Education

Annual Scientific Meeting Highlights and Recap

APS is pleased to announce that more than 1,000 attendees gathered at the 35th Annual Scientific Meeting in Austin, TX, May 11–14!

Educational Program

This year’s educational program included symposia, workshops, plenary sessions, a National Pain Strategy Presentation on the progress of the strategy, innovative Session Sound Byte lectures, more than 500 posters, and many shared interest group meetings. Attendees had the opportunity to join featured sessions, such as a keynote address on “Pain: A Political History” by Keith Wailoo, PhD; “Pain Psychology 101” by Robert R. Edwards, PhD; Mark Jensen, PhD; Lance M. McCracken, PhD; and Judith A. Paice, PhD RN; and the Global Year Against Pain lecture, “Osteoarthritis Joint Pain: Mechanisms, Models, Molecules” by Anne-Marie Malfait, PhD.

Learning Lounge

Standing room only during the Session Sound Bytes! These interactive, Ted-style talks feature recaps of the most popular and relevant sessions.

Member Center

The APS Member Center was at the entrance of the Experience Exchange. Each day, staff prompted attendees with a question of the day. This fostered communication with attendees to fully understand what they like most about the meeting and what they would like to see in the future. Below are the results.

I came to the APS meeting for

research: 40%
networking: 30%
educational content: 29%

I would like to see APS

advocate for pain research: 50%
have a stronger voice in policy/media: 40%
provide more opportunities for mentorship and growth: 10%

What do you want to see more of at the 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting?

More poster sessions: 50%
More SIG meetings: 38%
More product-featured sessions: 12%

Early Career Forum

For the third year, APS hosted the Early Career Forum, and it was another huge success! This year the forum reached maximum capacity, with 120 participants. This networking event encouraged interdisciplinary collaborations between early-career pain professionals. The forum included a “Meet the Experts” networking session during which mentors met with small groups of young investigators and discussed topics of interest.

This year’s forum featured two career development breakout sessions and a SIGs on Parade event. The breakouts provided opportunities to discuss topics such as building a clinical career, alternative paths for a career in pain, and funding your research. The sessions were organized by Tonya Palermo, PhD; Jennifer Rabbitts, MBChB; and the Early Career Task Force.

Early-career participants left the forum with valuable insights, new knowledge, and information about pursuing alternative career paths in pain, and had the opportunity to meet others on early-career paths in pain. The networking session helped establish new connections among early-career and senior pain professionals.

Please take this survey to help us gather feedback on the Early Career Forum.

Did You Join the Conversation? #APS2016

Attendees, exhibitors, and the media continued the meeting conversation on Twitter. APS Twitter followers were encouraged to tweet using #APS2016 in their posts to share their meeting experience. This year there were 520 participants, 1,634 tweets, and 3,498,913 impressions! Catch up on #APS2016 highlights and follow APS @AmericanPainSoc.

Thank You!

The 35th Annual Scientific Meeting would not have been a success without the dedication of the APS volunteers.

APS would like to extend a sincere thank you to the Scientific Program Committee, chaired by Debra Gordon, RN DNP FAAN, in selecting this year’s educational programming. An additional thank you goes to Tonya Palermo, PhD; Jennifer Rabbitts, PhD; and the members of the Early Career Forum planning task force, as well as to the many faculty members who donated their time and expertise to speak at this year’s Annual Scientific Meeting.

APS hopes that attendees were able to take away pertinent and exciting discoveries that will increase the research and clinical advancements in the pain management field.

APS would like to extend a sincere thank you to commercial sponsors Teva CNS, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Depomed, Daiichi-Sankyo, Inc Research, and UCONN School of Nursing.

Obtain Your Annual Meeting Continuing Education Credit

Evaluations for the 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting are now available. Certificates of continuing education credit will be issued upon completion of the online meeting evaluation form.

Access Evaluations

Now Open: 2017 Call for Symposia

Are you interested in presenting your research to multidisciplinary pain researchers and clinicians? This is your chance!

The 2017 APS Scientific Program Committee invites you to submit your proposals for symposia. Submitted proposals must reflect APS’s multidisciplinary approach to pain and should cover the areas of pain science, translational research, and treatment.

The 36th Annual Scientific Meeting will be held in Pittsburgh May 17–20. The deadline for submissions is Monday, July 18 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time.

Learn More

Join Your Colleagues for the 36th Annual Scientific Meeting

May 17–20, 2017
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Pittsburgh, PA

Registration for next year’s meeting will open later this year. Until then, keep an eye on your e-mail and check americanpainsociety.org often for updates on programming, travel opportunities, and more information about #APS2017.