Through this historical timeline, we invite you to reflect on the foundation, some of the key moments and people who made the International Anesthesia Research Society and Anesthesia & Analgesia what it is today.

Click the buttons below to view important events from other timeframes.

1985

M.T. ‘Pepper’ Jenkins presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Standards for excellence.”

1986

J. Alfred Lee presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Excellence achieved.”

1987

John W. Severinghaus presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Oximetry: origins, observations and outlook.”

1988

Frank K. Standaert presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Anesthesia, science and art.”

IARS provided major support for the costs of the Harold R. Griffith Symposium at the WFSA 9th World Congress in Washington, DC.

The Board decided that the specialty needed larger awards (initially $50,000, later $150,000) focused on clinical research. To address this need, the Board created the IARS Clinical Scholar Research Award replacing the smaller Sankey award, a change made with Sankey’s consent.

Representatives of the IARS and the Japan Society for Clinical Anesthesia met at the Washington, DC, Congress of the WFSA to plan a joint meeting that would strengthen ties between anesthesiologists in America and Asia-Pacific region.

1989

Thomas N. James presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “A cardiogenic hypertensive chemoreflex.”

1990

Arthur S. Keats presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Anesthesia mortality in perspective.”

The result of the meeting of the IARS and the Japan Society for Clinical Anesthesia in 1988 was creation of the America-Japan Anesthesia Congress, which first met in Omiya, Japan, in 1990 and has since held meetings alternately in the host countries.

1991

Dr. Seldon died of metastatic liver cancer.

Dr. Nicholas Greene remained Editor-in-Chief until his retirement in 1991, leaving behind a highly competitive and well-regarded publication.

Dr. Greene gave the T. H. Seldon Distinguished Lectureship at the 65th IARS Congress on “Anesthesia journals: the backbone of the specialty -past, present, future.”

Dr. Ronald Miller (1991-2006), succeeded Dr. Greene and created a “journal within the journal” for subspecialty societies, including the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists. Dr. Miller also appointed international editors, and inaugurated the Chinese Language Edition. 

Dr. Miller was a successful editor and academician before assuming the role of Editor-in-Chief of Anesthesia & Analgesia.  His textbook, Anesthesia, was in its third edition and was regarded as among the definitive textbooks in anesthesiology.  Dr. Miller was Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of California San Francisco. While Editor-in-Chief, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the United States National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Miller moved the Journal Editorial Office to San Francisco, where it functioned relatively independently from the IARS Office in Cleveland, Ohio.

The IARS Head Office remained in Cleveland, Ohio, with a local staff and limited interaction with the Editorial Office on the West Coast. The Editor-in-Chief had a largely reporting relationship to the Board of Trustees, which had little input into the day-to-day running of the Journal. 

Miller developed the concept of a subspecialty having its own identity within the context of a large general journal of anesthesiology. Subspecialty sections of Anesthesia & Analgesia were developed, with separate Section Editors for each. This allowed subspecialties to have control over the scientific output of their discipline and to have a “journal within the journal.”

New international editors were added from Japan, England, Belgium (the Editor later relocated to Germany), and Sweden.

The long-standing informal relationship of The IARS and the Canadian Anaesthetists’ Society that was formalized by a written agreement that provided for IARS joint sponsorship of the CAS Annual Meeting for Category1 CME Credit under the AMA Physician’s Recognition Award, for journal subscription exchange, for exhibit booth exchange at each other’s annual meetings, and for journal advertising exchange, among many other less formal but strong ties between the two groups.

1992

Jerome H. Modell presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Anesthesiology: pacesetter or follower?”

1993

Lawrence J. Saidman presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Relationships between anesthesiology and industry: a mixed blessing.”

The IARS changed publishers from Elsevier to Lippincott Williams Wilkins (LWW) in Baltimore, MD. 

Starting this year through 2004, the IARS provided seven individuals with almost $150,000 as the Ben Covino Research Awards, in honor of Covino’s pioneering work in regional anesthesia.

Initiation of joint sponsorship by the International Anesthesia Research Society and the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists of Anesthesia & Analgesia, after 71 years of sole sponsorship by the former society, announced.

1994

Joseph C. Gabel presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “A conception of the future where opportunities prevail.”

To continue to ensure editorial independence and integrity, nominations to the Editorial Board were made by present members of the Editorial Board and new members were appointed with the approval of the Board of Directors of both societies, as is customary in the highest quality journals. The equality of the two societies in sponsorship of the journal was attested to by the phrase “Journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society and the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists” displayed prominently in the masthead and on the cover. 

January:

The Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) became the first and largest subspecialty society to adopt Anesthesia and Analgesia as its official journal. This agreement strengthened the Journal by increasing its subscriber base and the number of manuscripts available for potential publication.

Subsequently, seven other societies, as listed in the section on Editors, established joint publishing relationships with the IARS and selected Anesthesia & Analgesia as their official journal. The subsequent affiliations strengthened the Journal, but the SCA affiliation remains the only agreement that required its members to subscribe to Anesthesia & Analgesia. 

From 1994 to 2011, 62 Clinical Scholar Awards were presented, including researchers from seven different nations (US, Canada, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK), totaling nearly $1.5 million.

The IARS established the Frontiers in Anesthesia Research Award (FARA), initially consisting of $500,000 paid over 5 years and intended to foster innovation and creativity by an individual researcher in the field of anesthesiology. FARA is now $750,000 paid over 3 years.

1995

Harry H. Bird presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Health care reform and the politics and policies of limits.”

The Board concluded that anesthesiology needed a major award (initially $500,000, currently $750,000) to “foster innovation and creativity in anesthesia research by an individual researcher.” To address this need, the Board created the IARS Frontiers in Anesthesia Award.  The Board appointed expert panels of scientists to review applications. From 1995 to 2021, this award has been granted 12 times to researchers in four different countries (US, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland), totaling $6.5 million.

Beginning this year, the IARS supported ORBIS activities with multiple copies of Anesthesia & Analgesia, Congress Review Course Booklets, and Supplements.

The first Frontiers Award was presented in 1995 to Dr. Beverly Orser of the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Great care was taken in choosing the members of the panel that were to judge the submissions. Members of the IARS Board were excluded. Canadian awardee Dr. Orser has had an exceptional career since, she has spent 10+ years on the IARS Board and is Chair of the very productive University of Toronto Department of Anesthesia. IARS felt great pride organizationally as the first three FARA awardees were from three different countries – a remarkable indication of a truly international society.

1996

David C. Sabiston, Jr presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “The development of surgery of the coronary circulation.”

January: 

Miller succeeded in negotiating with four more societies to affiliate with Anesthesia & Analgesia as their official journal: the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA) and the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA), the International Society for Anaesthetic Pharmacology (ISAP), and the Society for Technology in Anesthesia (STA). With the exception of SCA, subscription to the Journal was not contingent on IARS membership, so the number of subscribers substantially exceeds IARS membership.

Miller advanced the worldwide influence of the Journal by appointing several international members to the Editorial Board, by creating the on-line edition of the Journal, and by inaugurating the Chinese Language Edition, published and distributed in China.

The second Frontiers Award was presented in 1997 to Dr. Rona Gifford of Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA.

The Canadian Anaesthetists’ Society International Fund in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, accepted the task of helping to reestablish the Library of the Department of Anaesthesiology at the University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. In support of that goal, the IARS contributed funds to the Canadian Anaesthetists’ Society International Fund that were used to purchase textbooks, a CDROM drive for the departmental computer, and a subscription to the TEAL project.

The Electronic Anesthesiology Library (TEAL) project was developed. Before Google, the Editors-in-Chief of the four English language anesthesia journals met in San Francisco to discuss ways to encourage wider access to anesthesia literature. Dr. Larry Saidman, Anesthesiology, Dr. Ron Miller, Anesthesia & Analgesia, Dr. Graham Smith, British Journal of Anaesthesia, and Dr. David Bevan, Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia, agreed to allow the publishers, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, access to their entire combined editorial content to allow them to produce a CD-ROM. The result was an easy-to-search CD-ROM to all four journals. It contained full text and graphics supplemented by MEDLINE abstracts for reference. It was a popular, portable source of anesthesia information and would remain successful for a decade until better internet access became more widely available. They also agreed, perhaps surprisingly, to recommend that any profit from the venture be shared equitably among themselves and not depend solely on journal circulation. This new vehicle complemented the electronic on-line version of Anesthesia & Analgesia that has been available for a number of years from the BRS Colleague and Information Access.

1997

A new design of the cover and internal pages was initiated in an effort to emphasize this concept of a “journal within a journal” and to better acknowledge those societies (the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, and the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia) that have chosen Anesthesia & Analgesia as their official journal.

The second conceptual change was the addition of another section, “Economics and Health Systems Research.” Dr. Peter Duncan accepted invitation to be Editor of the new “Economics and Health Systems Research” section.

The Journal added an “Implications” section for each article. Authors were instructed to explain-in 25-50 words and in nontechnical language-the aims and significance of their work. This new section will appear in the Table of Contents and at the end of each abstract and will make the reader’s task of selection much easier.

The fourth American Japan Anesthesia Congress convened in San Francisco, California, for 2 days just before the 71st IARS Congress.

The 71st successor of the Congress, then called the Clinical and Scientific Congress of the IARS, was held March 14-17, at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel in San Francisco, California.

James F. Arens presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “An anesthesiology career: halothane to desflurane.” 

The IARS provided recognition of excellence in education through the Teaching Recognition Awards. Through 2014, 24 anesthesiologists have received Teaching Recognition Awards, totaling $238,000. Academic departments nominated and documented the work of their outstanding teacher. The IARS Board selected the recipients and presented the awards at the IARS Annual Meeting.

1998

Robert K. Stoelting presented the T.H. Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Anesthesiology -a medical specialty with unique challenges.”

1999

IARS Trustee Stephen Thomas stepped down after twelve years, in an effort to push the Board of Trustees toward the twelve-year term, which has been in place since then.

The first European Trustee was elected to the Board of Trustees.

Edward D. Miller, MD, gave the Seldon Memorial Lecture on “What Path Should Anesthesiology Follow In The 21st Century?” at the IARS 1999 Annual Meeting.

2000

The Society for Intravenous Anesthesia (SIVA) and The International Society for Anaesthetic Pharmacology (ISAP) recognized Anesthesia & Analgesia as their official journal.

A Spanish edition of Anesthesia & Analgesia was added. On a quarterly basis, some of the original articles in the English-written Anesthesia & Analgesia were translated into Spanish and distributed in Spain and Central and South America.

The National Institutes of Health launched its electronic archive and publication site, now called “Pub Med Central.”

Anesthesia & Analgesia decided to publish all articles, full text and illustration, online, of course after completion of the well-established peer review process.

John P. Kampine, MD, PhD, gave the Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Challenges To Anesthesia Practice And Theory In The 21st Century” at the IARS 2000 Annual Meeting.

2001

Ronald D. Miller, MD, gave the Seldon Memorial Lecture on “The Role Of Publications In The Future Of Anesthesia” at the IARS 2001 Annual Meeting.

New features for Anesthesia & Analgesia were announced:

• The Journal will provide online submission and review of video files and for the posting of these files to our website. Feature to be called “Echocardiography Online,” reflecting the fact that the initial creative spark and much of the early planning originated from our affiliate Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists.
• A new subject/key word cross-referencing system for the online journal–one that will allow for rapid cross-subject searches between related subject areas (such as cardiovascular anesthesia and pediatric cardiology, for example) – was initiated.
• Certain key articles were made available before they were published. This “publish ahead of print” allowed posting of especially timely articles online almost immediately after they have been accepted and weeks before they would ordinarily appear in their printed form.
• An electronic streamlining of in-house editorial capabilities through adoption of a new manuscript review system began.

The first Asian Trustee from Japan was elected to the Board of Trustees.

January:

On January 1, 2001, the Society for Technology in Anesthesia (STA) joined the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) as an Affiliate Society. As a part of this affiliation, Anesthesia & Analgesia became the official journal of STA and, following the “journal within a journal” concept, a new STA-sponsored section on Technology, Computing, and Simulation (TCS) was created.

2002

Sten Lindahl, MD, gave the Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Discoveries – Good For Mankind” at the IARS 2002 Annual Meeting.

2003

Stephen J. Thomas, MD, gave the Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Top 10 Reasons Anesthesia Is The Field Of Dreams” at the IARS 2003 Annual Meeting.

2004

Simon Gelman, MD, PhD, gave the Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Men Are From Earth; Women Are From Earth: Deal With It!” at the IARS 2004 Annual Meeting.

2005

Professor Michael J. Cousins, gave the Seldon Memorial Lecture on “Wrestling With Pain – Revisited” at the IARS 2005 Annual Meeting.