President's Message of Dr. Tracey Straker

Dear Visitor,

The Society for Head and Neck Anesthesia (SHANA) welcomes you to our website and our society! SHANA is an international society of physicians and other health care practitioners dedicated to improving the perioperative care of patients undergoing head and neck surgery. Since SHANA’s inception in 2011, it has spanned across all continents and over 30 countries.

Head and Neck Anesthesia is not just another difficult airway – the subspecialty encompasses collaboration between anesthesiologists and surgeons, complex head and neck surgery, and management of the challenging airway utilizing the most current airway technology, as well as “tried and true” techniques that have produced for decades.

SHANA’s award winning website and forum will keep you current and abreast of the latest techniques and protocol in head and neck anesthesia. Our complementary quarterly, peer reviewed journal, Journal of Head and Neck Anesthesia (JoHNA), is the perfect vehicle for dissemination of your basic science and clinical studies, case reports, review articles, and any mode of communication to the anesthesiology community that you deem necessary.

Following the successes of the immediate past president, Basem Abdelmalak, and our Education, Scientific, Communication and Executive Boards, I am privileged to move our mission forward. I am enthusiastic to take on challenge of expanding the scope of the society with the collaboration of SHANA leadership.

Our national and international membership brings a diverse perspective on management and patient safety. The growth of our organization to embrace pediatrics, regional, point of care ultrasound in patient management, and consensus statements in practice is imminent. Collaboration with organizations that continue to enlighten and bring attention to a practice that has grown tremendously over the past decade, is a focus for the years going forward. Educational advancement, resulting in fellowships across the United States, is testimony to the growth and embracing of this specialty.

Several opportunities exist for the SHANA membership to become involved in the society, and to share diverse and valuable clinical experience. We are an approachable and personable society. Everyone is valued and can become involved. Send your educational content for publication in JoHNA or exhibition on our website, start or respond to a forum chat, join our society, and bring a colleague! We are in touch with our membership, and your thoughts and suggestions, result in change in practice!

SHANA is grateful to its sponsors who have provided and continue to provide invaluable support for our educational mission and provide the tools for which we accomplish our work. Your presence in or society, our clinical practice, and in our patient’s, safety is immensely appreciated.

Thank you!

Tracey Straker MD MS MPH CBA FASA
President, Society for Head and Neck Anesthesia