Reflections on 12 Years in the WFSA Leadership
Article from NZ Anaesthesia Issue 69, August 2024.
Read the full magazine here.
By Associate Professor Wayne Morriss
Immediate Past President of the WFSA
In March, at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in Singapore, I finished my term as President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA).
It was a time of mixed emotions – I had devoted a huge amount of time and energy to various leadership roles in WFSA during the previous 12 years and felt a mixture of pride, satisfaction and some sadness as my time in the WFSA leadership came to an end.
The last few months have provided an opportunity for me to reflect on my time in our specialty’s global federation. WFSA has come a long way in the last decade, and it
has been exciting for me to represent New Zealand and to play a leading role in the
WFSA’s transformation. It is also a good time to celebrate some of the achievements of the last 12 years.
The WFSA and becoming President
The WFSA is an amazing organisation, but its importance is not always understood by individual anaesthetists (anesthesiologists), especially those working in well-resourced countries. It is a unique, professional membership organisation, currently made up of 141 national (or multinational) member societies and representing anesthesiologists in 150 countries. The mission of WFSA is to unite and empower anaesthesiologists around the world to improve patient care.
It has an official liaison role with the World Health Organization (WHO) and is the voice of our specialty at key events such as the World Health Assembly (WHA). My involvement with WFSA started in 2008, when I was selected as a member of the Education Committee. In 2012, at the World Congress in Buenos Aires, I became Chair of the Education Committee and a member of the WFSA Board and Council. In 2016, in Hong Kong, I was elected Director of Programmes, and in 2020, I became President Elect after virtual elections during the height of the pandemic. My term as President started in July 2022.
It felt like a big deal to be elected WFSA President by colleagues from all around the world. I was the 19th President since the WFSA was formed in 1955, and I was following in the footsteps of people like Harold Griffith, John Bonica, Michael Vickers, Kester Brown and Angela Enright. I was only the fourth from the southern hemisphere, and the first from New Zealand.
A transformational time
In 2012, when I joined the Board (or Management Group as it was then known), there was only one paid employee in London. Despite some excellent educational work, the organisation was struggling to make an impact with its advocacy work, and engagement with member societies was patchy. In 2013, the Board, under the presidency of David Wilkinson (UK), took the plunge and employed WFSA’s first CEO, Julian Gore-Booth. What followed was a time of rapid change, with a restructuring of the organisation, the development of a highly effective secretariat, and strengthening of WFSA’s main roles – education, advocacy and working together.
The WFSA’s educational offerings, which are freely available to colleagues everywhere in the world, have been strengthened over the last decade. These include our:
- Fellowships (short subspecialty attachments aimed at developing leaders and teachers);
- Scholarships for younger colleagues to attend major conferences;
- Publications such as Anaesthesia Tutorial of the Week and Update in Anaesthesia;
- Short courses such as SAFE Obstetric Anaesthesia and SAFE Paediatric Anaesthesia.
During my time as Chair of the Education Committee, we doubled the number of fellowships and rolled out a range of short courses, mainly in low-resource countries.
We have made great strides with advocacy and have highlighted the importance of anaesthesia in global health. We played an important role in publicising the work of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery and supported WHO work on strengthening anaesthesia and surgical care. WFSA has now made multiple statements at the World Health Assembly and WHO regional meetings on issues important to anesthesiologists everywhere – such as workforce well-being and adequate resourcing for our specialty.
We now have much more effective engagement with member societies and have developed valuable relationships with other organisations and funders. During my time on the Board, I attended multiple valuable meetings with the leaderships of national societies in all regions of the world – our region, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas – and large organisations such as the American Society, ESAIC, the Latin American Confederation (CLASA). We have worked with Lifebox and other organisations to distribute oximeters
around the world and are now helping with the roll-out of a robust, reasonable-cost capnometer.
Busy at the top
The last decade has been very busy for me personally – I’ve been effectively doing two full-time jobs – and the last two years have been particularly busy. I tried to make my overseas travel as efficient as possible and combined numerous trips, but I was overseas for over 20 weeks in 2023. During the year, I gave 26 talks (including 12 virtual presentations) in countries as diverse as Brazil, Azerbaijan, India, United States, Indonesia and Tanzania. I always had an overflowing email inbox and New Zealand’s time zone made scheduling of frequent Zoom meetings challenging. Many thanks to my Christchurch Hospital colleagues for their tolerance and support.
As President, I was very aware that I was carrying on the great work of other recent presidents and other volunteers. David Wilkinson (UK) led WFSA during my first four years on the Board, followed by Gonzalo Barreiro (Uruguay, 2016-2018), Jannicke Mellin-Olsen (Norway, 2018-2020), and Adrian Gelb (USA, 2020-2022). And, of course, it’s a team effort. There isn’t space to list all the Board members during the last 12 years, but I am particularly grateful to Alan Merry (New Zealand, 2012-2020) and the Board members during my term – Davy Cheng (China), Daniela Filipescu (Romania), Adrian Gelb (USA), Emilia Guasch (Spain), Walid Habre (Switzerland), Carolina Haylock-Loor (Honduras), and Mauricio Vasco (Colombia).
The work of WFSA’s Board, Council and Committees is supported by a hard-working and productive Secretariat of thirteen, based in the UK and Spain. Kristine Stave (who previously worked for Lifebox) took over from Julian as CEO in 2022 and is doing an amazing job as leader of the Secretariat team.
Some highlights
There have been many highlights during my time with WFSA. While I was Chair of the Education Committee, I got to know many of the fellowship programme teachers around the world, as well as the trainees, many of whom are now in leadership and teaching positions. I was the lead author of WFSA’s Position Statement on Anaesthesiology and Universal Health Coverage which was approved by member societies at the World Congress (WCA) in Hong Kong and was the springboard for our advocacy work at WHO. I attended the World Health Assembly in Geneva on three occasions and presented two statements on behalf of the global anaesthesiology community during plenary sessions.
Peter Kempthorne (also from Christchurch) and I were the lead authors of the Global Anaesthesia Workforce Survey which, for the first time, documented our global workforce and highlighted massive discrepancies between regions. This publication was essential for our advocacy work with governments and WHO. I also co-authored a revision of the WHO-WFSA International Standards for a Safe Practice of Anesthesia, along with Adrian Gelb and Alan Merry. This document has also played a very important role in our advocacy efforts.
It has been satisfying to see some of the benefits of our structural changes, including improved governance and increased member society engagement. WFSA weathered the COVID storm in 2020-2023, and successfully “pivoted” from a planned in-person WCA in Prague in 2020 to a fully virtual congress in 2021. During my presidency, we developed WFSA’s strategic priorities for 2023-2028, and worked on a more flexible, modern constitution. This work is not always very exciting but is vital for the effective functioning of a membership
organisation like WFSA.
The final highlight for me was a successful WCA in Singapore in March. I was the Co-Chair of the Congress Organising Committee (along with Prof Chan Yew Weng from Singapore) and, not surprisingly, it was a lot of work. We faced a range of challenges before the WCA, but, in the end, we had a very successful congress with over 5,000 in-person attendees from
142 countries, and 525 faculty from 73 countries. The Singapore WCA was also our first opportunity to hold a face-to-face General Assembly since Hong Kong in 2016. I chaired the meeting, and it was very satisfying when member societies approved a range of important constitutional changes.
Life post-WFSA
At the closing ceremony of the WCA, I was delighted to hand over the presidency to my colleague and good friend, Daniela Filipescu (Romania). I know that Daniela, the new Board, the Council and Committees, other volunteers and Secretariat will continue to do a great job working on behalf of colleagues all around the globe. It’s a good feeling.
I’m still working full-time at Christchurch Hospital but will likely be involved in some project work from time to time, such as SAFE and the Essential Pain Management (EPM) programme. As Immediate Past President, I’ve got several speaking engagements lined up, including lectures at conferences in South Africa and South Korea, and a number of writing assignments. And, of course, I hope to see many of you at the next WCA in Marrakech, Morocco in 2026.
WFSA brings our global specialty together, and it has been an honour to be WFSA President. Many thanks to family, friends and colleagues for supporting me in this work.
Photos: From top
A/Prof Wayne Morriss with Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, May 2023.
WFSA Board 2022-2024: Prof Davy Cheng (China), Dr Mauricio Vasco (Colombia), Prof Walid Habre (Switzerland), Prof Adrian Gelb (USA), Prof Daniela Filipescu (Romania), Dr Emilia Guasch (Spain), A/Prof Wayne Morriss (NZ), Dr Carolina Haylock Loor (Honduras).
Interview on Azerbaijani TV, Baku, Azerbaijan, December 2023.
WCA 2024 Welcome Ceremony with WFSA Distinguished Service Award winners Dr Jannicke Mellin-Olsen (Norway), Dr Gertrude Marun (Papua New Guinea), Dr Hazel Mumphansha (Zambia).
