Volume 76 Number 1

Carrying the NYSSA Forward

Inaugural Address to the NYSSA House of Delegates

DECEMBER 9, 2023

I am honored and grateful to serve as president of the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists this year. I appreciate the responsibilities of this position, and I am ready to meet the challenges we face in the year ahead.

My goal this year is to strengthen the NYSSA by increasing both our membership numbers as well as the engagement of the anesthesiologists in New York state. The roads to engagement in the NYSSA are typically via our districts and committees.

Like most of you, being the NYSSA president wasn’t on my bucket list when I was an anesthesia resident. I live on Long Island and have worked at St. Francis Hospital since 1995. In my early career, I knew that the NYSSA was responsible for the PGA, but I was largely unaware of its other functions. I received invitations to district meetings (back then it was via mailed invitations) and, curious, I attended my first meeting in 2002. It was a unique opportunity to interact with colleagues from other practices, to share clinical information, and to learn about legislative challenges.

In 2008, I approached Rob LaPorta, the District 8 director, and sheepishly asked him if one day, maybe when he had finished his last term, he would support me in being his successor. His answer: “How about tomorrow?” Very soon thereafter I won a contested election and was fortunate to win two subsequent contested elections in District 8. During my tenure, we had numerous NYAPAC fundraisers and excellent, well-attended meetings where we were able to convey important clinical and legislative information.

At that time, I had no intention or desire to move beyond serving as District 8 director. I did not think I had the time, knowledge, or leadership skills necessary to be a successful NYSSA officer and especially not president.

As I became more involved in my NYSSA activities, I learned about the committees and was intrigued by the Economic Affairs Committee. This committee, and its previous chair, Dr. Alan Strobel, literally changed the course of my career. “Base plus time,” “conversion factors,” and “the 33% problem” were never part of my vernacular. I was a rapt student. Working on this committee fostered an interest that led me to becoming the president of my group and getting deeply involved in these issues on a national level.

New York is home to an estimated 5,600 anesthesiologists, and yet the NYSSA has only about 4,300 physician members. That represents a significant opportunity. There are approximately 1,300 anesthesiologists who do not see the value of NYSSA (and likely ASA) membership. Like me during my residency, many of them may not know about the numerous benefits of membership.

To the NYSSA’s district directors: Working with the other officers in each of your districts, I challenge you to form a web of engagement throughout each of your regions. Identify key contacts at each major and minor anesthetizing location. Determine where opportunities lie and bring more anesthesiologists into our organization. I also ask Melinda Aquino, the NYSSA secretary, and the two assistant secretaries, Greg Fischer and Sudheer Jain, to assist with these districts to make this happen.

We have 16 standing committees within the NYSSA. Some of these committees are active year-round but many of them only gather at the PGA. These committees can do more to engage the membership.
Until I became involved on the ASA’s Committee on Economics, I thought articles in the ASA Monitor were written by volunteers who were interested in and knowledgeable about the subject. I didn’t know they were largely the product of the ASA committees communicating their expertise to the national membership.

Recently, I received an email from the NYSSA Critical Care Medicine Committee. I want to recognize Nibras Bughrara, the vice chair of that committee as well as the director of District 4. Nibras and his committee are spearheading a Webex-based statewide POCUS collaborative aimed at educating and engaging NYSSA members from around the state.

Diana Mosquera and Franklin Chiao, co-chairs of the NYSSA’s Economic Affairs Committee, are considering having an “Introduction to the Economics of Anesthesia” Zoom meeting later this year.

I challenge all the NYSSA’s committee chairs, vice chairs and members to consider what you can do in terms of Webex-based educational meetings or publishing articles in Sphere to engage the membership during the coming year.

The final area of engagement I want to touch on is succession planning. One of the most important responsibilities of a leader is identifying and mentoring your successor. Even though I have not been a district director for many years, I remain very connected to my District 8 colleagues and attend most of their meetings. I do my best to inspire future leaders from my own backyard. Tracey Straker and Stacey Watt will be the next two NYSSA presidents. I intend to work with them, looping them into everything I am doing this year to help prepare them for when they serve in this role. I ask each delegate, district director, officer, and committee chair to think about who will take your place in the years ahead and carry this organization forward.

Engagement in the NYSSA may lead to leadership roles on a regional or national level. Congratulations to Tracey Straker, the incoming ASA vice speaker, as well as Stacey Watt and Vilma Joseph, who are the presidents of their county medical societies.

Last year I told Jason Lok that I anticipated a tremendous scope challenge during one of our presidencies. Thankfully, that did not arise in 2023. Based on the current political environment, many of us anticipate a significant battle in the year ahead. It may come to us in the budget, as a governor’s opt-out, or via legislation. The NYSSA must be prepared to mobilize all the anesthesiologists in our state to fight to maintain safe anesthesia in New York.

As I said earlier, I am humbled, and I am grateful. I also cannot be more excited to work together with each of you as NYSSA president for 2024.