American Pain Society Annual Meeting

The American Pain Society’s 28^th Annual Scientific Meeting
May 7-9, 2009 – San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA

General Information Regarding Symposia

The American Pain Society will hold its 28^th Annual Scientific Meeting May 7-9, 2009 in San Diego, California. The APS Scientific Program Committee invites the submission of proposals for Symposia and Corporate Satellite Symposia for presentation during the San Diego meeting.

Corporate Members of the American Pain Society are invited to submit proposals for satellite symposia. Please visit the corporate members’ section of the web site for separate instructions and guidelines regarding corporate satellite proposal submission, and to open the satellite symposium submission forms.

The Scientific Program Committee requests that all proposals be multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, and should therefore include speakers representing varied areas of pain research and treatment. The committee will be looking for proposals which include perspectives from physicians, nurses, physical therapists, psychologists, basic scientists, pharmacists, dentists, etc. Moderators should seek participation from a varied group of faculty (the maximum number of participants per proposal is 1 moderator and up to 3 additional speakers), and several disciplines and facilities/institutions should be represented on each proposal.

Proposals for previously presented or published work may not be submitted to APS without modification. Original work must be changed or expanded, resulting in a new abstract.

This is an electronic submittal system. The system is compatible with PCs and Macintosh computers.

Important Dates

Submission

The submittal system will remain open from May 5, 2008 to July 25, 2008. The system will close at 11:59 pm Pacific Time on July 25^th, and additional submissions will not be accepted.

Applicants will be notified in October, 2008 regarding selection of their proposals.
All presenters will receive complimentary conference registration. Other terms of participation will be communicated to speakers upon acceptance of the proposal.

Faculty Disclosure Requirements

The adoption and approval of ACCME’s Updated Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure the Independence of CME Activities has caused providers in the CME community to re-examine their policies and procedures to ensure compliance with these regulations. As an ACCME accredited provider, the American Pain Society requires full faculty disclosure from all faculty. Completed disclosure forms must be received by July 31, 2008 to be reviewed and discussed by the appropriate monitoring group, i.e. the American Pain Society’s Scientific Program Committee. Please note that the submission system will close on July 25, but the disclosure forms will remain accessible to faculty until July 31. Faculty members failing or refusing to complete the disclosure form in ample time to be reviewed by the Scientific Program Committee shall be automatically disqualified as a speaker, planning committee member, or author. In addition, the American Pain Society requires that all contributions to a CME activity are based on the best available evidence (refer to Policy on Content Validation).

In accordance with the new ACCME Updated Standards for Commercial Support: Standards to Ensure the Independence of CME Activities, all proposed speakers named on this proposal will receive an email notice which instructs each of them, individually, to visit the proposal before July 31, 2008 to complete their disclosure forms. This notice will be sent to all speakers as soon as the submission forms are complete and the "Submit to APS" button has been selected. Please note that the completion of the moderator’s disclosure form and speaker agreement is a required part of the online submission. Additionally, moderators should contact the speakers named on the proposal to notify them of their inclusion in the submission, and to remind them to complete their disclosure information and speaker agreement before July 31.

Proposals for Symposia

Symposia are scheduled to take place Thursday, May 7 – Saturday, May 9, 2008. All faculty must be willing and able to present on these dates. Symposia sessions are 90 minutes in length.

To submit your symposium proposal, please click on the link below. A complete symposium submission should include the following:

Focus statement (the focus statement should give a succinct description of what topics will be discussed during the symposium; it will be printed in the conference brochure so that attendees will be able to make decisions on which symposia they would like to attend)
Educational objectives (cognitive, behaviorial, or attitudinal)
Title
Moderator/Presenter information, including disclosures
Abstract text of 200 words, including information about each presenter’s contribution to the symposium

Each symposium submission is limited to a moderator and up to 3 additional presenters. Only one of the presenters can be a non-member of APS.

Handout materials (including articles, references/bibliography, or copies of speakers’ PowerPoint slides) are requested of all speakers in symposia. The session moderator will be expected to assist APS staff in the collection and organization of all handout materials.

Click here to begin your symposium submission or to retrieve/edit an existing submission.

Please contact APS if you need assistance with your submission, 847/375-4715. Our staff is available to assist you from 8 am – 6 pm Central time.

APS Corporate Members, please click here to access the call for the 2009 Corporate Satellite Symposia.

San Diego, CA, May 6-9, 2009