Dear Members,
Happy New Year. We are starting a new year with a global COVID-19 surge and have to remain isolated from friends and family. Thank you to all those who are working on the frontline and giving care to patients every day with danger to yourself and your families. In 2020, even though we could not meet in person, we were able to accomplish a lot, from philanthropy to transfer of knowledge to advocacy, research, and so much more.
During last year we accomplished a very successful first virtual winter meeting. We had excellent speakers who presented on various IONM related topics. In May, we canceled our Annual in-person meeting and instead had our first town hall meeting on Motor Evoked Potentials (MEP). With over 240 attendees, we received excellent feedback. We are planning to have more town hall meetings in the future. ASNM offered CNIM concepts mini-course and will offer it again this year. In fall, we had our first joint ASNM/ CANM joint meeting as a virtual Fall Symposium. We had an excellent program with 208 attendees from 10 different countries across the globe. Dr. Christopher Pace and Dr. Marat Avshalumov have finalized an excellent 2021 Winter Symposium with the theme "IONM: From Theory to Everyday Practice - Focus on Case Studies". Please visit the ASNM website for the program agenda and registration details. Many thanks to the program chairs for extraordinary meetings.
On the education and research front, I created ASNM Clinical Effectiveness Ad-hoc Sub-committee, which is co-chaired by Megan Alcauskas and Ryan Rosenhahn. This subcommittee is working on the value and medical necessity of IONM in lumbar surgeries. We are looking forward to this committee's proposals and recommendations during our next board of directors meeting in May 2021. I want to thank all the subcommittee members and advisors for their time, efforts, and dedication to the ASNM and IONM.
To fulfill the need for a subcommittee, to focus on education and awareness about IONM on the ASNM website and various social media platforms, I created ASNM Social Media Ad-Hoc Sub-committee. I want to thank all the subcommittee members and advisors for their time, efforts, and dedication to the ASNM and IONM.
ASNM Webinar committee organized extremely informative webinars and invited speakers with expertise in our field to address various IONM topics throughout the pandemic. ASNM launched four new award categories for its members. Please visit the ASNM website for more information and the nomination process for the 2021 awards.
ASNM elections were held in the fall. We have four new board members (Rebecca Clark-Bash, Melisa Kirkup, Michael Riley, and Dr. Lawrence Wierzbowski) and President-Elect (Dr. W. Bryan Wilent). The term for all winners will begin after the May 2021 Annual Meeting. My sincere thanks to everyone who was on the ballot. We hope you will continue to support ASNM and will participate again in future elections.
My gratitude to the executive committee, board of directors, committee/subcommittee chairs, all members, attendees, Affinity-Strategies, and sponsors for their continued support of the ASNM for making 2020 a successful year. We have lined up excellent educational programs in 2021 (winter symposium, annual meeting, fall symposium). We are looking forward to increasing our membership and meet you all in person soon.
Thank you, and best wishes for 2021.
Stay safe!
Faisal Jahangiri
ASNM President