in congratulating and thanking Dr. Michael Smith for his extremely successful tenure as president. It required hard work and diligence to achieve the stable and well organized association we undoubtedly now have. I would also like to welcome all new office bearers, as well as national and international members. I look forward to working with all of you and will do my best to keep everyone apprised of new business. I welcome ideas and comments from all members so that we may continue to see our organization grow and succeed. The AACD Workshop this past March in Huntington Beach, California was a tremendous success. We had the highest number of attendees ever, and we also saw a significant increase in the number of industry exhibitors. The arrangements made by the Department of Anesthesiology at the UC Irvine Medical Center and their participation gave attendees an excellent opportunity to experience a well integrated simulation center and to interact with colleagues from various places. I would like to thank Dr. Zeev Kain for his hospitality and his work toward making this conference the success that it was. I would also like to make special mention of Dr. James Rowbottom; his assistance was invaluable.
As I start my tenure as president, I see that we need to keep the momentum set forth by Dr. Smith and the board members. We must continue to work towards improving this association’s goal of financially self-sufficiency and, most importantly, maintaining our educational values. We had an exciting year with a rewarding workshop, reorganized subcommittees and new board members. The bylaws are being revised to expand membership to the board which will also include resident/fellow members for limited terms. As previously mentioned by Dr. Smith, I would encourage timely membership renewal or take advantage of the lifetime membership
option. I would like to extend congratulations to Dr. Eappen, as our new Vice President, and our newest board member, Dr. Scott Engwall. Dr. Smith will continue to assist us by serving as Executive Development Officer. I know it is going to be hard to fill the shoes of Dr. Smith, but we know we may rely on the guidance of past presidents as we take up the challenges the future will present.
As you all know, we will have out next workshop in Tulane. The Education/Workshop Committee has already begun working on exciting plans for March, 2012. We will keep everyone up-to-date on our progress as plans fall into place and the program is finalized.
Once again, I would like to thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to serve in the office of President of the AACD and look forward to working with each of you to take the association to the next level.
Ashwani K. Chhibber, M.D.
AACD President
Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics
Director, Perioperative Services for URMC
Chief, Pediatric Anesthesiology
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