Congratulations to the 2022 Kosaka Best Abstract Award Winners!

Eight impressive abstract author semifinalists, from a notable field of more than 780 applicants, delivered fascinating short oral presentations of their research, highlighting cutting-edge findings in a wide array of topics during the Kosaka Best Abstract Awards Session on Sunday, March 20 at the IARS 2022 Annual Meeting. Max B. Kelz, MD, PhD and Y.S. Prakash, MD, PhD facilitated thought-provoking discussions from the audience of each research project. While the field was quite competitive with extraordinary talent, three award winners were selected from the impressive presenters. The three award categories of research recognized included Basic Science, Clinical Research and Scholars’ Presentation.

The judges moderated the presentations, deliberated behind the scenes, and, at the closing of the program, announced the three winners – one from each category. An active chat continued among attendees throughout the session. The top three award winners each received a Kosaka Award Certificate and a $500 prize, and all eight finalists received a Kosaka Award Certificate and a $50 prize.

Megan Wong, a third-year medical student at the Duke University School of Medicine, was announced as the Clinical Research Award Winner for her work on “Cognitive and Cerebrospinal Fluid Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarker Changes Over Time in Older Surgical Patients and Matched Nonsurgical Controls.” View her poster here.

Andrew McKinstry-Wu, MD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and an attending anesthesiologist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, was selected as the Basic Science Research Award Winner for his research on “Glutamatergic and Adrenergic Neurons Mediate Alpha-2-Agonist-Induced Sedation and Hypnosis in Mice.” View his poster here.

Amy Tsai, a third-year medical student from UC Davis School of Medicine, received the Scholars’ Presentation Award for her research on “Integrated Single-cell and Plasma Proteomic Modeling to Predict Surgical Site Complications, A Prospective Cohort Study.” She matched on Friday, March 19 and will be focusing on anesthesiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. View her poster here.

Drs. Kelz and Prakash concluded by stating they are impressed by the investigators who presented during the session – the future of academic anesthesiology is bright.

Read more about the finalists who also presented their work during this fascinating session. All posters can be viewed on the IARS 2022 Annual Meeting Virtual Meeting site here.

About the Kosaka Best Abstract Awards

The Kosaka Best Abstract Awards are supported by the Japan Society for Clinical Anesthesia (JSCA) and the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). The founder of the JSCA, Dr. Futami Kosaka, started a cooperative relationship with IARS in 1990 and developed the foundation for today’s Kosaka Best Abstracts Session.