History of Anaesthesia Society

Founded in 1986, the History of Anaesthesia Society aims to promote the study of the history of anaesthesia and related disciplines and to provide a forum and social ambience for discussion among members.

Latest News

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First Online Event by the History of Anaesthesia Society - 11th November 2026

On Wednesday 11 November 2026 the History of Anaesthesia Society will host its first online history event. Entitled Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, this will be held from 7.30-9pm (GMT) and include talks from three internationally renowned historians of anaesthesia, followed by an interactive question and answer session.

Dr David Wilkinson (UK) will explore whether the Victorian era really heralded the start of modern anaesthesia. Dr Jun Parker (Australia) will address the suggestion that local anaesthesia began with cocaine, and Dr Christine Ball (Australia) will critically appraise the notion that Victorian doctors were used to death and suffering.

The event will be held as a Microsoft Teams webinar. To register (free of charge) please follow this link; https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/596f3db6-5a84-4d45-ad95-72196257f27d@37c354b2-85b0-47f5-b222-07b48d774ee3

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History of Anaesthesia Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2026 - Lincoln

This will be held on 20th and 21st May 2026 at The Lincoln Hotel, Eastgate, Lincoln LN2 1PN.

The programme can be downloaded here.

The registration form for Lincoln can be found here.

It will consist of a full day of presentations on 20th May and due to such an excellent number of trainee submissions, a full day on 21st. The Conference Dinner will be held on 20th May, and the AGM will be held during the afternoon of 20th May, all within the Hotel. Rooms will be reserved for delegates at preferential rates for 19th and 20th May.

The Lincoln Hotel is a comfortable modern hotel with an eye catching modernist exterior grafted on to an older building. It is situated in the medieval heart of Lincoln immediately opposite the stunning Cathedral. There is reasonably good road and rail access, and car parking on site.

Resident Doctor Prize Winners at the History of Anaesthesia Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2025

The conference was held on Wednesday 25th June and Thursday 26th June at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Many thanks to Dr Peter Featherstone for organising the meeting.

We had an excellent programme with multiple presentations by resident doctors. Huge congratulations to Dr Rhiannon Wilton who was awarded first prize for her talk 'The Original Pain Consultant: A Glance at Mother Nature's Contributions to Pain Relief'.

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Dr Rhiannon Wilton receiving her award for the Best Oral Presentation by a Resident Doctor

Congratulations also to Dr Andrew Burch and Dr Ana Nomani who were awarded runner up prizes for their presentations on 'Early Warning Scores - a Narrative Review' and 'History of End-of-Life Care - Via an International Lens' respectively.

Dr Andrew Burch and Dr Ana Nomani with President Dr Peter Featherstone and Dr Christine Ball

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Call for Nominations for the David Zuck Memorial Prize 2026:

The David Zuck Memorial Prize is awarded annually for the best monograph, article, book chapter or book published in English in the preceding year. The nominated item/items must conform to the following:
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1. Be on the history of anaesthesia, resuscitation, intensive care or pain management.
2. Be published in the English language in 2025.
3. Electronic publication is acceptable.
4. E publication ahead of print is acceptable, however, should this result in the electronic version being published in a different year from the print version, the manuscript will only be considered once, and only one version will be considered.

The nominator (if not self-nominated) must provide confirmation that the author has accepted his/her publication being nominated. A maximum of two nominations from any one nominator will be considered.The prize is adjudicated by a committee chaired by the editor of the Proceedings. Peer reviewed and Pubmed indexed items will be given priority.

Closing date 30.3.2026. Applications to Doug Bacon: doug3312022a@gmail.com