A Word From the Chairperson of Anesthesiology and the Editor-in-Chief

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to carry the Torch of learning and become the new forth Editor-In-Chief especially at the auspicious occasion of the launching of the February issue of Volume 20, No. 1, 2009, where new improvements have been implemented to promote our Journal its citation and readership.

Of the new improvements, I am happy to inform you that our Journal has become available electronically in the form of a link to the American University of Beirut (AUB) which can be accessed at the following website www.aub.edu.lb/meja . Our projectional aspirations are to increase the Journal’s citation index and improve its impact factor. To archive the articles published back to year 2000 is also one of our projects.

For the past 42 years, the Journal has taken the shape of a book designed with the National Lebanese Flag. With the release of the February 2009 issue, however, the Journal appears in its new format and new design. The size of the Journal has now assumed international dimensions with double-column printing, a process designed to increase number of publications per issue while maintaining costs at reasonable levels. The cover design depicts the historical poppy flower, first planted in the Middle East, that has been and still is, used to ease the pain of mankind over the past millennia. The Cedar Tree depicts the Republic of Lebanon with its unique geographical location between East and west.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the New Editorial Board, a well certified and qualified group who will continue to work hard in promoting and improving the Journal to better and higher levels. In accomplishments like this, one cannot but give credit and gratitude to the founder, Dr. Bernard Brandstater, (Professor and Chairman 1958-1969) and first Editor-In-Chief, (1966-1969) who back in June 1966, lit the Torch of learning, had the dream and early recognized the significance of creating a platform to encourage publication, research and exchange of opinions of colleagues widely scattered across the vast Middle East. With pride, pleasure and confidence, those dreams have not only become true, but over the years, through the dedicated efforts of succeeding Executive Editorial Boards and the contributors around the World, the Journal has become intercontinental. I would also like to offer special thanks to Dr. Anis Baraka (Ex-Chairman and Professor of Department of Anesthesiology (1974-2008) and third Editor-In-chief (1978-2008) who was most instrumental in supporting, contributing and promoting the Journal internationally. I also congratulate him for his recent appointment to the position of Emeritus Professor of Anesthesiology, effective Jan. 2009, an honor well deserved. Special appreciation is offered to Dr. Fouad Salim Haddad second Editor-In-Chief (1970-1978) and later as Executive Editor (1978- ) for his incessant dedication to the Journal.

We take pride in having an affiliated Journal to our Department. We welcome all contributors and readers around the world and do appreciate their input, past and present, and hope for their continued support for many years to come.

In closing, the Middle East Journal of Anesthesiology (MEJA), a Torch of learning that has and is still fulfilling its objectives, has succeeded in putting Republic of Lebanon, the American University of Beirut and the Department of Anesthesiology, on the world map of anesthesia.

Ghassan E. Kanazi, MD, ABA
ABA Critical Care & Pain Medicine
Editor-In-Chief
Chairman and Associate Professor
Department of Anesthesiology

Anis Baraka, MD, FRCA (Hon.) (Emeritus Editor-In-Chief), Middle East Journal of Anesthesiology	Ghassan E. Kanazi, MD Editor-In-Chief Middle East Journal of Anesthesiology American University of Beirut Medical Center ABA of Anesthesiology, ABA Critical Care and Pain Medicine Chairperson and Associate Professor Department of Anesthesiology American University of Beirut Beirut - Lebanon