Message by the Chairman, Academic Committee, Indian Society Of Anaesthesiologists National

Dear Fellow members of the ISA,

I am delighted to write this message for the inaugural issue of the journal Practical Evidence in Anaesthesia Knowledge (PEAK). It gives me even greater pleasure as PEAK is the official journal of the College of the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (CISA).

The CISA was formally launched on October 15, 2024 during the ISA National Anaesthesia Week. Both these events are landmarks in the history of the Indian Society of Anaesthesologists (ISA). In 2023, Dr. M. Bhimeshwar, the then President of the ISA, floated the idea of the CISA to co- ordinate all the academic activities of the ISA. After approval from the Annual General Body Meeting at Gurugram, the structure and functional details of the CISA were defined, as was the tight bond with the ISA, the parent body, over the next year. The current structure of the CISA was approved by the Annual General Body Meeting at Patna in November 2024.

During the last few years,the Indian Journal of Anaesthesia (IJA), the official journal of the ISA with Dr. Rakesh Garg as Editor-in-Chief, has made tremendous progress. It currently has a respectable Impact Factor of 2.9, and provides a platform for Indian anaesthesiologists to showcase their research. However, there is also a surge of interest in research and publication in Indian academic institutes, and there was clearly a need for more opportunities to publish our research. Our governing council therefore felt that a new journal would fulfil an unmet need,and with the CISA also coming up at the same time,we decided to make this journal, Practical Evidence in Anaesthesia Knowledge (PEAK), as the official journal of the CISA. This journal will complement, rather than compete with the IJA, just as the CISA will streamline the academic courses of the ISA, rather than function as an independent entity.

PEAK will initially be published two times a year, with Dr. Sukhminder Jit Singh Bajwa as the Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Bajwa is currently the Secretary of ISA National. He has a strong inclination to academics, and has extensive experience in publishing, both as an author and as Editor. He has been on the editorial boards and Associate Editor of many journals, and was also the Editor-in-Chief of the Northern Journal of Anaesthesia. Most recently, and also most importantly, he was the Associate Editor-in- Chief of the IJA during 2017-2019, and steered the IJA during a very difficult time. I am certain that under his stewardship PEAK will thrive, and will become a beacon of light for the faculty of anaesthesiology in India. It has been my proud privilege to have been associated with the initiation of both the CISA (as President-Elect) and PEAK (as President). Both are exciting new beginnings, and will take the ISA to a new peak! I wish the CISA as well as PEAK all the very best.

DR. JIGEESHU V. DIVATIA

IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT AND ACADEMIC CHAIR, ISA VICE CHANCELLOR, CISA