Committee on Membership Update

A big welcome to all our new members to the SOCCA Membership Committee! We look forward to collaborating with you all. The main mission for the SOCCA Membership Committee is to coordinate all membership activities for SOCCA. Our membership numbers and interest in SOCCA continue to grow. To answer the asks of our members (‘I want to be more involved, but how do I do it?’), the SOCCA Membership Committee has launched a strategic structure realignment intended to better serve the members of SOCCA and the Anesthesiology Critical Care community. The realignment should foster increased engagement, diversity, and opportunities for members to contribute to the current and future of SOCCA.

We have established the following NEW subcommittees:

• Early Career Subcommittee & Working Group (active);
• Physicians in Practice Subcommittee & Working Group;
• Wellness Subcommittee Working Group;
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Subcommittee & Working Group;
• Fellows in Training Subcommittee & Working Group;
• Residents and Medical Students Subcommittee & Working Group

Over the next few months, we will be reaching out to members of the Membership Committee soliciting interest in leadership and participation on these subcommittees. Additionally, we will be reaching out to all members of SOCCA for their interest in participating on the individual working groups. We are very excited about these changes and the work that the committee has done so far.

Under the leadership of Dr. Alisha Bhatia, the Early Career Intensivists Working Group, our first new working group in the Membership committee, went live in the early part of the year. The Early Career Intensivists Working Group held its first annual networking event the night before the annual meeting this year, and it was a huge success! After a brief large group introduction, members broke out into smaller break out rooms, each of which was hosted by a SOCCA board member or committee chair. We had over 50 participants, and everyone had the opportunity to attend two different break-out rooms. In addition to socializing and getting to know each other better, several important ideas for programming by SOCCA were introduced, and well received! These included mentorship and more regional programming throughout the year. We want to thank everyone who attended, and we look forward to hosting a similar event next year, in person! Please be on the lookout for more emails about our upcoming events soon!

Over the last year we have been successful in recruiting and retaining a widely diverse group of members into SOCCA. We will continue these efforts moving forward. The SOCCA Membership Committee goals over the next year will be to identify leaders and members of our subcommittees and working groups, outline the mission of these subcommittees and working groups and operationalize their efforts. Our focus will be on increasing engagement, mentorship and networking while maintaining wellness, diversity, inclusion and equity of all members of SOCCA and the Anesthesiology Critical Care community. Our members are the foundation and future of our society!

Authors

Suzanne Bennett, MD, FCCM

Chair, Membership Committee

University of Cincinnati

Cincinnati, Ohio

Alisha Bhatia, MD

Vice-Chair, Membership Committee

Rush University

Chicago, Illinois