20 Aug Message from the AAS President
Dear AAS members and friends,
The AAS Board of Directors made the difficult (but inevitable) decision to convert the 2021 AAS meeting to a fully virtual format. We have seen rising numbers of COVID cases across the US and other countries, and increasing travel restrictions from academic institutions and the state of Hawaii. The governor of Hawaii recently imposed a 25 person limit on indoor gatherings which is not compatible with our meeting. As a result, we cannot ensure a successful live meeting for November. This is a big disappointment to all but we are committed to have a rich virtual meeting with lots of scientific content and active engagement of attendees.
We will be sending additional information in the coming days about reduced registration rates for the virtual meeting. For those that have already registered, the AAS will offer options to either refund the difference or to apply the balance toward future AAS events and 2022 AAS member dues. We have notified the hotel in Maui about the cancellation of the live meeting. We encourage you to confirm cancellation of hotel reservations before September 15.
The virtual meeting will take place over the same dates (November 3-6) but may be condensed in 3 days instead of 4. We are aiming to offer about 4-5 hours of programming on each day and a large number of scientific presentations/posters. The new program agenda will be forthcoming. ALL submitted abstracts have been accepted. Notifications to abstract presenters selected for platform presentations as well as information about the virtual poster session will be coming soon. Fortunately, we have experience with running a successful virtual meeting from our 2020 virtual meeting and will be able to take advantage of tools to encourage active participation. In particular, we are going to ensure a process with more significant engagement with poster presenters.
We intend to host next year’s meeting in November of 2022 at the venue in Maui.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
Steve Vernino, MD, PhD
President, American Autonomic Society
steven.vernino@utsouthwestern.edu