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

Dr Ghassan Kanazi, the new chairperson of the Department of Anesthesiology at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, and Dr Anis Baraka, editor-in-chief of the Middle East Journal of Anesthesiology, would like to welcome all contributors and readers of the Middle East Journal of Anesthesiology and appreciate their input - past, and present - for the last 42 years, and hope for their continued support for many years, to come. They take pride in having an affiliated journal to their department as it has proven to be a platform for education, exchange of opinions, and promotion of research and publication of the Middle Eastern heritage of medicine and anesthesia.

By July 2008, the Department of Anesthesiology will be 50 years old, and to celebrate this Golden Anniversary, we would like to introduce some changes in the journal that will facilitate its access to its readers worldwide and simultaneously benefiting its impact factor and citation ratio.

Effective the February 2008 issue (Vol. 19, No. 4), the printed journal will be gradually phased out into an electronic based journal. Initially, the electronic journal can be accessed at the following URL: http://www.aub.edu.lb/meja.

With best wishes to the journal contributors, readers, executive editorial board, founding, honorary, and consultant editors.

Anis Baraka, MD, FRCA (Hon.) Editor-In-Chief, Middle East Journal of Anesthesiology

Ghassan E. Kanazi, MD 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