EAST news | 2018 Issue 3 2 EAST Mission Statement EAST is a scientific organization providing lead- ership and development for young surgeons active in the care of the injured patient through interdisciplinary collaboration, scholarship, and fellowship. EAST Vision Statement EAST seeks to improve care of the injured by provid- ing a forum for the exchange of knowledge in the prac- tice of trauma surgery; to promote trauma prevention, research, and improved trauma systems design; to encourage investigation and teaching of the methods of preventing and treating trauma; and to stimulate future generations of sur- geons to meet the challenge. Message from the President (continued from page 1) Of course, you could have access to much of EAST’s content without being a member. EAST Practice Management Guidelines (PMG) are open access, viewable on a handheld anywhere in the world with most in PDF form — free on the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery website. Attendance at the meeting is open to all, albeit at a higher rate. EAST’s financial support of the Coalition for National Trauma Research (CNTR), our advocacy for the National Trauma Research Repository (NTRR) that is now in full operation and many other ongoing outreach and community investments, will take place no matter what. And, EAST will continue to produce and make available important resources like PMGs, EAST Traumacasts, EAST Minute videos, EAST Journal Club, and the EAST Landmark Paper Resource that help the trauma community save lives and take better care of patients. But like any organization that you support or patronize, strength, growth and available services are multiplied by investment. I hope you will read Dr. Babak Sarani’s article in this issue about the recent growth of the Development Fund and the new programming that these investments have enabled. Today’s EAST is a reality once envisioned only as futuristic. In his 1998 EAST Presidential address, Dr. John Morris said, “(EAST) will provide a creative forum for scientific content, educational content, and practice content. It will disseminate that content to the membership, to the trauma community, and to the community at large. It will encourage discourse, the exchange of ideas, the exchange of data, and the exchange of content. Finally, EAST will continue to meet the challenge of creating new and innovative products to foster the career of young trauma surgeons worldwide.” As it turns out, Dr. Morris’ prediction was exactly right. So it’s easy to see that EAST offers a high value professional society membership, evidenced by a high quality product at a reasonable price point. President Morris’ vision for the future has been realized and we continually strive to meet President Sagraves’ charge to ‘maintain relevance’. As an EAST member, the more you get involved, the more you will reap return from the investment of your membership. Non-members worldwide benefit from the products of this great organization. But membership does have its privileges. Thank you for being a part of that. Andrew C. Bernard, MD, FACS EAST President