Origins of the International Anesthesia Research Society, Anesthesia & Analgesia, and the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists: Lasting Legacies of Francis McMechan, MD

Abstract

Francis McMechan, MD, founded the National Anesthesia Research Society (NARS), which was the precursor to the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) and the first physician anesthesia organization in the United States that was devoted to the research goals of the specialty. NARS initially sponsored Current Researches in Anesthesia and Analgesia, and IARS remains the main parent organization of the journal to this day. Dr McMechan originally hoped to coordinate the scientific efforts of NARS/IARS with the political activities of several other organizations he had founded to achieve his ultimate goal of building a powerful and well-connected anesthesia community across the nation, and eventually around the world. About a decade after his death, Dr McMechan’s sweeping global vision would be fulfilled by the creation of the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA). Although Dr McMechan’s political organizations would eventually lose ground to the newer American Society of Anesthetists (ASA), his scientific organization and his inspiring international interest—embodied by IARS, Anesthesia & Analgesia, and WFSA—continue to thrive today.

Celebrating the Centenary of Anesthesia & Analgesia

“…The story behind this and various subsequent organizational changes is nicely summarized by Jane S. Moon and Douglas R. Bacon in this supplement. 5 Under the auspices of the AAA, the first Congress of Anesthetists was convened during the annual American Medical Association meeting in 1913, and the papers presented at the conference published in the Annals of Surgery in December of that year. 6 Among all those heavily involved in the meeting was Dr Francis McMechan, a member of both the NYSA and the AAA, and a passionate believer in the need for an international anesthesia community.…”