This year, Atlanta’s Westin Hotel was the host of the Society of Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care’s (SNACC) 53rd annual scientific meeting. Two hundred forty-six faculty, fellows, CRNA’s, residents, and medical students gathered to share their work, learn, network, and consider new innovative ideas to improve the care of our patients. We are so excited to report that attendance at our meeting was unhampered by federal regulations which introduced additional delays in acquiring visas, limitations on continuing medical education (CME) time and the use of CME funds in academic programs! The highest number of attendees this year were from the United States followed by Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and China.
Our wide-ranging educational offerings: PBLD’s and The International Council on Perioperative Neuroscience Training (ICPNT) Master Class were filled/or nearly filled! This workshop day ended with an opportunity for continued networking into the opening reception where a briming loft style room of meeting participants had an opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues, and engage the next generation of neuroanesthesiologists, and neuroscientists. Over the next day and half, we heard 91 in-person and virtual abstract presentations in Basic and translational science – mechanism of brain dysfunction and recovery; Clinical Science – perspective from randomized control trials and neuromonitoring; Patient Safety and Quality improvements; Clinical and translational Science; Monitoring; and Medically Challenging Cases.
We gained valuable insights from superb speakers during our Maurice Albin Keynote and the WINNER session on Artificial Intelligence and Neuroprognostication, respectively and 9 panels on topics ranging from Perioperative Stroke and Neuroanesthesia in Low- and Middle-Income Countries to outcomes in complex spine surgery and the “what’s new” in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). We celebrated the Bill Young award recipient and the Best of Science awardees. We also heard from the NINDS (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke) regarding funding opportunities to support our neuroscience researchers today and learned about JNA’s new editorial fellowship program. Our program ended with an invigorating panel on innovations in neuroanesthesia and a thought-provoking pro/con debate on the value of a Neuroanesthsia Fellowship.
A Note of Thanks
This meeting would not be possible without the efforts and commitment from our SNACC meeting planning committee, support from our Executive Committee, our SNACC committee members and leaders, the moderators, speakers, and our membership. Thank you to all those who submitted ideas for panels and thanks for your feedback! Next year, Dr. Tumul Chowdhury, Professor of Anesthesiology at University of Alabama at Birmingham and SNACC’s Vice-President of Scientific Affairs and Education will lead SNACC’s planning committee for the planning of our scientific meeting to be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, Sept. 10-12th, 2026!
