Getting To Know The Editorial Board (Past Editions)

Jens Borglum (September 2021)

Dr. Børglum is an associate professor and consultant anesthetist in the anesthesiology and intensive care medicine department at Zealand University Hospital and in the department of clinical medicine, faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? I love the procedures! I did my PhD before starting my specialist training, and I remember an Editorial Board meeting in 2015 where I was all excited about having intubated my first patient the previous week. It drew a few laughs and surprised looks, but mostly smiles. Nonetheless, I still get excited about the procedures, the view on the ultrasound when you get that perfect spread of local anesthetics, a smooth fiber optic intubation, the sensation when you feel the IV accesses slip into the vessels, and the LOR when you place an epidural. The more difficult it is, the more exciting. That gives me a kick! How and when did you get involved with the journal? It was at the ASRA Fall Meeting in Phoenix in 2013, where I was in the beginning of my PhD. I had just given my lecture as one of the “Best of Abstract” winners, when [then editor-in-chief] Marc Huntoon approached me afterwards and asked if I wanted to come on board as a reviewer for RAPM. I was honored and accepted the invitation. However, a few days later, when the official invitation arrived in my inbox, Marc offered to promote me to an associate editor, and that’s how it all started. I was a bit nervous when reviewing in the beginning, spending a lot of time on my assignments, but as I am still on board, I guess I did it alright. That ASRA meeting really kickstarted my career, and I am very grateful to Marc Huntoon for placing so much trust in a young scientist. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? Definitely! My work with RAPM has introduced me to a lot of amazing people, resulted in research collaborations, and given me work opportunities, both abroad and at home. I have also learned a great deal. Closely reviewing all those manuscripts has increased my ability to fast and critically read research papers, which not only means that I’ve become a better researcher, but I believe it has also made me a better doctor. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal… advice for writing good articles or maybe a pet peeve you wish authors wouldn’t do? Some people have a way with words, and for others it comes a little harder. In my opinion, however, writing up a research paper is not like writing a novel; it is more like a recipe you have to follow. For example, when writing a manuscript for a randomized controlled trial, you have to adhere to the CONSORT statement. If it is your first manuscript, make sure to go through the checklist, assuring that all the essential items are covered. During the last few years, it is evident that authors are getting more and more familiar with these guidelines, but one of my pet peeves that I still frequently encounter is about p-values. The p-value tells us nothing about the effectiveness of a treatment, which is why the estimated effect size and its precision should always be reported, including in the abstracts (it’s a CONSORT check point!). What has been your proudest career moment? I have been very lucky to have a fantastic mentor, Dr. Jørgen B. Dahl as my PhD supervisor, and a novel project for my PhD. As a consequence, I have been blessed with many proud moments related to research early on in my career: winning a few abstracts awards, working for RAPM, serving as the trainee representative on the European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy Board. My proudest moment must be my PhD and my doctorial defense, where you finally get to present your hard work from the previous years. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? In my opinion, there are still lots of challenges in the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine. With our ultrasound machines getting cheaper and faster, we have revolutionized the field of regional anesthesia and nerve blocks for chronic pain. Nonetheless, regional anesthesia is still limited by the relatively short duration of our local anesthetics, the effectiveness of our catheters, and, often, the concomitant motor block. It’s been a long time since we had a real breakthrough with a new anesthetic drug, but I hope this will change soon. What one word would you say describes you? I believe I am determined, but I guess my husband would just call me stubborn… What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I am a family person and I love spending time with my husband and our two daughters. We have a summer cabin where we spend most weekends doing sports, playing table games, talking, reading, building stuff, or just watching movies. I love doing sports, but between work, research, taking the kids to their sports activities, and occasionally seeing my friends, all I have time for at the moment, is running. Growing up, I always thought running was really boring, but now I enjoy the mental break it gives me, the fresh air, and the muscle soreness afterwards.

Balavenkata J. Subramanian (October 2021)

Balavenkata J. Subramanian, MD, DA, is chief of the department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care and academic director of the Ganga Medical Centre & Hospital in Coimbatore, India.

What do you consider your primary specialty and what led you to choose this? I am a regional anesthesiologist involved in perioperative care of all my patients, including those in the Acute Pain Service. Our hospital is a 65-bed tertiary-care referral center for trauma, orthopedics, reconstructive microvascular surgery, plastic surgery, brachial plexus reconstructive surgery, and burns. We have been practicing “on arrival” blocks for all our trauma patients since 2002. Every trauma patient receives an ultrasound-guided block immediately on arrival, 24 hours a day. We have the presence of a senior consultant anesthesiologist at all times. The sequence of our care for trauma victims is primary survey, resuscitation, ultrasound-guided blocks, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), and secondary survey. In fact, X-rays are done only after making the limb numb; otherwise, it would be very painful for the patient when X-rays are performed in different positions. Anesthesiologists perform POCUS, and decisions on laparotomy in abdominal injuries are based on anesthesiologists’ findings rather than waiting for a radiologist. What do you like best about your job? The best thing about my job is complete patient care in the perioperative period. The surgeon is engaged in the surgery, drain removal, and ambulation protocol. All the rest is done by anesthesiologists,from the pre-anesthesia assessment, to prehabilitation, psychological counseling, intraoperative care, postoperative care in the High Dependency Unit in the immediate postoperative period, regular ward rounds, and a role in discharge advice. It is so rewarding to see the patient who came in critically injured, walking back home with a smile. More importantly, it excites us all when patients thank the anesthesiologists as profoundly as they thank the surgeons. The next thing that excites us is training young anesthesiologists. We train 60 anesthesiologists every year through our postdoctoral fellowships of 6-month and 12-month durations. We also have 12 postgraduate seats every year in anesthesia affiliated with our National Board of Exams, called the DNB, which is equivalent to the MD in the United States. The JOY OF SHARING excites us! How and when did you get involved with the journal? My first connection with the journal was when I shadowed Dr. Manbir Batra, president of ASRA in 1999, who was at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA. He introduced me to ASRA and the journal. I became an associate member and started receiving the Journal. I also did Acute Pain Service rounds with Dr. Joseph Neal, where I was amazed at the quality of postoperative pain relief. They both instigated the fire to learn and effectively deliver regional anesthesia. This led to me starting the Aesculap Academy Regional Anesthesia Guidance Centre, the educational wing of B. Braun at our hospital. We started training five anesthesiologists every month from across India and neighboring countries. Until COVID struck us, we had trained 1,447 anesthesiologists through this program. I felt very happy when I could join with five of my colleagues (Drs. TVS Gopal, Vrushali Ponde, Sandeep Diwan, Satish Kulkarni, and Ashish Mehta) in India who were regional anesthesia enthusiasts to start the Academy of Regional Anesthesia of India. I am happy to share that this became the premier source for teaching safe regional anesthesia practice in India. We have one national conference every year and conduct several hands-on workshops across the country. In 2011, we started with six members, and now we have more than 1,800 life members. Two more important milestones that I want to share:

The postdoctoral fellowship in regional anesthesia affiliated with our Medical University began in 2012 and was the first in India. It is a one-year program.
The WFSA Ganga Hospital Regional Anesthesia Fellowship started in 2014. The Educational Committee of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) makes the selection, and we train four anesthesiologists every year from Asia Pacific and Africa. So far, we have trained 22 anesthesiologists from 18 countries. We used to send anesthesiologists from our hospital for medical missions in Rwanda to support Rotary. This is when our team met Dr. Nyandwi in Kigali. He expressed his desire to come to Ganga to learn regional anesthesia. We were happy to train him for 6 months at Ganga Hospital. Our only request when he completed the training was to kindly become a teacher and teach every anesthesiologist in Rwanda on the safe practice of regional anesthesia. He has done a great job. Thanks to Dr. Nyandwi for helping preach regional anesthesia in Rwanda!

This amazing journey into regional anesthesia all started on a particular day when I met Dr. Manbir Batra and Dr. Joseph Neal in 1999, and from the knowledge I gained from RAPM. How has your work with RAPM had an impact on your career? RAPM has been my mentor and guide since 1999. When regional anesthesia was not taught in medical schools two decades ago, it was RAPM that gave me and my colleagues appropriate insights into safe conduct of regional anesthesia. I am indebted to RAPM for all my learning in regional anesthesia. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Being a part of the editorial board is a great learning experience. We grow more as we read more. We get fascinated by creative ideas and innovative writing. It truly helps us to grow holistically and practice evidence-based medicine. So, being an Editorial Board member is a true GIFT, it enriches us profoundly. What advice do you have for authors submitting articles to the journal? There are several facets of regional anesthesia that need to be deciphered. We need input from every nook and cranny of the world about experiences with regional anesthesia. To equate regional anesthesia with general anesthesia in every aspect would take a long time. But this time can be minimized if more authors share their experiences with the world by generating good articles. What has been your proudest career moment? I have a few I’d like to mention:

When a patient smiles at you in the immediate postoperative period after undergoing a major surgery, thanks to regional analgesia as a part of multimodal analgesia. Becoming the founding president of the Academy of Regional Anaesthesia (AORA) of India.
Serving as the current president of the Asian Oceanic Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, and trying to spread the importance of regional anesthesia in member countries. Serving as an editorial board member of the most prestigious journal of regional anesthesia in the world … RAPM.
When we conducted the 2019 AORA India National Conference in Coimbatore with more than 1,700 delegates from 42 countries and more than 38 international faculty members, Professor Narinder Rawal from Sweden said, “This is one of the best regional anesthesia conferences that I have ever attended,” and Professor Vincent Chan from Canada said, ”An amazing meeting of high standards.”
When the surgeon acknowledges our work and tells the nervous patient, “Do not worry, we have very good anesthesiologists who will nullify your pain after the surgery through their magic injections.” It is truly gratifying to be an anesthesiologist and help people when they need us the most to alleviate their pain and suffering.
Becoming a member of the Educational Committee of the WFSA.
Taking the responsibility of chair of the regional anesthesia track at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists (WCA) 2021.
Being appointed chairman of the Scientific Committee of the National Conference of Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (ISACON) in 2002, when I was just 37 years old.
Delivering the most prestigious anesthesia oration of India, the “Dr. Venkat Rao Memorial Oration” at ISACON 2014 (my oration topic was “Leadership in Anesthesia: Challenges and Solutions”).
Last, but not least, getting invited to serve as a faculty member at the ASRA World Congress in New York City in 2018, two decades after starting my journey in regional anesthesia in the same country – the USA.

Pia Jaeger (November 2021)

Pia Jæger, MD, PhD, DMSc, is a senior registrar in the department of Pediatric and Obstetric Anesthesia at the University of Copenhagen in Rigshospitalet, Denmark.

Mario Conceicao (December 2021)

Mario Conceicao, MD, MSc, PhD is a professor of Surgical Techniques and Anesthesiology at Blumenau University Foundation and Joana de Gusmao Children Hospital in Florianopolis/Blumenau, Brazil.

What is your specialty? I am dedicated to pediatric regional anesthesia and postoperative pediatric pain management. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? What still makes me excited during all these years is the opportunity to help and give some comfort to suffering children and the chance to share what I have learned with my fellow students. How did you get involved with the journal? A dear friend, José Carlos Carvalho, MD, PhD, introduced me to ASRA and RAPM, encouraging me to apply for the RAPM Editorial Board. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career? Absolutely. It has stimulated me to explore regional anesthesia as an important tool which can impact clinical practice. Being a member of the RAPM Editorial Board was and is an excellent way to improve my critical reading of scientific papers. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? I would not be comfortable giving advice, but, in my opinion, it is a superb opportunity for serving a great journal, improving my scientific papers reading skills, and collaborating to better share science. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal? Pay major attention to the journal’s Guide for Authors. Develop good method projects and present them in detail, with special attention to ethical issues. Clearly present the hypothesis and objectives. Avoid opinions not based on the results. The conclusion should match with the objectives. What has been your proudest career moment? I am proud of be part of this profession, to serve as an Editorial Board Member of RAPM, to have served as an Editor-in-Chief of the Brazilian Journal of Anesthesiology (BJAn), and to continue providing medical assistance and teaching as best as I can, knowing and trying to overcome my human limitations.

Alex Sideris (January 2022)

Alexandra Sideris, PhD, is the C.V. Starr director of Pain Research at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York, NY.

Do you consider yourself primarily a regional anesthesiologist, an acute pain practitioner, or a chronic pain specialist (or some combination of these)? What led you to choose this specialty? I am not a clinician but have a background and interest in chronic and acute pain. My doctoral degree is in basic neuroscience, where I studied the endocannabinoid system in the spinal cord. I transitioned to studying the neurobiology of pain in animal models of neuropathic pain during my postdoctoral studies in the anesthesiology department at NYU Langone Medical Center under the tutelage of Dr. Thomas Blanck. I was fascinated with endocannabinoid signaling and realized how integral the system is to learning, affect, neurodevelopment, nociception, and analgesia. During my postdoctoral work at NYU, I also contributed to numerous other studies focused on characterizing pain behaviors in rodents and identifying neurobiological changes in various tissues associated with these pain behaviors. I eventually transitioned to clinical research at HSS by accepting a clinical research associate position in the department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Management where I worked alongside our regional anesthesiologists to help develop research protocols and facilitate study procedures. I was then promoted to assistant director of the research and managed a research team of over 10 staff. I was subsequently appointed to director of Pain Research, supported by the CV Starr Foundation. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? The creative process motivates me every day. As any biomedical researcher would assert, my ultimate goal is to enhance patient care and improve quality of life through well-designed, novel studies. I am excited to have the opportunity to work with dedicated, incredibly bright, and creative clinician scientists and administrators who invest so much of their time to their practice and its refinement. They, as well as the patients and budding researchers, motivate me to collaborate and innovate. How and when did you get involved with the journal? I started reviewing for the journal back in 2014 when I was appointed to instructor in the anesthesiology department at NYU Langone. The manuscripts I reviewed were exclusively basic science oriented, but as soon as I transitioned to clinical research at HSS, I was assigned to review manuscripts with a clinical focus to help hone my skills in the areas that I wished to develop as a researcher. I was appointed to the editorial board in 2019. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? My work with RAPM as a reviewer and editor has had a significant impact on my career. In addition to having the honor of being one of the first to learn about another researcher’s novel findings, I also have the immense responsibility of assessing the soundness of the study design, methodology and conclusions of the work to uphold the rigor of the scientific process. The review process also helped my critical thinking, which has affected multiple facets of my daily work. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? My experience with RAPM has been excellent. By serving on an editorial board, you network with the top researchers in the country, you ensure the scientific integrity of research findings entering the public domain, and you can help shape the future of a field. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal? My advice for writing good articles: have an interesting research question and keep the writing cogent and concise! What has been your proudest career moment? Every milestone in my career has been incredibly fulfilling. I am the first woman in my family to have earned a doctoral degree and to have progressed so far professionally; however, the proudest moment in my career has been my appointment as director of Pain Research at HSS. Even though I always intended to work in a clinical/translational research setting, it was still a very difficult decision to transition away from bench science. When I joined the department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Management at Hospital for Special Surgery, I was embraced and given the opportunity to use all my transferable skills to successfully support a very large, prolific clinical research team. I am incredibly humbled and excited to have the opportunity to help shape pain management research in the top orthopedic hospital in the country! What one word would you say describes you? Tenacious

Tina Doshi (February 2022)

Tina Doshi, MD, MHS, is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

Do you consider yourself primarily a regional anesthesiologist, an acute pain practitioner, or a chronic pain specialist (or some combination of these)? What led you to choose this specialty? I’m a chronic pain specialist. I went into medicine because I felt it was the best way to use my own skills and interests to alleviate the suffering of others. I chose specifically to become a pain physician because, to me, no specialty speaks more directly to how medicine can alleviate human suffering than pain management. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? I love the variety. I get to do a little bit of everything (clinic, procedures, research, writing, teaching, taking classes), but it’s all in service of the same mission: to improve lives through pain medicine. I’m never bored because every day is different. There are so many opportunities for gratification, so even on days when I feel like my research is stalling or my patients are particularly challenging, I can still feel good about things like crafting the perfect sentence in a manuscript, placing the needle in the exact right spot, or seeing a patient whose pain has improved in my care. How and when did you get involved with the journal? Mark Bicket and I wrote a Daring Discourse in RAPM in 2018. At the time, RAPM was one of the few anesthesiology/pain journals that offered a venue for unique perspectives or commentary, and I felt like the whole process was thorough, professional, and expeditious. I’ve submitted and published in RAPM a few more times since then, and it has always positive experience. It speaks a lot to the management of the journal and dedication to its mission. I’d also been an ad hoc reviewer for RAPM for a few years, and two of the current executive editors (Drs. Steven P. Cohen and Anahi Perlas) encouraged me to apply for the Editorial Board. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? Absolutely. Peer reviewing is an interesting and unique way to contribute to advancing the field, and it’s also a wonderful learning opportunity. I get to see novel approaches and interesting cases, and I have to think critically about methodology, data interpretation, and clinical relevance with every review. Being a reviewer, and reading comments from other reviewers, has helped be become a better scientist. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Show up! Recognize that one of the hardest tasks for senior editors is to find good reviewers to volunteer their time and expertise. Submitting work to the journal, whether it’s a review, case report, letter, commentary, or original research, demonstrates that you have the motivation, communication, and critical thinking skills to be a good reviewer. Also, if you have a mentor who currently does reviews, ask if they can suggest you as a reviewer. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal? Before you submit, it’s helpful to have your article read by someone who wasn’t involved in the study. Many universities have scientific reviewing/editing services, but even just having a mentor or colleague read through it can ensure that you are communicating your ideas clearly. It also helps to minimize my pet peeve as a reviewer: typos and grammatical errors that make it obvious that the authors didn’t read through their own manuscripts before submitting! What has been your proudest career moment? I think my career is still a little too early to have a good perspective on a “proudest career moment” just yet. However, a recent proud moment was when I saw one of my articles referenced in the explanation for an ABA MOCA Minute question! In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? From a scientific perspective, one of the biggest challenges is applying a precision medicine approach to pain medicine—that is, ensuring the right diagnosis, the best treatment, or the most accurate prognosis for any given pain patient, every time. That’s really hard when we don’t have validated biomarkers for pain. From a specialty-level perspective, our biggest challenge is to recruit and retain a robust, healthy, fulfilled, and diverse pain medicine workforce to care for our patients and advance the science over the coming decades. That means identifying and removing the barriers that cause burnout or lead people to choose alternate fields. What one word would you say describes you? Sensible What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? Cooking and baking. It can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be, and you’re taking these ingredients, which may not be all that exciting on their own, then manipulating and combining them in ways to create something completely different and exciting. Also, everyone’s gotta eat, so might as well craft food worth eating!

Steve Orebaugh (March 2022)

Dr. Steven L. Orebaugh is a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania. He serves as a staff anesthesiologist, co-chair of the Curriculum Committee for Residency, and rotation director for the Regional Anesthesia Rotation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)-Presbyterian/Montefiore.

Do you consider yourself primarily a regional anesthesiologist, an acute pain practitioner, or a chronic pain specialist (or some combination of these)? What led you to choose this specialty? I am a regional anesthesiologist, and most of my cases involve ambulatory orthopedics. When I first graduated from residency, I worked for UPMC at a small urban hospital that they’d adopted just before I arrived. It was a very general type of practice, with very little regional anesthesia. Within five years, the sports orthopedic surgical service shifted to our facility, and regional anesthesia became a daily aspect of my life. Drs. Brian Williams and Michael Kentor helped me to sharpen my skills with nerve stimulation and landmark-guided peripheral nerve blockade. Within a few years, ultrasound became available, and this really drew me in and helped me become more interested in both block safety and education in regional anesthesia. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? A whole list of things: • Interacting with the people I work with • Training our residents • Helping to control patients’ pain • Ushering patients safely through surgery • Using ultrasound imaging to facilitate nerve block placement. How and when did you get involved with the journal? Originally, I started writing articles for ASRA News, then found myself assisting Ed Mariano (who was editor at that time) with some of the editorial duties and recruiting other authors. I also had a few manuscripts published in RAPM and then was asked to perform some peer review for the journal. Over time, my involvement increased, and I was asked to be a part of the editorial board. This was a very proud moment for me, as I think it’s a terrific journal, and we’ve had a string of truly outstanding editors. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? Unquestionably. Reviewing has improved my understanding of the research process, has sharpened my writing, and has facilitated better interpretation of the medical literature. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Request to be a reviewer. Editors are often looking for clinicians or academicians to help with the peer review process. If you perform this thoughtfully and in timely fashion, you’ll get more articles to review. In time, you may be asked to have a formal position on the editorial board. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal? Spend some time with the “Instructions for Authors.” Journals vary in their expectations and requirements. This may save you a rejection of an otherwise laudable article. What has been your proudest career moment? I’ve received a few teaching awards from our residents. Of all the things that make me feel good about what I do, this has probably been the most satisfying and fulfilling aspect of my career. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? Probably the explosion of block types, particularly plane blocks, often with subtle variations of each, but an immature literature to provide solid evidence that would help anesthesiologists choose the best version of the block and the best dose of local anesthetic for their particular patient. Over time, I think the literature will catch up. It does provide a lot of opportunities for investigation! What one word would you say describes you? Energetic, I suppose. What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I have a few hobbies and past times: Gardening, woodworking, exercise (running and swimming), walking my little dogs. I also enjoy writing, and I have just had a novel published: “The Stairs on Billy Buck Hill,” (Sunbury Press, Boiling Spring, PA). The story is a tragic tale of an anesthesiologist who falls under the influence of opioids and loses all that he holds dear, including his career and his relationships. Eventually, he discovers an arduous path to redemption that allows him an opportunity to rebuild his shattered life.

Dan Larach (April 2022)

Dan Larach MD, MSTR, MA, is an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN.

What do you like best about your job? My favorite part of academic clinical practice is teaching medical students, residents, and fellows about pain medicine. How and when did you get involved with the journal? My mentor Chad Brummett suggested that I start reviewing manuscripts and was kind enough to send a few to me when I was an anesthesiology resident. After serving as an ad hoc reviewer for several years, I applied for a position on the editorial board last year. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? Very much so! Reviewing the work that is submitted to RAPM has made me a better reader and interpreter of the literature in our field. It has also helped me improve my own research. What has been your proudest career moment? Seeing the pain fellows at USC and Vanderbilt develop into skilled pain physicians over the course of their fellowships. What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? Spending time with my wife and keeping up with our toddler!

Christopher L. Wu (May 2022)

Christopher L. Wu, MD, is a clinical professor of anesthesiology and director of clinical research at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, NY.

What is your primary specialty, and why did you choose it? I consider myself a regional anesthesiologist and acute pain medicine practitioner. I was fortunate enough to have wonderful mentors in this area during residency which led me to subspecialize in these areas. Although I have had many mentors, the ones that shaped my career in these areas were Dr. Frederick Perkins from the University of Rochester and Dr. Srinivasa Raja from Johns Hopkins. What do you like best about your job? Clinically, working at the Hospital for Special Surgery (US News World Report ranked #1 orthopedic hospital for 12 years in a row) where the vast majority of anesthetics are performed under regional anesthesia, the most exciting and challenging part of my work is that my regional anesthetics have to work close to 100% of the time and need to be performed in the same amount of time as a general anesthetic even when working with trainees. Academically, I feel fortunate to work under an exceptional chair, Dr Gregory Liguori, who has created a unique blend between academics and private practice to allow researchers like myself to research clinical questions in the hopes of improving care for our patients. (Please see our departmental research brochure for examples of our research.) How and when did you get involved with the journal? One of my earlier publications was published in Regional Anesthesia (which was what the journal was called back then). At that time, the issues of anticoagulation and epidural analgesia was a very timely topic and my mentor Dr. Frederick Perkins suggested performing a chart review on our patients which we published in Regional Anesthesia. Dr. Terre Horlocker, who is an internationally recognized expert in the topic, wrote a very nice editorial for our article. How has your work with RAPM had an impact on your career? ASRA and RAPM have been an integral part of the development of my career from publications to invited lectures at the annual meeting. Certainly, my publications in RAPM and the friendships I have made at ASRA Pain Medicine have been an important reason that I am where I am today. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? The editor-in-chief, Dr. Brian Sites, has taken a great deal of initiative in getting new people involved and to promote diversity for the journal. Publishing articles is important as a start in ultimately serving on an editorial board as it not only helps you get noticed but also helps you understand the editorial process. Journals always can use more reviewers so it also helps to ask to become a reviewer for a journal. As long as you complete a thoughtful review in a timely fashion, your chance of becoming a member of the Editorial Board increases significantly. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal? I think it is difficult particularly when you start off to understand that a rejection from a journal (any journal) is not personal even though it may feel like it. If you look at the journal statistics for most of the top anesthesiology and pain journals, you will realize that most of the top journal typically reject over 70% if not more of the articles submitted. It is important to get a feel for what a journal will take and understand the ranking of journals – this will help you decide which journal you realistically have a shot at. I usually aim to submit to a journal one level higher than I think it will ultimately get in. I always strive to be collegial in my reviews and, I almost always accept the editor’s decision. The editor is unlikely to change their mind if you send a letter disputing their decision, but there is nothing wrong with asking for clarification if there is a point you are uncertain about. What has been your proudest career moment? My proudest career moment is a tie between my publication on epidural analgesia in JAMA and being promoted to full professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine at the age of 44. Both were the cumulation of a great deal of hard work and some luck. What is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? With the financial constraints on healthcare today, which have been exacerbated with the onset of COVID, one of the biggest challenges facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today is to show our colleagues, payors, and patients what added value we provide to them. We can do this in part through our research, but our research needs to evolve to meet these challenges. For instance, performing a study that shows that a block can decrease pain and opioid consumption in 24 hours may have been good enough 15-20 years ago, but it is inadequate today – we need to incorporate more patient-centered outcomes over longer time periods. What one word would you say describes you? Dedicated What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I enjoy living in and exploring New York City. It really is a treat living here – I can eat whatever type of food I want at almost any time and can enjoy world class amenities at my fingertips. For instance, I can walk or take the subway to the Museum of Modern Art or the Metropolitan Museum of Art and sit to enjoy a few paintings that I like at any time.

Jan Hugo Machteld Van Zundert (June 2022)

Jan Hugo Machteld Van Zundert, MD, PhD, FIPP, is a professor in pain medicine at Maastricht University Medical Center in Maastricht, Netherlands, and Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg in Lanaken/Genk, Belgium.

Do you consider yourself primarily a regional anesthesiologist, an acute pain practitioner, or a chronic pain specialist (or some combination of these)? What led you to choose this specialty? A chronic pain specialist. How and when did you get involved with the journal? I learned to know RAPM through interesting publications. As member of ESRA I have access to the journal and consult the table of content every month. I already have several publications in RAPM. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? RAPM has become a leading journal in Pain Medicine What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Just do it. What has been your proudest career moment? PhD defense and my appointment as full professor in Pain Medicine in University Medical Center of Maastricht

George A. Kelley (July 2022)

George A. Kelley, DA, FACSM, is a professor and the director of the Meta-Analytic Research Group in the School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, at Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, in Morgantown. Dr. Kelley serves as Statistical Advisor for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses for the journal.

What do you like best about your job? The fact that I work in an academic setting at a Carnegie I institution is what excites me most about my job. How did you get involved with the journal? On March 2, 2021, the current Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Brian Sites, via Dr. Matt Davis, reached out to me and invited me to serve as a Statistical Advisor for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses for RAPM. I gladly accepted. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? The experience I have had reviewing systematic reviews, with and without meta-analysis, for RAPM has made me a better reviewer as well as a better researcher as it pertains to my own systematic review and meta-analytic research. This experience also has translated to my teaching as I can point out to students some of the common pitfalls of those submitting their own systematic review and meta-analytic work. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? From my perspective, the best advice that I can give to others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals is to try and do the very best job that they can and be sincere, honest, objective, and open to alternative opinions and ideas. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal? From the perspective of systematic reviews, with or without meta-analysis, the four most important suggestions that I would have for those submitting articles to RAPM are to

Follow the author instructions explicitly.
Adhere to the current reporting guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA, etc.).
Involve, as a co-author, someone with specific, up-to-date expertise on systematic reviews and meta-analysis.
Provide strong justification for why their systematic review, with or without meta-analysis, is needed if previous and similar reviews on their topic exist.

What has been your proudest career moment? While there are numerous, I think my proudest career moment is when I received my first NIH-R01 grant (R01 HL56893-01) as a Principal Investigator back in 1998 for my own systematic review and meta-analytic research. My second proudest moment is when I received the Outstanding Researcher and Scholar Award from the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center in 2018.

Rodney A. Gabriel (August 2022)

Rodney A. Gabriel, MD, MAS, is an associate professor of anesthesiology, associate adjunct professor of biomedical informatics, chief of the division of Regional Anesthesia, clinical director of anesthesiology at the Koman Outpatient Pavilion Ambulatory Surgery Center, and director of the division of Perioperative Informatics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD).

Do you consider yourself primarily a regional anesthesiologist, an acute pain practitioner, or a chronic pain specialist (or some combination of these)? What led you to choose this specialty? I do a combination of all three, although I was initially trained in a regional anesthesia fellowship back in 2015. Since then, I have mainly been involved with the clinical and research aspects of regional anesthesia. UCSD eventually started a dedicated Acute Pain Service, which manages all aspects of postoperative pain in various surgical populations. Over the last few years, I have started applying regional anesthesia concepts into the chronic pain realm, where I perform outpatient ultrasound-guided nerve blocks, cryoneurolysis, and peripheral neuromodulation in patients in our chronic pain clinic. What do you like best about your job? My favorite aspect of my job is how diverse you can develop your career in an academic environment. There is not one thing that excites me the most, but rather, the combination of all of it. Being around the right social environments, mentorship, and collaborators, it is exciting to be constantly involved with new research ideas, clinical projects, and trainees. I spend a good portion of my days doing a combination of research, clinical work, education, and administrative work. While some days one component can be very exhausting, it all balances out. Even within each component, there is further diversity. For example, in research, I have a passion for biomedical informatics as well as pain research. For clinical work, I spend time doing acute pain, regional anesthesia, chronic pain, or operating room anesthesia. For education, I spend time making lectures and teaching residents and fellows. Finally, for administrative work, I spend time running a Perioperative Informatics lab, an outpatient surgery center, and a Regional Anesthesia Division. How did you get involved with the journal? I first started becoming familiar with the journal back in 2015 when I was a regional anesthesia fellow. My regional anesthesia mentor, Dr. Brian Ilfeld, first introduced me to the world of clinical trial research and taught me a lot about RAPM and the types of papers it publishes. I began to slowly submit papers to the journal and serve as a guest reviewer. Eventually, I applied to become part of the Editorial Board and here I am today! Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? It is always an educational experience to be an active editorial board member for RAPM. We constantly review projects from all over the world related to regional anesthesia, acute pain, and chronic pain. To be able to first-hand read about and critique a diverse group of researchers’ ideas is exciting. It helps me better understand both basic and advanced concepts. It gives me ideas and inspirations for what to do better next time or what not to do. Being an active reviewer definitely helps with the maturation process of becoming a better academic anesthesiologist.

Ellen M. Soffin (September 2022)

Ellen M. Soffin, MD, PhD, is an anesthesiologist and director of the Anesthesia-Spine Service at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, NY.

What is your primary specialty and what led you to choose it? I am a regional anesthesiologist. I spend most of my clinical time caring for patients undergoing spine surgery, and I lead our Anesthesia-Spine Service. In residency, I was planning to pursue an intensive care fellowship, but I completed an elective rotation at Hospital for Special Surgery, and it changed my life. I saw the power of regional anesthesia to optimize patient experience, safety, and outcomes in ways that other anesthetic techniques do not. I am also committed to research, and regional anesthesiology offers the opportunity to answer some of the most fascinating – and pressing – questions in the field of anesthesia. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? The pace of development and the range of interventions we can offer to patients to improve outcomes is unparalleled in our subspeciality. For example, 7 years ago when I started in practice, patients undergoing complex spine surgery pretty much received opioid monotherapy for postoperative analgesia and the recovery trajectory was slow and difficult. Now we offer field and fascial plane blocks, comprehensive multimodal analgesia and care for patients under procedure-specific enhanced recovery pathways. It’s a rewarding experience when a patient wakes up after an all-day spine case without pain and engages in an interactive conversation with me on the way to the postanesthesia care unit. I can’t wait to see how our specialty will evolve next. How and when did you get involved with the journal? I don’t know if he knows this, but I would not be a board member were it not for past Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Marc Huntoon. Dr. Huntoon presented Grand Rounds to our department in 2017, and he spoke so eloquently and passionately about the journal and the importance of the work that I wanted to be part of it. I contributed as a reviewer for approximately two years and was appointed as an associate editor in January 2020. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? Undoubtedly yes. I learn something new every time I review a paper, partly from the work itself but also by reading the final decisions and comments from my co-reviewers. Over time this has significantly improved my own research skills with respect to design, analysis, and reporting of clinical trials and retrospective studies. The other positive benefit has been the opportunity to work and network with other board members. Most of the best and brightest minds in our subspecialty are on this board and affiliated with the journal. It’s an ongoing privilege to collaborate with and learn from these thought leaders. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Reviewing is a skill. It takes time and practice, but like any skill, it can be developed. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal? Don’t make the reviewers work to understand the fundamentals. Try to convey “Why this is interesting” and “Why this is important” succinctly and early in the paper. I try not have pet peeves, because most things can be improved during the peer review process. However, I react negatively when the conclusions don’t follow logically from the results – especially when small statistical/clinical effects are overinterpreted or overstated. What has been your proudest career moment? Being invited to join the faculty at Hospital for Special Surgery. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? Regional techniques are increasingly being performed by non-specialists and non-anesthesiologists. This is an important opportunity to improve outcomes for more patients, but it also presents unique risks and responsibilities. As the guardians of the safety and quality of our subspeciality, we need to balance increased access to regional anesthesia and pain medicine with advocating for appropriate teaching, supervision, and credentialling. What one word would you say describes you? Optimistic What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why?

When I’m in New York City: dinner and a show. When I’m not: a round of golf with my husband and rehabbing our 100-year-old house (full disclosure: I stick mainly to the gardening). Both are great ways to recharge and get ready to face the week ahead.

Anahi Perlas (October 2022)

Anahi Perlas, MD, FRCPC, is a professor in the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Toronto, and a staff anesthesiologist and director of research in the department of anesthesia and pain management at Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.

What is your primary specialty? I consider myself a regional anesthesiologist. I had the opportunity to participate in pioneer work on ultrasound-guided nerve blocks back in the early 2000s under the mentorship of Dr. Vincent Chan. That was an exciting time for regional anesthesia as we transitioned from landmark-based to image-guided techniques and that got me hooked. I also find it rewarding to be able to provide excellent pain relief for what otherwise would be very painful surgery. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? I enjoy having a good combination of clinical work and academic initiatives. I think they are two different aspects of practice that complement each other wonderfully. Clinical work keeps me asking important questions and identifying challenges to overcome, and the opportunity to do research and innovation allows me to try and find answers and solutions to those challenges. I also enjoy teaching junior colleagues and trainees. How and when did you get involved with the journal? I started as an author first, publishing some papers in the early 2000s. With the growth in ultrasound for regional anesthesia I was invited to be an associate editor in the mid-2000s and things have grown from there. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? Absolutely, it is a privilege to peer-review somebody else’s work. With each peer-review opportunity, I learn something new and it helps me stay abreast of the latest developments in the sub-specialty. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? I think first you need to develop your own skills as a researcher and author. Working with a good mentor and having some research training will go a long way in building your skills. Once you have had an opportunity to publish a number of articles and contribute to the literature, I would encourage you to consider editorial work as a means to contribute to the research community and learn from others’ work. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal?

Every good paper starts with a good question. The fact that it has not been done before is not sufficient reason to do or publish a study
Make sure your methodology is sound. Follow the guidelines from the EQUATOR network applicable to your study type
Double-check your numbers. Ensure that every subject has been accounted for.
Select 2-3 good figures or illustrations that help build the story
Have someone do an independent last “read” of your article for overall flow, grammar, and typos.

What has been your proudest career moment? I have been fortunate to have many proud moments. My promotion to professor in 2018 has to be one of those. I have received several awards, and the Trailblazer Award from ASRA Pain Medicine is very dear to my heart. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? How to deliver good multimodal analgesia and adapt our techniques in a world where day surgery is becoming the norm for most procedures. What one word would you say describes you? RESILIENT What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I enjoy spending time outdoors and socializing with family and friends. Kayaking and hiking are some of my favorite past-times. I find contact with nature very grounding and healing. I also sing in an all-female physician choir - a fabulous community!

Eric Schwenk (November 2022)

Eric Schwenk, MD, FASA, is a professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine and the director of orthopedic anesthesia at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA.

What is your primary specialty and what led you to choose it? I consider myself both a regional anesthesiologist and an acute pain physician. I chose this specialty because it allows me to provide a better experience to patients having surgery and allows me to expand my skills beyond the operating room. I believe that perioperative pain is an area that has and always will be best managed by an anesthesiologist and I particularly enjoy being able to contribute to the advancement of the field through clinical research that I can directly apply to my patients. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? I enjoy being able to design anesthetic plans that minimize opioids and offer patients something different than the same old anesthetic. I am motivated by the challenges posed by difficult pain patients as well as the challenge of publishing, teaching, and obtaining external funding for research while still maintaining an active clinical schedule. How and when did you get involved with the journal? Dr. Gene Viscusi (associate editor, past president of ASRA Pain Medicine, and a mentor) suggested I get involved as a reviewer around 2017 or 2018. Prior to that I had published a few papers in RAPM and they had given me a taste of what it was like to have some success in academics. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? I believe publishing in RAPM, reviewing, and being an editor has helped my career tremendously. My writing has improved, and I have met some great people and formed some collaborations and friendships that I otherwise might not have. I am better clinician and researcher because of RAPM. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Become a reviewer first. You will learn what the journal is about and get your name out there to the people who need to know you. By providing high-quality reviews in a timely fashion, you will quickly stand out among your peers. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal? Be careful not to overstate your findings. Most articles are not going to change the world, so be modest in stating your conclusions. What has been your proudest career moment? So far, I have two: being promoted to professor of anesthesiology at age 40 and being published as a co-author in the REGAIN study in the New England Journal of Medicine with my friend and colleague Dr. Mark Neuman, who was the principal investigator and first author. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? We continually have to think about how best to demonstrate our value. As metrics and goals of medicine change, we have to change with them. Not all interventions in our specialty will affect long-term outcomes, but I think that’s ok. Short-term outcomes have value, and patients care a lot about those too. What one word would you say describes you? Focused. What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I love being with my family, visiting Cape May in the summertime, and playing drums for my punk band, The Preps, which we like to call “the world’s preeminent suburban punk rock band.”

Steven P. Cohen (December 2022)

Steven P. Cohen, MD, is the chief of pain medicine and a professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, neurology, physical medicine & rehabilitation, and psychiatry & behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.

What do you consider your primary specialty and what led you to choose it? I am a chronic pain specialist. When I was stationed in Seoul, Korea as an anesthesiologist, I was expected to treat chronic pain patients, and found I enjoyed it a lot more than during my residency. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? I like it when I treat a patient and it enables them to keep working or return to work (which is less common than I’d like). I mentor many people these days, and when they achieve something or reach a milestone, I feel vicariously satisfied. I enjoy discovering new associations and findings and engaging with the peer review process to publish our work, especially when the first author has little prior experience with research. I have been collaborating on research with some hospitals overseas and am looking forward to visiting Thailand in early December as a visiting professor at Mahidol University. How and when did you get involved with the journal? I have been involved with RAPM for more than 15 years. RAPM was the first journal for which I served on the Editorial Board, and I remain grateful to ASRA Pain Medicine, RAPM, and Dr. Joe Neal, in particular, for bestowing that honor on me. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Marc Huntoon, who moved me up to executive editor, and to my good friend Dr. Brian Sites, who confides in me and who I rely on for advice on acute pain and editorial issues. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? RAPM has been an important venue for my work. We published the first modern description of sacral lateral branch radiofrequency ablation for sacroiliac joint pain in the journal. The people I’ve met through the Journal, such as Drs. Lynn Kohan, Samer Narouze, Max Eckmann, and David Provenzano, have expanded the scope of my research collaborators and provide me with inspiration. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? I can only discuss my own career path, which will not work for everyone. For journals I am interested in, I try never to decline an invitation and always provide constructive comments. If there is a “red flag,” I will sometimes send the editor a separate message or e-mail. Although most of my recommendations are consistent with the final decision, I am not afraid to request revisions on negative articles or controversial topics, nor am I inclined to accept a substandard article just because I know the authors or they are famous. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal – advice or pet peeves? I go to great lengths to ensure that all of my references are accurate, that the writing is clear, that my conclusions are backed up by transparent evidence, and that my work avoids “spin.” I think that for borderline articles, making sure all of the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed and adhering to guidelines is important for getting across the goal line, though perhaps this comes from my military background. Not paying attention to details is a personal pet peeve of mine. What has been your proudest career moment? Back in 2010, I led a group of authors in publishing an article that had nothing to do with pain – we published a study on the reasons why service members were evacuated from theaters of operation in Iraq and Afghanistan stratified by type of condition (eg, musculoskeletal, psychiatric, infectious disease, neurological) and what factors were associated with return-to-duty. It made the cover of a special edition of Lancet and was translated into more than 20 different languages. This eventually led to the opening up of the first pain clinic ever in a war zone. Aside from that, our research has made the “Science Section” of the New York Times 4 different times. However, I think that winning ASRA Pain Medicine’s John J. Bonica Award and the U.S. Army’s Legion of Merit are probably the two proudest moments in my career. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? The biggest challenge is the denial of coverage for beneficial interventions, which is partly due to overutilization. This leads to poorer outcomes, increased administrative time and costs, patient complaints and physician burnout. Along these same lines, there is a huge amount of spin and bias in the literature which makes it difficult for even physicians, let alone payers, to know what works and what doesn’t work. This is particularly true for some of the more expensive, interventional treatments for chronic pain. What one word would you say describes you? Persistent What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I enjoy spending time with my children. We play chess together, watch movies, hike every day when they’re home, and for my son at USMA we discuss how the military is changing. Nowadays when we do things together, he usually beats me (eg, jogging, shooting at a firing range).

De Tran (February 2023)

De Tran, MD, FRCPC, is a staff anesthesiologist at Saint Mary’s Hospital, McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Current battlefield (2019-present) What do you consider your primary specialty, and what led you to choose it? In the past, I have practiced chronic pain medicine but am no longer doing so. Between acute pain medicine and regional anesthesiology, my obsession with technique and technical minutiae leads me to identify more with the latter. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? I like technical challenges and enjoy solving clinical problems. I believe that, with a calm demeanor, a creative mind, and manual dexterity, one can find solutions to most conundrums. An example that comes to mind (many years ago) was an operating room nurse’s mother who required shoulder arthroplasty. Unfortunately, the patient suffered from alcoholic cirrhosis and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We managed to provide surgical anesthesia and postoperative analgesia by inserting concurrent infraclavicular and suprascapular perineural catheters. After the surgery, the patient did very well and was discharged home after a few days. At home, she was completely pain-free: to celebrate, she promptly knocked back a few, fell, and fractured the newly operated shoulder… How and when did you get involved with the journal? My involvement with the journal was accidental and can be traced back to 2007. Joe Neal, who was then editor-in-chief, invited me to serve as an ad hoc reviewer (2007-2009). Subsequently, I was promoted to associate editor (2009-2012), and then editor (2012-2015). Since 2015, I have been serving as executive editor (regional anesthesia section) initially under Marc Huntoon and now under Brian Sites. Therefore, I owe an immense debt to Joe for detecting some hidden potential in me all these years ago. Of course, the many authors whose manuscripts I have rejected can also blame him. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Scientific journals are always on the look out for reviewers who can quickly and rationally evaluate manuscripts based on prospective registration, internal validity, and external applicability. Reviewers fulfilling these criteria will rapidly ascend in the editorial hierarchy. Thus, my first piece of advice is to get involved as a reviewer. My second piece of advice is to conduct research: the best reviewers are usually the authors who have seen combat and been in the trenches of patient recruitment. They know all the loopholes where methodological skeletons can be buried and are most apt to unearth them. Trying to become a good reviewer (or handling editor) without having gone through all the highs and lows of research (from the protracted planning stages, puzzling IRB demands, and the grind of patient enrollment to the disappointment of manuscript rejection and elation of acceptance) is like learning to swim on dry land. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal – advice or pet peeves? The best practical advice I can give is the following: identify a problem that requires a solution, spend the time to design a clinically relevant protocol, register the latter prior to patient recruitment, enroll patients and collect data without passion or prejudice, do not alter the sample size after the fact, do not substitute primary outcomes, write a concise manuscript, do not downplay negative results, and do not oversell positive findings. And, once the manuscript is submitted, trust RAPM’s peer review process. Although the journal would like to fill its pages with published studies, its enthusiasm must always be tempered by its responsibility to readers and their patients. The peer review process is always a shield and never a sword. Thus, do not take rejection personally: view it instead as a way to improve the manuscript for submission to another journal or a learning opportunity to design a better protocol the next time around. What has been your proudest career moment? There have been two very proud moments in my career so far. The first was when I received my full professorship from McGill University when I was 41 years old. The second was when I was granted the inaugural ASRA Presidential Scholar Award in 2018. To this day, I still believe that Chad Brummett should have received this initial prize. Nonetheless, Chad: thank you for letting me have this one before you! In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? Nowadays, the biggest challenge may be information (and disinformation). In an era of predatorial open access journals and social media, it is easy to find “evidence” and testimony to support any snake oil or novel block. The solution to this complex problem may be multifaceted and requires active buy-in from all stakeholders. From an ethical standpoint, authors should introduce new techniques only if they serve a real clinical purpose as opposed to fill their CVs. Journals, and their attendant editors and reviewers, should treat any innovation, even from “name” authors, with a healthy dose of skepticism by demanding substantial supportive data. However, the ultimate responsibility rests with individual practitioners: they should resist the lure of novelty and not subject patients to unvetted blocks when conventional alternatives exist. What one word would you say describes you? I would select “straightforward” or “sincere.” However, when he was editor-in-chief, Marc Huntoon nicknamed me “The Terminator.” Although Marc has never told me the reason for the moniker, I assume that it stems from the fact I thrive to assess (and reject) manuscripts based solely on science independently of scientific reputation (the authors’), career ambitions (my own), political context, or external pressures. What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? Outside of work, my two passions are my art collection and minimalist/ brutalist architecture. I must thank my long-suffering spouse, Silvia, and my daughter, May Sanaa, for living through various construction battlefields these last 10 years, watching me rearrange furniture and artwork around the house at all hours of the day, and putting up with radical, monolithic (but quite uncomfortable) furniture. Final thoughts? No man is an island. Even those who are peninsulas inevitably stand on the shoulders of their predecessors. I need to single out two colleagues who have inspired me: Joe Neal and André Boezaart.

Stavros G. Memtsoudis (March 2023)

Stavros G. Memtsoudis, MD, PhD, MBA, is a clinical professor of anesthesiology and population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, NY. He is also a senior scientist, attending anesthesiologist, and the director of critical care services at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, NY.

What is your primary specialty? My expertise is in the care of complex spine surgery and critical care medicine. What gets you excited about going to work? Other than the fact that I do love my work environment and my colleagues, I am excited about the opportunities for academic discourse on a daily basis. The allows me to not only have an impact on my patients I immediately take care of on any given day, but many more who might benefit from the research my team and I conduct and publish. As one of my professors used to put it: Even on my worst day, I get the opportunity to help somebody! How and when did you get involved with the journal? My first interaction with the journal was as an author many years ago. At that time Dr. Joe Neal was the editor in chief. RAPM was not an obvious target for the type of research I was doing at the time, which was focusing on perioperative outcomes in orthopedic patients and had little to do with regional anesthesia or pain management. Joe, however, was very forward looking and saw the importance of outcomes research in patients who were also the prime targets for regional anesthetic techniques. He encouraged me to submit my work to RAPM, and I was positively surprised by how the Society and the readership of RAPM responded. Over the years, I have continued to contribute to RAPM as an author and reviewer and, eventually, as the field of health services research became an integral part of anesthesia research, a dedicated section was added and Dr. Sites asked me to become its editor, which I gladly accepted. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? RAPM, through its publications, readership, authors, editors, and staff has become a major part of my academic community. Over the years I have learned, collaborated, discussed ideas, and shared my experiences and research findings with this community: all of these interactions have profoundly influenced my career. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? I would tell anyone who wants to get involved to not be intimidated and to reach out to any of the editorial board members. I believe that RAPM is one of the least difficult journals to get involved in. Clearly, it will take some initiative and effort, but the inclusive nature and friendliness of the folks involved in the journal makes it easy to chart a path forward as an author, reviewer, or editor. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles? Our authors are doing a great job sending us well-written, interesting, and relevant articles. The writing of the manuscript and its submission are the last step in the hard and important work that a research project is. In fact, it is the only part we as editors and reviewers get to see. Therefore, it is a window to the quality of the research performed. Therefore, taking the time to get it right is worth it. I would say that following journal guidelines for presentation and attention to proper grammar always make a great first impression. Following rules regarding registration and reporting, as well as transparent presentation of methods, are important marks of serious research. On the contrary, mistake-riddled papers suggest (right or wrongfully) that the author doesn’t care as much, which makes it difficult to convince reviewers to care about a paper. Further, I enjoy papers that show focus, brevity, and precision of wording. What has been your proudest career moment? This is a hard one. I can certainly name a few. As much as it is an honor to win recognition and awards, watching my research trainees develop careers and succeed makes me the proudest. About 10 years ago, I started a research fellowship in collaboration with the Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg. In the process, I have had the opportunity to work with numerous exceptional individuals. To see these individuals advance in their careers, seek further formal training in the form of PhD programs, and become prolific academicians in their own right has been hugely satisfying. In terms of academic work, I believe that the conduct and publication of the ICAROS consensus projects represent not only the culmination of my own research on the topic of anesthesia impact on perioperative outcomes but highlights the joy I derive from extensive, and long-term collaborations with many friends and colleagues throughout the world. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? The field of regional anesthesia and pain management is not immune to the many practice, regulatory, and financial challenges that medicine faces today. However, there are some unique challenges in the academic arena that we need to address to preserve our value and demonstrate our relevance for decades to come. First, I believe that we need to resist becoming too inward looking. Solving problems that address concerns and interests of stakeholders like patients, insurers, and surgeons are key to our success. To achieve this, we will have to look at long-term outcomes and expand beyond the traditional realm of perioperative pain management. All along, we need to pay attention to the quality of our science as we need to assure that we can demonstrate a clear mechanism by which our practice can influence the outcomes in question, or we risk not being taken seriously. Opportunities lie in the extension of regional pain management to weeks and months rather than hours and days. This will require the hard work of designing more complex, larger, and likely multidisciplinary studies, which inadvertently will take away resources from smaller investigations that are of some academic interest within our field but might yield only small incremental new evidence with minimal impact on patient care. What one word describes you? Service. What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I have been and continue to be the world’s biggest football (aka soccer) fan. I still play with friends on weekends and have always looked to promote the sport for others to enjoy. Consequently, some friends and I cofounded a semi-professional soccer club in Monmouth County, New Jersey, with the goal to bring high-level, affordable soccer into the area. Over the years, we went from fielding a successful, competitive team playing in a national league, to creating youth training programs while partnering with townships in our county. Today, FC Monmouth is not only a widely known brand but one of the pillars of the community in our area. Building this entity required the same ingredients as building a successful research team: determination, focus, willingness to sacrifice for the greater good, and collaboration.

Rebecca (Becky) L. Johnson (April 2023)

Rebecca (Becky) L. Johnson, MD, FASA, is an associate professor of anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

What is your primary specialty and what led you to choose it? Before medical school, I worked full time as a licensed physical therapist. My prior career drove my choice to eventually become a regional anesthesiologist. I could appreciate how central and peripheral nerve blocks, when incorporated into postoperative pain management and rehabilitation, allowed surgical patients to ambulate the day of their lower extremity total joint procedure more comfortably, leave the hospital sooner, and return to their activities of daily life earlier than was the case in the early 2000s when pain management relied on opioid therapies. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? I am fortunate to work with outstanding colleagues and friends at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Camaraderie and the collective mission to put the “needs of our patient come first” is what most excites me to go to work at Mayo Clinic. How and when did you get involved with the journal? It has been 10 years! I was invited to serve as a consultant reviewer for Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine in October 2012 by then Editor-in-Chief Dr. Marc Huntoon. In February 2016, I was asked to join the editorial board as an associate editor. Prior to Dr. Huntoon’s term ending with the journal, I was promoted to the Editor role and asked to continue by current Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Brian Sites. I could not be more grateful for all the support I have received from the editorial board and RAPM staff. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? My work with RAPM has significantly impacted my clinical and research career. The networking opportunities to collaborate with other authors and editorial board members, RAPM panels I have been invited to be included on, and 10 years’ worth of reading reviews has undeniably inspired my own clinical practice and research projects. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Mentees and advisees of mine, whether they go into academics or private practice, all hear about how important the peer-review process and volunteering your expertise is to enriching his/her career as an anesthesiologist. Yes it takes time, practice, and discretionary effort to perform a thorough review; however, I feel reading and reviewing for scientific journals is essential to the evidenced-based practice of anesthesia. My advice would be to ask an editorial board member for “tips and tricks” or attend a RAPM-sponsored panel at an ASRA Pain Medicine Spring or Fall Annual Meeting. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal… advice for writing good articles or maybe a pet peeve you wish authors wouldn’t do? Start with a well-written hypothesis statement and invest the time into writing your IRB protocol so that it can serve as the first draft of your eventual manuscript. Also, consider following reporting guidelines for main study types (e.g., CONSORT for randomized trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA-P for systematic reviews) and please include a checklist as an appendix item with your submission. What has been your proudest career moment? Named in a three-way tie (with Drs. Ki Jinn Chin and Philip Peng) for second place in 2020’s Top RAPM Reviewers. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? Barriers (such as education and training, surgeon and patient buy-in, drug and equipment shortages, health care disparities) to widespread use of regional anesthesia is the biggest challenge facing our subspecialty today. What one word would you say describes you? Accountable

David Anthony Provenzano (May 2023)

David Anthony Provenzano, MD, is the president of Pain Diagnostics and Interventional Care in Sewickley, PA, and a member of the executive committee of the medical staff at Western PA Surgery Center.

What is your primary specialty? Currently, I am primarily a chronic pain specialist. During the first seven years of my career, I practiced acute, regional anesthesia, and chronic pain medicine. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? It is such an honor to care for patients. I get excited when I see patients with smiles on their faces after having improvements in pain control and function. I also think medicine is the best field because you continuously learn and get better each year at providing high-quality care. You can never get bored in this field. I also enjoy running a business, which includes two surgery centers and a private practice. The setup has brought great responsibility but also provided me with significant autonomy. How and when did you get involved with the journal? I primarily got involved with the journal through my association with the Society. In addition, I was introduced to the journal as an author. I eventually became involved in manuscript reviews and currently I am an editor for RAPM. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? I do believe that the work with RAPM has positively impacted and brought joy and additional purpose to my career. The advancement of science through the journal has significant impacts on patient care. Furthermore, a well-written article can positively influence the field of pain management and improve the care of many patients. RAPM has provided me with the ability to have a role in the advancement of pain medicine both through personal publication and assisting in improving the quality of manuscripts submitted to the journal. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? First, let individuals know of your interest. Second, I think it’s helpful to have a mentor on your first few reviews to help guide you through how to appropriately review and comment on a scientific paper. Third, when given the opportunity, put out your best product. A well-written review can significantly influence the quality of the manuscript, which will then subsequently assist the pain community. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal… advice for writing good articles or maybe a pet peeve you wish authors wouldn’t do? I think many of us do not receive significant training in scientific writing. I was lucky enough early in my career to have multiple mentors who helped me with my research, including Dr. Eugene Viscusi and Dr. David Somers. Dr. David Somers was the Chair of the Physical Therapy program at Duquesne University. We collaborated on multiple papers, including my first paper submitted to RAPM on the ability to influence radiofrequency lesion with fluid modulation (Provenzano DA, Lassila HC, Somers D. The effect of fluid injection on lesion size during radiofrequency treatment. Reg Anesth Pain Med 2010 Jul-Aug;35(4):338-42. https://doi.org/10.1097/aap.0b013e3181e82d44). Dr. Somers spent a substantial amount of time mentoring me on how to write a very strong scientific article. I am very grateful for his mentorship and his willingness to provide time to me during the early portion of my scientific career. One book that I also found helpful for clinical research was Foundations of Clinical Research: Applications to Evidence-Based Practice. Furthermore, during my summers in college and medical school, I spent time at the Musculoskeletal Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh led by Dr. Savio Woo. That experience really heightened my interest in research and assisted in my ability to scientifically write and interpret literature. What has been your proudest career moment? There are many moments of my career that brought me substantial joy. Some highlights have included my time with ASRA Pain Medicine and my future role as President. I am also very happy that I have been able to have a significant academic career while practicing in a private practice set up. We have built a strong research program that includes both funded and non-funded clinical and basic science research. Also, for more than 10 years, we have taken a summer research intern from Washington and Jefferson College. Many of the students have participated in clinical and basic science published in RAPM and presented at ASRA Pain Medicine meetings. It has been such a joy mentoring the students and working with Dr. Jason Kilgore at the college. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? I think one of the biggest challenges facing the field of pain management is the need for continued development and appropriate propagation of evidence-based medicine in the field. There are still many unanswered questions. RAPM can play a critical role in providing high quality evidence to the field. What one word describes you? Motivated What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I love to spend time with my wife (Dana), two children (Nora and Marco), and dog (Ranger). I’m blessed to have a beautiful home life, which has brought much stability and happiness to my life. I also love to exercise and run.

Xavier Capdevila (June 2023)

Xavier Capdevila, MD, MSc, PhD, is a full professor and chair of anesthesiology and critical care medicine as well as head of the department of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Lapeyronie University Hospital, NeuroSciences Institute, Inserm unit 1298 at Montpellier University in Montpellier, France.

What is your primary specialty and what led you to choose it? I’m definitely a regional anesthesiologist (RA) and acute pain practitioner in my daily practice. In my department and institution, more than 70% of elective and emergency patients receive a regional anesthesia bundle of care with or without sedation or general anesthesia for intraoperative comfort. I promote also the use of RA, when it’s feasible, in the intensive care unit (ICU), mainly for patients suffering from multiple traumas, pancreatitis, postoperative complications, and/or chest trauma. I chose the specialty 35 years ago mainly for the transversality: ICU, operating room (OR), post-anesthesia care unit, perioperative medicine, pain management. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? • New things every morning • Challenges for simple surgeries and patients as well as major surgeries and frailty patients • A continuum from OR to ICU and vice versa • The magical and fun aspects of RA for residents and surgeons: “Man, it works! Yes pal, as usual” How and when did you get involved with the journal? First I was regularly an author, then an associate editor from 2004 to 2009, then executive editor for two years. The president of the European Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Therapy encouraged me to apply for the executive editor position. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? It’s more a pleasure and a very interesting task for me than a springboard for my career. In Europe, and mainly in France, whatever you do in your clinical or academic job, you evolve within the framework of an age-career grid. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? It’s a fantastic job for physicians who are really interested in a wide view of their specialty, gaining understanding of the details of what is new, will be new, and expected or not. The physician will also learn a lot about how to really evaluate medical science, clinical impact on patient management, and how to highlight exciting works that will change our practice Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal… advice for writing good articles or maybe a pet peeve you wish authors wouldn’t do? The authors should work on relevant clinical studies that can modify clinical practice. Please do not report a new block approach or needle insertion mode only because it has not been described or because it is located 3 cm from the most well-known one. RA is more than a serious game. Be careful about everything when you want to study any technique or drug: anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, utility, futility… What has been your proudest career moment? It is a tie between serving as president of the French Society of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine and serving as president of the College of Anesthetists and Intensivists. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? RA should be integrated into the entire bundle of care for patients facing a surgical procedure. It should be recognized as a crucial management for patients in the era of opioid-sparing anesthesia and analgesia. However, RA can only give what it has: we have to be careful about the fact that RA cannot treat everything… pain chronification, all inflammation episodes, cancer cells metastasis, chronic opioid consumption…. Furthermore, we need simplifications about the real useful approaches in the jungle of so many blocks permitted by the use of ultrasound guidance. How would you describe yourself? Very active and curious What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? I enjoy travelling all around the globe: meeting so many interesting people and enjoying incredible places and landscapes. Final thoughts? I’m so happy to be an anesthesiologist and intensivist.

Effrossyni (Gina) Votta-Velis (July 2023)

Effrossyni (Gina) Votta-Velis, MD, PhD, is a professor of clinical anesthesiology and surgery and pain medicine fellowship director at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine.

What is your primary specialty and what led you to choose it? I have the privilege of considering myself a pain physician (acute and chronic) and a clinician scientist. I trained in chronic pain, established the regional anesthesia and acute pain fellowship at my institution in the early 2000s, and have been faculty in both acute and chronic pain medicine. In the last decade, I am involved more in the practice of chronic pain. I have been extremely fortunate to have mentors such as Drs. Alain Borgeat and Richard Rosenquist that provided me with valuable guidance throughout my career. The main reason I chose this specialty is simply the compassion I have for my patients. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? The unlimited opportunities to alleviate pain and suffering for our patients and restore their health. This includes the research opportunities in elucidating pain mechanisms and the developments of more effective clinical interventions. How and when did you get involved with the journal? I served as a reviewer for many years. Dr. Mark Huntoon invited me to be an associate editor, and then Dr. Brian Sites gave me the opportunity to serve as an editor. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? The answer is YES. It is very exciting and a privilege to review the interesting manuscripts that contribute to the advancement of our field. This is the result of dedicated work from our colleagues. Not only are the reviews an unmatched learning experience that enhances my critical thinking, but they are also a challenge as my goal is to provide constructive criticism to help the authors publish their papers. My work with RAPM makes me a better pain physician and scientist. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? Find an area of interest in your field that has potential for clinical application. Become proficient in this area. Work with a mentor that shares the same interests who can teach you how to write and review a paper and subsequently recommend you as a reviewer. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal… advice for writing good articles or maybe a pet peeve you wish authors wouldn’t do? Follow the author instructions and communicate with the journal if you have any questions before you submit. Also, have an independent colleague review your paper and provide their opinion about the clarity of its message. Solid methodology and statistics are imperative. Do not rush submitting as grammatical errors and typos should be avoided. What has been your proudest career moment? Along the way, there have been many proud and moving moments, such as when I received the ASRA Pain Medicine Carl Koller Memorial Research Grant Award, and the ASRA Pain Medicine Trailblazer Award. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? We need more independent studies that provide evidence for the benefits of interventional procedures for the treatment of pain. We also need more basic science research to elucidate pain signaling pathways that will lead to the development of new treatments. Progress in the field of pharmacogenomics will lead to the development of personalized medicine. What one word would you say describes you? Persevering. What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? Spending time with my family and friends is my greatest joy. As the beautiful country of Greece is my birthplace, I very much enjoy swimming, water sports, and hiking up in the mountains.

Alexander Stone (August 2023)

Alexander Stone, MD, is an anesthesiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

What is your primary specialty, and what led you to choose it? I am primarily a regional anesthesiologist, although I spend a portion of my clinical time on the acute postoperative pain service. I was fortunate to have incredible mentors, like Christopher Wu, MD, who were regional anesthesiologists and got some exposure to the field as a medical student. With mentors like Michael Grant, MD, I got involved with perioperative pathways research, and increasing access to opioid sparing and regional anesthesia was at the center of much of this work. There is nothing better than the satisfaction that comes with a block well placed and witnessing the resolution of acute pain crises. What do you like best about your job? What gets you excited about going to work? I have the greatest colleagues at Brigham and Women's in the division of orthopedic anesthesia, which is the best part of my job. I get excited about working with residents and fellows. Their energy, enthusiasm, and curiosity keep me energized. How and when did you get involved with the journal? RAPM has been so important for my career. I submitted some of my first articles to the journal as a medical student and learned how to thoughtfully craft and revise a manuscript. Eventually, my mentor, Christopher Wu, MD, invited me to start reviewing articles for the journal, which gave me a whole new perspective on the process and made me a better writer and researcher. Do you feel that your work with RAPM has had an impact on your career and if so, how? I hope that I can do a small part to give back to the community of regional anesthesiologists who have done so much for me in my career to date. Every manuscript I have submitted to RAPM has been thoughtfully considered and improved by the process (even the ones that ended up not being accepted). That takes a significant amount of work by the reviewers and editors, and I hope by working with the journal, I am able to play a part in helping other researchers in the field. What advice do you have for others interested in getting involved with serving on the editorial board of scientific journals? For me, it was important to get started in the peer-review process early. Closely reading and evaluating research hones your skills and provides valuable practice. Additionally, robust peer review is critically important to maintain the highest quality standards. Is there anything you’d like to tell authors submitting articles to the journal… advice for writing good articles or maybe a pet peeve you wish authors wouldn’t do? I would tell authors to not be intimated. The process can seem daunting, but part of the role of reviewers and editors is to make suggestions to improve the work. Our field moves forward when there is a wide range of ideas being considered, and we need to hear from more people. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the field of regional anesthesia and pain medicine today? There are a number of challenges, which will keep us busy for years to come (although I am not sure what is the biggest):

The number of opioid-related deaths continue to rise, and the opioid epidemic is becoming endemic in the United States.
Staffing shortages and pushes to decrease lengths of stay will shift some pain management from the hospital to the home/outpatient area.
How do we expand the access to regional anesthesia while maintaining high quality?

What one word describes you? Curious What do you enjoy doing outside of work and why? Spending time with my family on Cape Cod, putting miles on my road bike, and going on adventures with my wife.