David J. Wilkinson, M.B., B.S., F.R.C.A, Hon. F.C.A.R.C.S.I. .
Laureate of the History of Anesthesia 2008 of the Wood Library Museum for 2008.

The announcement at the September 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) that Dr. David Wilkinson, Consultant Anaesthetist to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, and former Honorary Treasurer of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI), had been elected as the 2008 Wood Library Museum (WL-M) Laureate of the History of Anesthesia, was received acclamation.

This is a unique honour in the field of the History of Anaesthesia.  The WL-M is the heritage division of the ASA.  The award was established in 1994.  It is made every four years as the result of a secret ballot of an international panel of assessors.  Every assessor studies detailed nomination submissions recording the literary and verbal presentational contributions of each candidate before voting.  David Wilkinson was the unanimous nominee of the President and Council of the AAGBI, supported by the Councils of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Council of the History of Anaesthesia Society.  Previous Laureates were, Gwenifer Wilson (Australia), in 1996, Norman A. Bergman (U.S.A.) and Thomas B. Boulton (United Kingdom), elected as joint Laureates in 2000, and Donald Caton (U.S.A.),elected in 2004.

The 2007 ASA Meeting also included the delivery of the eponymous W L-M Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture by Rod Westhorpe, F.R.C.A., F.A.N.Z.C.A. (Australia), an Overseas Member of the AAGBBI, and the book signing event for the publication of Volume 10 of the W L-M Careers in Anesthesiology Series.  This volume includes the autobiography of Thomas Boulton, F.R.C.A. (United Kingdom).