 |
|
 |
 |
| |
Brent Senior, MD, FACS, FARS
Your American Rhinologic Society continues to be the premier organization in otolaryngology/head and neck surgery dealing with issues related to the nose and paranasal sinuses. Whether intraoperative and in-office CT imaging or balloon dilation of the sinuses, people, including physicians, our patients, and the media, are talking. And your Society continues to take the lead in discussions of the science, ethics, and patient access issues related to these exciting and controversial areas. Reflecting our leadership position, the Society's membership continues to increase, with about a 10% growth seen in the last 3 years. Strong growth has been occurring particularly in our resident category, confirming the enthusiasm that exists among our training programs for all things rhinologic. Membership growth has fueled increasing financial stability to the Society with dues collections in 2007 outpacing 2006 by about 7%.
However, no society can function in a vacuum, and the ARS continues to maintain a strong alliance with its sister societies in otolaryngology in our COSM relationship. The just completed San Diego meeting was a successful one with strong attendance for all the societies leading to a solid positive variance from budget and a building of the COSM reserves, further ensuring the future health of the COSM. The societies have discussed new and novel meeting opportunities including more joint sessions and a new video format for poster presentations, allowing for interactivity between authors and attendees as well as future online educational possibilities. Congratulations are especially in order for all the hard work of Felix Niespodziewanski, Beth Faubel and the other meeting planners with the American College of Surgeons who have been managing the meeting for three years now. We especially want to thank Beth, for whom the San Diego meeting was her swansong, moving on to other responsibilities at the College this summer.
Along with its COSM relationships, the ARS has continued to forge ahead developing closer ties with our allergist colleagues in the AAOA. The early fruits of these efforts will manifest themselves in our first-ever joint session at our annual fall meeting in Washington, DC, Monday, September 17. This will be a uniquely interactive session focusing on the "One Airway" that proves to be an excellent educational experience. For more details, see Dr. Fried's column in this edition of Nose News, and most importantly, make plans now to attend our 53rd Annual Meeting!
|
|
|
|
|
