Karen J. Souter, MB, BSI have been a SEA member for 14 years of which 6 years have been in service as a member of the board. I have led a number of workshops over the years; I have chaired 2 SEA Spring meetings in Seattle in 2009 and 2015. As a long-standing member of the Educational Meetings committee I have a strong understanding of how our society works and particularly how we continue to create interesting and innovative meetings. The committees are the lifeblood of the SEA! It is the committees that keep the day-to-day tasks of the society going and whose innovations continue to move us forward and upwards! SEA has 13 standing committees and various task forces. Some of the more notable achievements of different committees in recent months include:
These highlights are just tips of the enormous “icebergs” of work that our committees generate. I shall look forward to the opportunity to work closely with the committee chairs and members to support their important work. My vision for the future of the society is to see it continue to grow and advance anesthesia education. The SEA is a strong supporter of academic anesthesiology educators; we already offer a wide portfolio of resources (research opportunities, The Workshop on Teaching, milestone assessment tools, faculty development, etc.). I would like to see the society explore new avenues for supporting academic educators such as leadership development and by being at the forefront of new teaching strategies. In 2015 I co-chaired the SEA Spring meeting in Seattle where we joined forces with surgical educators. This experienced helped me better understand how our society can collaborate with other like-minded societies. I believe SEA has a great deal to offer as well as learn from collaborations and I hope we can forge more joint ventures with educators in anesthesia as well as other disciplines. I am excited to be offered this opportunity to take the next step in the leadership of our society. At the same time I am grateful for the continuing support of the SEA members that has brought me to this point and I look forward to continuing to work with the society and all its members. |
