Dear Colleagues,

Spring is a time of renewal (weather aside), a time of reinvigorating our personal and professional passions, and a time of recommitting ourselves to the things (and work) that we love. I, for one, feel so grateful and humbled to provide the perioperative clinical care that I know many of us provide to one of the most vulnerable populations, namely those with existing or potentially impending neurological impairment. But we know that our work extends beyond the operating room and neurointensive care unit, extending both “backwards” into the pre-clinical phase of understanding and thereby optimizing anesthetic techniques and conditions, and “forward” into a better understanding of the complications and conditions that can occur after the acute care phase. What I love about SNACC, and I think many of us share this feeling, is that perhaps no other society devotes itself so fully to the “total care of the patient”, and this is evidenced by the sheer amount of research that our members engage in which deals with both these preoperative and postoperative concerns. Indeed, I am proud of our membership, proud to be a part of it, and I get so excited every time I see one of our names on a grant award, accepting an important leadership position, or a publication. I feel proud to be a part of this group that accomplishes so much, and with so much skill and compassion, both in the clinical and non-clinical domains.

In line with the theme of “spring”, the leadership of SNACC sincerely hopes that you will join us for our annual “Spring Clinical Symposium”. Last year’s inaugural edition was truly special, with so many cutting-edge updates, such incredible speakers, and so much involvement and engagement by our members (with a lot of positive feedback). This year’s installment promises to be no less exciting.

As spring rolls into summer, our work (and excitement) around the SNACC annual meeting also intensifies. Rest assured that the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, and the Annual Meeting Planning Committee are hard at work, ensuring that our experience in Denver, Colorado (September 12-14, 2024) is nothing less than outstanding. Details are forthcoming, so stay tuned!

There is so much change, so much advancement, in the realm of perioperative neuroscience right now, and I truly feel that it could not be a more exciting time to engage, both clinically and intellectually, in the field!  It feels like spring! Whether it’s research related to biomarkers of postoperative cognitive function, intraoperative processed EEG analysis, preoperative frailty assessment, or autoregulation monitoring in the neuroICU, the time is ripe to be a SNACC member! And our members are blossoming everywhere. I want to take this opportunity to especially congratulate our very own Board member, Max Kelz, who was named President and CSO of FAER, a great honor that couldn’t have gone to a more deserving person, and truly makes us at SNACC proud. It’s so inspirational to see our members in the highest echelons of academic anesthesiology, and equally gratifying to see our newest members and trainees embark on the spring of their careers.

I’ll stop with the “spring” quips now, all the flowery messaging, but rest assured that your SNACC leadership is working hard literally every day towards the growth, sustainability, value to members, and success of our organization. And that should be a re-leaf…