Education Committee Update

Issue 36 | Volume 1

The Education Committee has been hard at work delivering high-quality educational content to SOCCA members and has had a very productive year so far. The recently concluded IARS/SOCCA Annual Meeting in Hawaii was well attended, with 250 SOCCA-affiliated members and over 1,100 participants overall. The SOCCA Annual Meeting Subcommittee collaborated closely with the IARS Annual Meeting Oversight Committee and should be commended for organizing highly engaging sessions with excellent educational content.

The SOCCA social at the Barefoot Bar was a tremendous success, with over 100 participants enjoying the opportunity to network on the beautiful Waikiki Beach under a stunning fireworks display.

A highlight of the SOCCA Annual Meeting was the inaugural Alan G. Sieroty Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF)/SOCCA Lecture, presented by Dr. Meghan Lane- Fall. This was followed by engaging discussions on patient safety in anesthesia and critical care with Drs. Steven Greenberg, Christina Hayhurst, Craig Jabaley, Kunal Karamchandani, and Jamie Sparling. This lecture will be held annually during the IARS/SOCCA Annual Meeting, and we look forward to continuing this important dialogue in future meetings.

We encourage SOCCA members to submit session proposals for the 2026 IARS/SOCCA Annual Meeting, which will take place in Montreal, Canada, from May 1–3. The call for session proposals will be released shortly. Leadership of the Annual Meeting Subcommittee will transition this year, with Drs. Ioannis Angelidis and Jennifer Ellia taking over from Drs. Allison Dalton and Kunal Karamchandani as Co-Chairs.

The Webinar Subcommittee, led by Drs. Amit Prabhakar and Javier Lorenzo, has scheduled three webinars for 2025 and has successfully secured CME credits for the SOCCA Educational Webinar Series. The committee is awaiting confirmation for a fourth webinar in the fall and will begin planning the 2026 series later this year.

The Virtual Education Subcommittee, chaired by Dr. Anna Budde, has been collaborating with OpenAnesthesia to develop critical care content. Dr. Budde was recently appointed Associate Editor for the Critical Care section of OpenAnesthesia and serves as the SOCCA liaison. The subcommittee has identified 10 key topics and is preparing mini-review articles for publication on OpenAnesthesia.org.

They are also working with the Journal Club Subcommittee to potentially include in-depth evaluations of articles presented during the Virtual Journal Club.

The Board Review Course Subcommittee is chaired by Dr. Talia Ben-Jacobs, with Dr. Veena Satyapriya as Vice Chair. The subcommittee is actively preparing for the 2025 SOCCA Critical Care Medicine Board Review Course, which will feature entirely new content. The course will be held on September 9, 11, 16, and 18 at 5:00 PM EST. Promotions for this first-ever live virtual Board Review Course are well underway. The tiered pricing structure is as follows: Early Bird Member rate (before June 1) is $49, regular Member rate (after June 15) is $79, and the Non-Member rate is $99. All registrants will receive access to both the live sessions and online content. The subcommittee is working closely with the Program Directors Advisory Council to promote the course across anesthesiology critical care fellowship programs, and we encourage members to help spread the word.

The Question Bank Subcommittee, led by Dr. Emily Naoum as Chair and Dr. Hesham Ezz as Vice Chair, is developing a question bank for fellows preparing for the ABA Critical Care Medicine exam. The subcommittee is collaborating with the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA), which has successfully launched a similar virtual question bank for its members.

Last but not least, the Virtual Journal Club Subcommittee, chaired by Dr. Aalok Kacha, launched its inaugural session in February and plans to host three more sessions in 2025.

The Education Committee is excited to offer these valuable educational resources to the SOCCA community. We extend our sincere thanks to the SOCCA leadership for their unwavering support, and a special thank you to Ms. Jennifer Rzepka and her team for their exceptional efforts in organizing and promoting these events.

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