Research & Grants

IARS is dedicated to encouraging, stimulating, and funding ongoing anesthesia-related research projects that will enhance and advance the specialty. A trusted resource for state-of-the-art research data, IARS supports basic research and all areas of clinical research, including perioperative medicine, critical care, and pain management.

 

“The IARS is willing to take a bet on new studies and important questions that larger funding agencies, like the NIH, are very unlikely to bet on.”

— Past award recipient

Current Grants

Research is key for the anesthesiology specialty to successfully master the challenges of the future. IARS is looking to the future with its Grants Program, supporting research and scientific advancement of the anesthesiology specialty. To date, the IARS has funded more than 225 projects, contributing more than $22 million to the anesthesia community.

Kosaka Best Abstracts Award

The Kosaka Best Abstract Awards are awarded to the top scoring abstracts submitted to the IARS Annual Meeting in three categories: Clinical Research, Basic Science, or Scholars. Three top finalists are selected in each category and each present their abstract again during the Kosaka Best Abstract Session at the IARS meeting. The abstract finalists receive a $50 prize and one winner from each category receives $500. Discover more about the award recipients.

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 this exciting opportunity.

SmartTots

The IARS sponsors the SmartTots initiative, working with multiple stakeholders, to address the scientific and clinical gaps regarding the safe use of anesthetics and sedatives in children. Research funded through SmartTots investigates multiple aspects of existing anesthetics and their administration, including dosage and exposure.

Anesthesia Research Council

Anesthesia Research Council’s (ARC) mission is to advance scientific discovery and health care policy through the development and dissemination of research in anesthesiology, perioperative, and pain medicine with the goal to become the go-to resource for state-of-the-art review, synthesis, and future recommendations in anesthesiology, perioperative medicine, critical care, and pain medicine research.

ARC currently is a 3-year program, supported by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Foundation for Anesthesia and Education Research (FAER) and IARS and overseen by a Steering Committee. The Steering Committee, chaired by Max Kelz, MD, PhD, is responsible for choosing the annual study focus and generating a series of concrete questions to be addressed, resulting in a final work product. The Committee also identifies and recruits a diverse working group of 5–6 people responsible for generating the final outcome.

ORCID iDs at IARS

Attach your identity to your research and get the proper recognition for your work. IARS encourages all researchers to use an ORCID iD when submitting awards and grant applications. An ORCID identifier (ORCID iD) is a unique, personal, persistent identifier for researchers that distinguishes you from every other researcher and enables you to link your publications to your unique record, ensuring your work is recognized.

Previous Grants

The IARS established its Grants Program in 1983 to further the scientific advancement of the anesthesiology specialty. 

“It opened doors professionally and provided upward career movement that would have not been possible without the support of the IARS. I secured a competitive, tenure-track appointment with a start-up package to fully develop my research program, at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Additionally, I have been able to establish essential national and international collaborations through invited talks and conferences that have pushed my research program forward and helped to develop competitive NIH R01 applications (individual applications and multi-PI applications).”

– 2017 IARS Mentored Research Award Recipient Jessica Bowser, PhD

“The [IMRA] provided me early credibility in my field. Given the prestige and size of the award, I believe strongly that this award helped me gain further awards in the subsequent years. Furthermore, the award provided me with critically important funding during the earliest stage of my lab, when it was needed most.”

– 2018 IARS Mentored Research Award Recipient Neil Goldenberg, MD, PhD

“This [IARS Mentored Research Award] (IMRA) will help me generate the preliminary data needed to support larger studies aimed at understanding molecular circadian rhythms in relation to perioperative outcomes such as delirium. These studies will undoubtedly lead to more intriguing scientific questions that I look forward to tackling.”

– 2021 IARS Mentored Research Award Recipient Kendall Smith, MD, PhD