S A E M
Newsletter of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine September/October 2007 Volume XXII, Number 5
901 N. Washington Ave. Lansing, MI 48906-5137 (517) 485-5484 saem@saem.org www.saem.org
Report on the Center for Scientific Review Open House
President’s Message Academies, Associations and the Shape of the Future
Gabor D. Kelen, MD The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
What is SAEM to you? The answer from our individual members varies greatly, but most fall into one of three categories: the annual meeting, the journal, or certain membership services. As a past program committee chair, I have longstanding pride in the Judd E. Hollander, MD annual meeting. It is certainly the pre-eminent scientific meeting for our specialty. As an evidence based kind of guy it is hard to argue that when the submission rate continues to rise, the number of quality abstracts grows, and attendance reaches an all time high, it means anything but success. The journal attracts high quality research and the citation index is rising, and now a new contract with a new publisher will enable the journal to grow further. Under Michelle Biros’ tutelage it has matured into one of the top journals of our specialty.
Gabor D. Kelen, MD, represented SAEM at the open house at the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) held on June 29, 2007 at the NIH. SAEM member Jonathon Younger, MD, also attended the open house as a representative of ACEP. Following is Dr. Kelen’s summary to the SAEM Board of Directors followed by a list of currrent study section alignment. Summary of the Open House This was one of several open house meetings developed by CSR to receive direct input from segments of their constituency and the public. This day’s session specifically focused on Disease-Based” groups. There were two broad purposes for the meeting. The first (morning) session provided an opportunity for various research groups to provide input on important research questions and enabling technologies anticipated over the next decade. The second (afternoon) session focused on whether the science of our respected disciplines is being appropriately evaluated within its current study section alignment.
“Membership services” means different things to different people, but it means something to everyone. Without the membership being able to accomplish their individual interests and further the mission of SAEM, we have little to offer. The Board of Directors (BOD) has taken an introspective look at how we can best provide the membership with opportunities to enhance research and education in emergency medicine. A critical evaluation of how SAEM functions has led the BOD to conclude that we need a novel way for energetic members to push the mission of the society further ahead. The BOD uses committees and task forces to accomplish pre-assigned objectives. Most committees and task forces have been very successful but they tend to focus on board-directed
I was initially assigned to a subgroup “Technology, Computational Biology, and Bioengineering” which was not the best fit for me, so I switched to the “Clinical” subgroup. This group was dominated by AIDS (Infectious Disease) and Surgery, although as a squatter, I was well received. During this session I raised the issues of practicing in virtual reality, computer-assisted environments, bedside rapid diagnostics, non-invasive monitoring, and decision supports for limited data decision making. In the second session, I was able to get on my soap (Continued on page 8)
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Upcoming Deadline
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C all for Didactics for 2008 Annual Meeting Deadline for submissions: Friday, September 7, 2007 at 5:00 pm EST For further information, visit the SAEM web site, www.saem.org.
“to improve patient care by advancing research and education in emergency medicine”