Program Committee Update
by Jason Smith, M.D., Ph.D
The 2018 AAST Annual Meeting, which will be held in conjunction with the 4th World Trauma Congress, is shaping up to be one of the best. “It is always a great meeting and combining it this year with the World Trauma Congress only makes it better,” said Dr. Patrick Reilly, AAST recorder and Program Committee chair. Prior to this year’s meeting, the Program Committee members evaluated and ranked over 520 abstracts, finally identifying 68 abstracts for podium presentations, 26 for Quick Shots presentations, and 140 for poster presentations. “It is always difficult to narrow down abstracts of this quality, however, the diversity of topics represented by the accepted abstracts really demonstrates the variety and impact of the research produced by trauma and acute care surgeons,” said Dr. Reilly. He highlighted the sessions on healthcare finance, the opioid crisis, firearm injury reduction, and healthcare advocacy efforts in the lunch and plenary sessions as great opportunities for participants to hear about topics from across the fields of trauma and acute care surgery.
In addition to the scientific program, President Rotondo will be speaking on “Executing a Vision” and staying focused in an unfocused world. Dr. C. William Schwab, past president of the AAST, will be delivering the Fitts Lecture this year, and in keeping with our international theme this year, Dr. Rotondo has invited two internationally renowned surgeons to give the AAST Master Surgeon Lectures. They are Professor Ian Donald Shepard Civil, BSc, MBChB, FRACS, from the University of Auckland and trauma chief at Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand; and Professor Christine Gaardner, MD, PhD, chief of the Department of Traumatology at Oslo University Hospital in Norway. You can find more information regarding the meeting program and schedule of activities at program page (http://aast.org/AnnualMeeting/Program).
Finally, Dr. Reilly wanted to acknowledge and thank all the members of the Program Committee for their hard work and dedication to the organization. “They really undertake an immense amount of work in a very short period of time in order to help bring this meeting together; it is a great team effort.” In particular, he wanted to thank Drs. Moore and Fabian for their input and leadership, and for our ongoing relationships with the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery (https://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Pages/currenttoc.aspx) and Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open (http://tsaco.bmj.com/content/1/1?current-issue=y). “We have two outstanding journals where presenters can submit their research. In particular, this year, given the large numbers of abstracts being presented at the AAST and the WTC meeting in various forms, we will look forward to providing both of these journals with high quality content for the foreseeable future.”
Overall, the Program Committee has provided us with an outstanding and innovative program for the San Diego meeting this September. We look forward to seeing all of you there!