Unlocking Opportunities and Empowering Members: New Initiatives from SOCCA

The Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (SOCCA), previously named the American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists, was established in 1986. Since our inception, we have grown to over 1,200 members, with 40% composed of trainees (Figure 1). These trainees include medical students, residents, and fellows, who will be the next generation of intensivists. The mission of the society is to foster the knowledge and practice of critical care medicine by anesthesiologists through education, research, advocacy, and community. Our members represent a diverse cross-section of race, gender, age, and practice experience. A key theme for our society is the active engagement of members, which we hope to highlight below through our organizational structure, membership recognition awards, and educational events.Figure 1: SOCCA membership distribution.We have seven very active committees (Clinical Practice, Communications, Education, Membership, Nominating, Program Directors, and Research) that report to the Board of Directors (Figure 2). To engage our diverse membership, we maintain subcommittees dedicated to Women in Critical Care (WICC), Early Career Intensivists, Physicians in Private Practice, and a Service Chief Advisory Council (SCAC) to allow members in different demographics to address specific concerns. We also have subcommittees grouped by practice interest that partner with other anesthesiology subspecialty groups such as 1) Mechanical Circulatory Support/ECMO/CT ICU with the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, 2) Transplant Critical Care with the Society for the Advancement of Transplant Anesthesia, 3) Quality & Safety with the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, 4) Neuro Critical Care with the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care, 5) OB-CCM with the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, and 6) Global Critical Care Medicine.Figure 2: SOCCA committee structure with workgroups/subcommittees/area of responsibilities.Our Communications Committee publishes online a quarterly newsletter, Interchange, available at socca.org/current-newsletter, which offers society updates and keeps members engaged. While the committee keeps us active virtually via social media, we also strive to meet in person for social gatherings during our annual meetings. We offer SOCCA socials, and mentorship opportunities are organized for our junior members to engage with senior critical care faculty. SOCCA prioritizes the recognition of our members. Award candidates are proposed and vetted by the Nominations Committee and selected by the broader critical care membership by electronic vote. The Burchardi Award is jointly sponsored by SOCCA and the Society of Critical Care Medicine's (SCCM) Anesthesiology Section. It is conferred to the member who best exemplifies the ability to motivate and inspire others, embodies humility, exhibits a sense of humor, and demonstrates exceptional clinical competence in critical care. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest and most prestigious award bestowed by SOCCA. The recipient is always a significant leader in our profession who is recognized for outstanding and sustained contributions to critical care and exemplary professional practice and leadership. Past winners can be viewed at socca.org/burchardi-award and socca.org/lifetime-achievement-awards. Because of a generous grant provided from industry, we were able to present two Innovator's Awards. This year's $10,000 grant went to Ankur Srivastava, MD, and his team, who are working on a wearable Doppler that can characterize the aortic mixing cloud in VA-ECMO. The Nominations Committee felt that this team's idea was a novel advancement of existing technology, could change clinical practice significantly in the cardiac critical care unit, and had the potential to improve patient outcomes. Finally, SOCCA bestows a Young Investigator Award through our Research Committee. This award is presented annually to the resident or fellow whose research exemplifies the society's mission to advance the knowledge and practice of critical care medicine. Many of these recipients go on to develop productive careers in academic medicine. We are proud of all our member accomplishments and grateful for their work in expanding the boundaries of anesthesia critical care. Like many subspecialties, our educational offerings have pivoted to in-person and virtual sessions. We partnered with the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) for our annual meeting in March in Honolulu, Hawaii. Meeting registration was robust, and attendees came from multiple countries. There were many interesting panels, problem-based learning discussions, and pro-con debates reflecting the diverse practice settings of our membership. Thanks to a generous grant from Joseph Meltzer, MD, and family through the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF), SOCCA and APSF held our inaugural invited lecture to discuss patient safety in the ICU. Hopefully, we can continue this partnership in the coming annual meetings. Next year, the IARS/SOCCA meeting will be in Montreal, Canada, and we invite anyone interested to please join us. Aside from the annual meeting, our Education Committee works hard on a myriad of other scholastic projects. SOCCA members can stay active with virtual offerings, including webinars, a board review course, and journal clubs. SOCCA's main educational allegiance is to our Anesthesia Critical Care Medicine (ACCM) fellowships. To organize our fellowship programs, our Program Directors Advisory Council works with SF Match to oversee the annual fellowship match. There are currently 64 active programs with ACCM fellowships offering over 200 positions. The match is an administratively challenging endeavor, since some trainees also want a cardiac anesthesia fellowship, others are planning training with a significant other, and some positions will be awarded to graduate trainees from Emergency Medicine residencies. The Program Directors Advisory Council committee adjudicates the match exceptions and makes sure trainees are selected in a fair and timely process. With the help of Association Resource Center, our new management company, SOCCA has been able to advance our mission and thrive in the post-COVID era. We are excited to be able to harness the talent within SOCCA to represent anesthesia critical care and all its diverse constituents. We anticipate continued membership growth and engagement in 2025 and hope interested readers will join us to continue to advance our society (socca.org).Linda Liu, MD, President-Elect, Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists, and Professor, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.Mark E. Nunnally, MD, FCCM, President, Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists, ASA Committee on Critical Care Medicine, and Professor, NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York.

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