The Honors and Distinctions Committee is established as an Advisory Committee of the Society, created to identify and recognize individuals with outstanding contributions to the field of anesthesiology and related fields.

Responsibilities:

The Honors & Distinctions Committee ensures that IARS consistently maintains a robust, fair process for the annual nomination, review and selection of high-quality candidates for the IARS Awards, including the following:

• Emery N. Brown Presidential Early-Career Award
• Volunteer of the Year Award

The Committee’s primary responsibility is to provide to the IARS Board of Directors for its approval the names of individual winners for each award. It does this by soliciting nominations, and maintaining a robust, fair process for review and selection of the winners.

Time Commitment and Expectations:

• Meet virtually for the purpose of introductions, orientation and training at the beginning of a new Committee term.
• Meet virtually (as well as discuss by email when necessary) to review nominations and make recommendations for award recipients to be submitted to the Board for approval.

Term:

Each committee member shall serve from the time of appointment until the adjournment of the next Annual Meeting.

Chair

Oluwaseun Johnson-Akeju, MD

IARS Board Immediate Past President

Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Mass General Brigham

Boston, MA

Committee Members

Joseph Cichon, MD, PhD

2026 Emery Brown Awardee

Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

Megan Hicks, MD

Cardiothoracic and Critical Care Anesthesiologist, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

Winston-Salem, NC

Max Kelz, MD, PhD

IARS Board Member

Anesthesia Distinguished Professor; Chair of Admissions MD PhD Neuroscience Graduate Group; MSTP Program Advisor; Director for Research Education, Department of Anesthesiology; Director, Dripps Research Fellowship Program; Founding Director NEURRAL Center; MSTP Program Steering Committee; Vice Chair for Research, Department of Anesthesiology & Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine

Philadelphia, PA

Viji Kurup, MD

Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Yale

New Haven, CT

Elizabeth Leimer, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA

Angela Meier, MD, PhD

Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego

San Diego, CA

Patrick Olomu, MD, FRCA, FMCA (Honoris Causa)

2026 Volunteer of the Year Awardee

Professor and Chief of Pediatric Anesthesia, Virginia Commonwealth University Health Care

Richmond, VA

Beverley Orser, MD, PhD

IARS Board Member Emeritus

Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto

Toronto, Canada

Y.S. Prakash, MD, PhD

IARS Board Member

Consultant, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine; Associate Dean for Research, Midwest, Mayo Clinic; Consultant, Department of Physiology & Biomedical Engineering; Chair, Department of Physiology & Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Anesthesiology and Physiology, Mayo Clinic

Rochester, MN