Welcome to the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine's (ASRA) First Annual Fall Pain Meeting. ASRA was founded over twenty five years ago by a group of anesthesiologists dedicated to promoting the use of regional anesthetic techniques to control acute and chronic pain. From modest beginnings for control of peri-operative pain, the field of pain medicine was born. There are nearly 100 accredited Pain Medicine Training Programs within the United States, and practitioners from the parent disciplines of neurology, physical medicine & rehabilitation, and psychiatry now commonly go on to seek subspecialty training in pain medicine. Under the leadership of Dr. Jim Eisenach, the ASRA Board of Directors recognized the need to expand the scope of educational opportunities for pain practitioners in their membership. This meeting is the first attempt by ASRA as an organization to offer a comprehensive educational meeting that brings clinicians and basic scientists together in a single forum to discuss our current understanding of the basic and clinical science of pain medicine. To promote cross-fertilization between the laboratory and the pain clinic, we have assembled a series of Translational Review Courses during which a basic scientist has been paired with a pain clinician. The two experts will attempt to correlate basic and clinical sciences where our understanding of basic pain mechanisms is offering hope of improvements in treatment. A series of Parallel Sessions has been designed to offer up-to-date information on the evaluation and treatment of specific pain problems. Recognizing the multidisciplinary nature of pain medicine, we have gone to great effort to incorporate experts from many disciplines. The same experts will serve as faculty for the Master Classes and Workshops where course participants can interact closely with the speakers in small group sessions. Participants are encouraged to attend the Scientific Poster Sessions where recent research findings from active clinical and laboratory investigators will be presented. We have developed an Industry supported Symposium that highlights a single area of relevance to pain practitioners.

Recognizing that, until this year, ASRA has previously held a Comprehensive Review Course in Pain Medicine, we have incorporated a brief afternoon review course into the meeting schedule - this review is aimed at pain clinicians seeking a comprehensive overview of the field in an informal, interactive forum. I hope you find the new ASRA Fall Pain Meeting to be both educational and enjoyable. We look forward to getting your feedback and seeing you at future meetings. If there is anything we can do to improve the meeting, please let us know.

James P. Rathmell, MD
Chair, 2002 Annual Fall Meeting

2002/2003 Board of Directors Lynn M. Broadman, MD James C. Eisenach, MD Terese T. Horlocker, MD F. Michael Ferrante, MD Julia E. Pollock, MD Vincent Chan, MD, FRCPC F. Kayser Enneking, MD Jordan Katz, MD Mark J. Lema, MD, PhD P. Prithvi Raj, MD Richard W. Rosenquist, MD John C. Rowlingson, MD Denise J. Wedel, MD Alon P. Winnie, MD L. Donald Bridenbaugh, MD, Emeritus 2002 Fall Pain Program Planning Committee Marc Huntoon, MD, 2003 Chair James P. Rathmell, MD, Chair Daniel B. Carr, MD, Vice Chair Honorio T. Benzon, MD F. Michael Ferrante, MD Richard W. Rosenquist, MD Timothy Ness, MD