Welcome Notice from the Program Chair

 

I am excited to be the Program Chair for the Society of Airway Management’s 12th Scientific Annual Meeting, and perhaps even more excited to have the event in my home town of Boston, Massachusetts.  As many of you know, Boston is the home of the reigning World Series Champions, the Boston Red Sox, the record breaking, 16-0, New England Patriots, and the “none too shabby” Boston Celtics.  Like this year’s sports clubs in Boston, my goal is to present a championship quality program with record setting attendance.

 

Developing this year’s program has been a great experience.  Between last year’s meeting in Houston and the very active SAM Forum, the challenges in developing the curriculum for this year’s program have been greatly reduced.  Last year, we discussed the field of supraglottic airway devices, but this year, we will focus on the various videolarygoscopes, rigid and flexible fiberoptic stylets.  Other topics will include the challenging pediactric airways, and the malpractice litigation of a difficult airway which will include attorneys for both plaintiffs and defendants.

Having been a member of SAM since its inception in 1995, I have witnessed a steady growth in our annual Meetings.  In 1997, when I served as Co-Moderator of the Airway Workshops, the annual meeting was held in Boston.  Back then, we had 18 airway workshop stations.  By comparison, this year we have expanded to at least 32 airway workshop stations along with airway simulations.  We also have many of the inventors teaching at the airway workshops.  Lectures are conducted by internationally respected physicians who are clinically well versed in the use of the airway devices, and a mixture of anesthesiologists, emergency room physicians, and otholarygologists will work together to analyze the difficulties of the challenging airway.
 
The Meeting will be held at the Seaport Hotel which is located on the Boston’s historic waterfront.  If you’ve never visited Boston before, you will discover that it is a place of great history, culture, and beauty.  The new Institute of Contemporary Art is located right down the street, and Boston’s famous Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742, is also nearby.  The Saturday night SAM social will consist of a sunset dinner cruise along the Boston Harbor aboard the Spirit of Boston.

 

We are looking forward to seeing you on a beautiful fall day in Boston this September 19th to 21st, 2008.

 

Sincerely,
Lorraine J. Foley, M.D.
Program Chair