Mission & History
In 2007, MSA President Mark D. Hershey, MD, and the Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Stephen O. Heard, MD, collaborated to inaugurate the first annual New England Anesthesia Residents Conference or The NEAR Conference. In their first invitation letter to Residents and Program directors they stated:
“The University of Massachusetts Medical School in conjunction with the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists will hold a New England Anesthesia Residents Conference (The NEAR Conference). We hope that this event will be the start of an annual conference hosted by different training programs in New England on a rotating basis. Other training programs around the country have banded together to hold such conferences with great success. We wish to replicate that success in the New England area and provide a forum for residents to present to a wider audience.”
The inaugural NEAR Conference took place at UMass on April 7th, 2007 and immediately proved its value, drawing a full house of residents and faculty. Since then, the meeting has returned every spring, rotating among New England training programs—including Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Tufts Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess, the University of Vermont, Brigham and Women’s, and others—while remaining firmly resident-led and resident-focused.
NEAR offers a unique, regional stage for anesthesia residents, fellows, and medical students to present scholarly work, exchange ideas, and attend faculty-moderated educational sessions that might be less accessible at national gatherings. Each host class takes an active role in planning the event, and participating faculty collaborate across institutions to serve as lecturers, panelists, and session chairs, reinforcing a culture of mentorship and shared learning.
Guided by the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists’ Committee on Anesthesiology Students and Trainees (COAST), the NEAR Conference has become a predictable, fully supported annual fixture, reinforced by a formal host-rotation schedule, reliable financial commitments from industry partners, and a robust communications strategy that helps every residency program meet ACGME scholarly-activity requirements. Although the COVID-19 public-health emergency briefly paused in-person gatherings, the conference returned with fresh momentum on September 14th, 2024 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, featuring new breakout sessions on wellness, finance, and advocacy, along with a regional career fair—underscoring NEAR’s commitment to education that reaches “beyond the operating room.”