Another AAST Annual Meeting is in the books. Congratulations to Dr. Brasel and the entire Program Committee for putting on an enjoyable and educational meeting which ran over nearly five days in Anaheim.
There were too many highlights to mention, but certainly the inaugural Leadership Academy session led by Dr. de Moya was a huge success. A talented group of instructors worked with more than 38 future leaders in our field to help them develop new skill sets that will enable them to shine as they move forward in their careers. And of course, Dr. Bulger’s Presidential Address and message of community was a fabulous way to wrap up her successful tenure at the helm of our organization.
That being said, there is much work to be done moving forward. All of our committees are active with new and ongoing projects. Thankfully, this year we added more than 66 new Fellows and 167 Associate Members into the organization. Welcome to you all. In addition, we successfully placed more than 80 members into new committee slots. If you volunteered, you were placed on a committee. Please remember that as we move into 2024. We welcome you to get involved and would love nothing better than for Dr. Stewart to have an extensive list of new volunteers to place in committee posts next September.
Finally, we are moving forward with some strategic planning efforts for our organization. We have covered member engagement and acute care/emergency general surgery over the last year, and this spring will embark on an in depth discussion revolving around research in Acute Care Surgery. As we wrap up the process, we will be communicating to the membership our findings and future plans to strengthen our organization and better serve our patients and our membership.