This award is conferred upon one academic anesthesiologist in the country (within 10 years of training) in recognition of outstanding research contributions to the field.

Congratulations, Dr. Kheterpal

Dr. Satya Krishna Ramachandran research finds that survival from cardiac arrest highest in the operating room or post-anesthesia care unit. Read the University of Michigan Health System press release

Congratulations, Dr. Ramachandran.

Dr. Kevin Tremper was interviewed last November for the The John W. Pender Collection of the Living History of Anesthesiology of the Wood Library–Museum. The interview is now published on the Wood Library–Museum Living.

Congratulations, Dr. Tremper

Dr. Jim Bagian was honored with the feature article in the periodical Yerevan. From the article:

This is one of those rare cases when the exclusivity of an article is not confined by the interview and the story. The word exclusive in this case may be used in several occasions: to define a personality, a man and his actions.

Read the entire article.

Dr. Richard Harris is hosting an international conference for the Society of Acupuncture Research in Ann Arbor this weekend. For more information, see the conference website

Further, Dr. Harris recently received notice that he was awarded a large NIH grant for his study Neuroimaging Approaches to Deconstructing Acupuncture for Chronic Pain.

Congratulations, Dr. Harris

With Steven P. Cohen of John Hopkins, Dr. Chad Brummet edited the new textbook Managing Pain: Essentials of Diagnosis and Treatment. The book features authors from all over the US and a few from outside the US, including many contributors from Michigan:

• Afton Hassett, PsyD and David Williams, PhD: Behavioral Interventions for Chronic Pain: Exercise and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
• Richard Harris, PhD and Suzanne Zick, ND, MPH (UM Family Medicine): Complementary and Alternative Medical Therapies for Pain
• Michael Sternberg, BS, Helen Baghdoyan, PhD, Ralph Lydic, PhD: A Circular Conundrum: Sleep Disruption Worsens Pain and Pain Medications Disrupt Sleep
• Chad Brummett, MD and Srinivas Chiravuri, MD: Chronic Post-surgical Pain
• Daniel Clauw, MD: Fibromyalgia and Other Central Pain States

Other University of Michigan authors:

• Kristine Phillips, MD, PhD (IM, Rheumatology): Osteoarthritis
• Wade Cooper, DO: Primary Headache
• Sawsan As-Sanie, MD

Congratulations to Helen A. Baghdoyan, Ph.D. for receiving a 2013 MICHR Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award. The Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) established this award last year to recognize and honor the efforts and accomplishments of faculty members who foster the intellectual, creative, scholarly, and professional growth of their students, fellows, and trainees in the areas of clinical and translational health and research. Dean Wolliscroft will present the award at the Research Education Symposium on March 15. The event is free and open to the public (with registration).

The American College of Critical Care Medicine (ACCM) Convocation/Society of Critical Care Medicine's (SCCM) awards presentation was held on Monday, January 21, 2013, in San Juan Puerto Rico in conjunction with SCCM's 42nd Critical Care Congress. During the Convocation ceremony, Dr James Blum was one of 58 SCCM members honored with the prestigious designation of Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM). The ACCM honors practitioners, researchers, administrators and educators who have made outstanding contributions to the collaborative field of critical care. Congratulations to Dr. Blum.

On Jan. 23 at a dinner in the Omenn Atrium of the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building, the University of Michigan Medical School honored some of its most esteemed educators with induction into The League of Educational Excellence – an honor established in 2013 to celebrate our faculty who have a passion for sharing their extensive knowledge through the instruction of students in our classrooms, laboratories, and hospitals and health centers. All inductees received a special medallion commemorating their membership in the inaugural class. The Department of Anesthesiology is very proud to have two faculty members inducted – Dr. George Mashour and Dr. Ted Sanford. Congratulations.

Here is a thank you card from the kids in the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Unit for whom we provide a holiday party each year, complete with live music, Santa, and gifts. In addition to purchasing the gifts on each child’s wish list we were able to buy items for the unit too. This is made possible from the participation of all our department members when you help in our fundraising efforts, either by donating your time, food, or money. Between the Holiday Greenery/Poinsettia Sale, Nacho/Taco Bar, and Bake/Book Sale we raised over $800.00. Thank you for your continued support.

Dr. Laurel Moore of the Department of Anesthesiology published a study on stroke after vascular surgery that was the cover article of Anesthesia & Analgesia in February 2013. The article by Moore and colleagues in the department also received editorial commentary and was a featured article on the educational website OpenAnesthesia.org, which is sponsored by the International Anesthesia Research Society.

Congratulations, Dr. Moore

Internationally known for research focusing on disparities in pain and health care, clinician variability in pain management decision-making, and developing policy and pain care disparities research agenda, Carmen R. Green, M.D., will deliver a public lecture on Jan. 21 as part of the University of Michigan’s 27th Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium. Dr. Green is a practicing pain medicine physician and anesthesiologist. See the Health System Headlines article for more details.

Ralph Lydic, Ph.D. has been appointed chair of External Advisory Council for The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). For more information, please see the UMHS announcement

Congratulations, Dr. Lydic.

Melissa Bauer's study on Maternal Sepsis (Sepsis Deaths Increasing in Delivery Room) was awarded as one of the top clinical abstracts at the ASA meeting this week. It was also highlighted in Headlines of MedPage.

Congratulations, Dr. Bauer.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. UnCheol Lee, who was informed that he has been selected for the John D. Michenfelder Young Investigator Award from the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology & Critical Care (SNACC).

Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. in Physics from Pohang University in South Korea, then completed his first postdoctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany. He has been a member of Dr. George Mashour's lab since 2008, first as a postdoctoral fellow and now as a junior faculty, and has made important contributions to the neuroscience of anesthesiology, as well as the study of consciousness.

The award honors Michenfelder, who was a pioneer in the study of cerebral blood flow and cerebral metabolism. As such, this is a meaningful award and the competition was reported to be quite tough this year. Dr. Lee will give a plenary lecture at the 40th annual SNACC meeting next month in Washington, D.C.

Congratulations Dr. Lee!

Dr George Mashour has accepted an invitation to join the Editorial Board of the journal SLEEP, the top journal for basic and clinical sciences in the field of sleep research.

Editorial Board members serve as primary reviewers of articles being considered for publication in SLEEP and provide scientific/scholarly leadership for SLEEP to ensure it publishes the best original science relevant to all areas of sleep research and sleep medicine internationally and evidence-based reviews of all areas important to sleep research and sleep medicine.

Congratulations, Dr. Mashour.

February 4-8, 2013, Hotel Fiesta Americana, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Best value for your CME dollars!

Focus on Difficult airway mangement, one-on-one ultrasound, hands-on regional percutaneous valve replacement and updates on monitoring.

Presented by the University of Michigan Medical School and Department of Anesthesiology

See the conference flyer, call the Office Conference Services at (734) 764-5297 for more details, or register online.

AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ has been applied for.

The Joint Council on Anesthesiology Examinations is pleased to appoint Dr. Jill Mhyre to a four-year term as a
Senior Editor.

More information may be found at the Health Systems Headlines website.

Congratulations, Dr. Mhyre.

Professor Lydic has been honored with the highest award conferred by the American Society of Anesthesiologists: the Excellence in Research Award. As per the ASA nomination request for this award:

The annual American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Award for Excellence in Research recognizes an individual for outstanding achievement in research that has or is likely to have an important impact on the practice of anesthesiology. The individual's work must represent a body of original, mature, and sustained contribution to the advancement of the science of anesthesiology.

More information may be found at the Health Systems Headlines website here and here.

Congratulations, Dr. Lydic

Dr. Norah Naughton has been inducted into the League of Clinical Excellence through the University of Michigan Medical School on March 15, 2012. More information may be obtained from the League of Clinical Excellence website.

The League of Clinical Excellence held their inaugural event inducting 31 physicians from the University of Michigan Medical School on March 15, 2012. These top physicians where those who provide world-class patient care as an important pillar of the tripartite of the mission of the University of Michigan Medical School. The award is to honor those physicians who put in long hours, make the critical life decisions and push the leading-edge of patient care on which the University of Michigan has earned their reputation.

Congratulations Dr. Naughton.

Please welcome the incoming intern class for the 2012 – 2013 year. Thanks to everyone who participated in the interviews and to everyone for making this a program that students want to be a part of.

The Education Office

Professor Dan Clauw, M.D. was announced as one of the first annual Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR) Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award recipients at the 2012 MICHR Research Education Symposium: Integrating Your Practice & Your Research, on Friday, March 23. More information may be found on the MICHR website

This Mentor Award was established to recognize and honor the efforts and accomplishments of faculty members who demonstrate consistent, high quality mentoring in areas of clinical and translational research. Successful mentors serve as advisor, teacher, advocate, sponsor, colleague, and collaborator and are also scholars with a demonstrated commitment to fostering the intellectual, creative, and professional growth of their students, fellows, and trainees. Professor Clauw clearly fits these criteria.

Congratulations to Professor Clauw.

Chad Brummett, M.D. has accepted an invitation to serve a 5-year term as one of twelve senior editors of the Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (RAPM) journal. Having served as an Associate Editor for the last two years, Dr. Brummett will assume the role in July, 2012. Cited in the invitation were his history of outstanding reviews and his expertise in pharmacology, basic science, outcome, and pain medicine.

Congratulations to Dr. Brummett.

Ralph Lydic, M.D. of the University of Michigan Health System, will be recognized as a Texas Tech University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences distinguished alumni later this year, for his career work related to sleep research.

Read the official press release

The University of Michigan’s Carmen R. Green, M.D., has been named to the new Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee to help address the economic and physical toll of chronic pain in America. More than 100 million Americans suffer from migraines, arthritis and other chronic pain conditions. To help address this problem, Congress directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Affordable Care Act, to create the committee made up of national experts in pain research and patient care.

Green is a professor of anesthesiology, obstetrics and gynecology, and health management and policy at the U-M Medical School and the U-M School of Public Health. Her research agenda focuses on access to health and pain care, pain assessment, management and outcomes, minority and women’s health, clinician decision making and health policy. She also conducts studies on health and pain disparities due to age, race/ethnicity, gender, class and geography.

For more details see the press release

Congratulations to Dr. Green.

The second annual Department of Anesthesiology Regional Anesthesia Workshop is being held in the Towsley Center on 12th May 2012, University of Michigan Health System. The course will cover basics of regional anesthesia and will be directed towards anesthesia residents, although in addition interns, fellows and faculty are all welcome. The program will include lectures and hands-on practical stations with live models.

To make arrangements to attend, please contact Tara Stevenson via phone 734-232-6358 or by email.

Click to view the workshop flier.

Every year, the Society for Technology in Anesthesia (STA) bestows the J. S. Gravenstein Award for lifetime achievement in the area of technology in anesthesia. The award is named for J. S. Nik Gravenstein, a founding member and former president of the STA. For over thirty years, Dr. Gravenstein has been a driving force in advancing anesthesia technology, patient simulation and anesthesia patient safety. His lifelong commitment to developing and teaching anesthesia technology embodies the values of the Society.

This year, the STA Board of Directors presented the Gravenstein Award to Dr. Kevin Tremper at the 2012 STA Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.

Chad Brummett (PI) received the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine's first grant supporting chronic pain research to study predictors of failure to derive pain relief following facet interventions in low back pain.

The central hypothesis is that there are patients with a phenotype consistent with altered central pain processing that will be less likely to benefit following the second most common procedure in interventional pain medicine. The pain research team hopes to explain a portion of the high failure rates that have previously been reported and aid clinicians in decision making.

Read more.

The University of Michigan Clinical Simulation Center (UMCSC) has received endorsement from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) ! The UMCSC joins 27 other esteemed centers from across the country as part of the ASA Simulation Education Network.

As the only ASA endorsed center in Michigan, we now have the opportunity to serve the needs of ASA members throughout the state. Starting in 2012, we will be offering Simulation Courses for the Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA) Part 4 Practice Performance Assessment and Improvement (PPAI).

Check the UM Department of Anesthesiology website in the next few weeks for further information regarding course details and registration. Please contact Lauryn Rochlen at rochlenl@med.umich.edu with any questions.

A recent paper in Circulation Research uses a rat model to show that innate exercise capacity can be linked to longevity.The lead author was Dr. Lauren Koch of the department of anesthesiology.

Read a summary of the article here.

George Mashour is co-principal investigator of a New England Journal study on intraoperative awareness, with collaborator Michael Avidan from Washington University as lead author.

This randomized controlled trial evaluated two methods for preventing consciousness and memory formation during surgery.

With Dr. Ralph Lydic, Dr. Mashour has also published a new textbook through Oxford University Press – Neuroscientific Foundations of Anesthesiology.

In addition, Dr. Mashour recently received the Presidential Scholar Award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists

Finally, Dr. George Mashour received the University of Michigan Postdoc Association's Excellence in Mentorship Award. The purpose of the award is to recognize U of M faculty who consistently provide exceptional support and leadership for the postdocs at the University of Michigan. Criteria for the award included: facilitation of productivity and highlighting work of trainees, commitment of time to trainees, creation of a positive work environment, and promotion of career development.

More than 65 mentors were nominated for the award across the institution. He was nominated for his excellent mentorship for Uncheol Lee, PhD and Dinesh Pal, PhD.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, February 5 – February 10, 2012, includes a focus on patient safety, maternal fetal health, and ultrasound for regional anesthesia. (conference flyer and registration form), or register online.

Pain medicine specialist Carmen R. Green, M.D., has joined the advisory committee of the Mayday Fund, a New York City foundation dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree, and consequences of physical pain.

Green is a professor of anesthesiology, obstetrics and gynecology, and health management and policy at the University of Michigan whose clinical and research interest is in disparities in pain.

She was a member of the inaugural class of the Mayday Fellowship, and following that became a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in 2006.

This is the seventh year of the fellowship program, which is designed to equip physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, scientists, policy experts, and legal scholars in pain management with the necessary skills to become effective advocates and spokespeople about pain issues in the United States and Canada.

The program is steered by the advisory committee made up of some of the nation's leading experts in the field.

Established in 1992, the Mayday Fund has supported many different projects, among them, surveys of public attitudes to pain and its treatment, role model and documentation programs, assistance to public and professional advocacy groups, and clinical and academic research.

For more information about the Mayday Fund and its fellowship, visit www.MaydayFellows.org

The practice of neurosurgery and neuroanesthesiology encompasses a wide range of cases, from major spine surgery, to aneurysm clipping and awake craniotomy. Case Studies in Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care provides a comprehensive view of real-world clinical practice. It contains almost 100 case presentations with accompanying focused discussions, covering the broad range of procedures and monitoring protocols involved in the care of the neurosurgical patient, including preoperative and postoperative care.

Editor Dr. George Mashour and the Division of Neuroanesthesiology at the University of Michigan led a multidisciplinary team of anesthesiologists, neurosurgeons, neurologists, neurointensivists and neuroradiologists from two different institutions to create this book.

Department researchers have recently published four studies:

• The most recent issue of Anesthesiology contains an article on the effective use of the Glidescope as a tool in difficult airway management. Aziz, Healy, Kheterpal, et al.
• The same issue describes a large study to evaluate the incidence of difficult intubation and to determine predictors of complications. Martin, Mhyre, Shanks, Tremper, Kheterpal.
• The American Cancer Society's publication Cancer contains a study on cancer-related chronic pain. Green, Hart-Johnson, Loeffler.
• The New England Journal of Medicine has an article that gives a better understanding of how anesthesia works. Lydic et al.

The 30th Annual Robert B. Sweet Memorial Conference will be held in Danto Auditorium, Cardiovascular Center, University of Michigan Health System on September 24, 2011.

To make arrangements to attend, call Margaret at 734-936-6986.

Click to view the conference flier or the conference brochure.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, January 31 – February 4, 2011, includes a focus on patient safety issues. (Conference Flyer)

You should now be able to use this web site from your iPhone/iPad, with two exceptions:

• The reference material, which uses Flash, and
• Any of the online videos, which are Flash movies.

Peter J. Cohen MD, who served as a professor and the chair of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan from 1976 to 1985, passed away on August 14, 2010 at his residence in Garrett Park, Maryland. He suffered from Pancreatic cancer, kidney ailment and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. Peter was 75.

Dr. Cohen had graduated with highest honors from Princeton University in 1956 and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in 1960. He completed his residency in anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center under the legendary and visionary anesthesiologist Robert D. Dripps M.D., whose philosophy about practice and teaching of modern anesthesiology influenced Peter greatly. After a period of service in the Army Medical Corps, he became professor of anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania, and then moved to the University of Colorado as the chair of anesthesiology. In 1976, Peter moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan as a professor and chair of anesthesiology when Robert B. Sweet M.D. the first and long serving celebrated chair at the University of Michigan decided to step down. After his retirement from anesthesia in 1992, Peter entered into a second career, earned a degree in law from Georgetown Law Center and subsequently became adjunct professor of law at Georgetown Law Center.

During his career in anesthesia, he published three books and numerous articles in the field, served as an editor of Anesthesiology, chair of the Society of Academic Anesthesia Chairmen, and an examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology. During his second career he became widely known as an expert in medical and policy issues raised by the medical use of marijuana. He published numerous legal articles and a book on drug abuse and the law. He was known for his wit, brilliance, kindness, and love of teaching. His numerous students, fellow faculty, friends and admirers will miss him.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Cynthia B. Cohen, an outstanding professor of Philosophy, three children Holly, Elizabeth and Christopher and six grandchildren.

Contributions may be made in his memory to the Physician Health Committee of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, payable to "MSAF," its charitable foundation, with the notation, "Physician Health Committee, Peter J. Cohen," at 1115 30th St., N.W. #100, Washington D.C. 20007.

A memorial gathering for Dr. Cohen is planned in Nourse Hall at St. Alban's Church in Washington, D.C. on November 27, 2010 at 2 pm.

Sujit Pandit M.D. Emeritus Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan

A study by Dr. Olubukola Nafiu, a pediatric anesthesiologist, has gotten attention for its novel approach to measuring children's body fat. Rather than BMI, neck circumference can indicate obesity-related health risks for children.

For more information, UMHS has posted this press release.

The findings were published in Pediatrics and reported by the LA Times, CNN, and Reuters news wire.

Click here for more information or to register for the conference.

We are hosting an alumnae/alumni reception Saturday evening from 7:00 to 10:00 PM.

An MPOG meeting will be held Sunday from 7:00 to 8:00 AM.

July 4, 2010, 5:00 to 9:00 PM

Graduation will be held in the Grand Ballroom, located on the 2nd floor of the Michigan Union. Cocktails will begin at six o'clock in the evening followed by dinner at seven o'clock. (Cash bar after dinner). To RSVP, please contact 734-936-4280.

Click on the image for pictures from last year's graduation.

Saturday, June 12, 2010, 6:30 AM.

Reddeman Farms Golf Club
5555 South Dancer Road, Chelsea, MI, 48118, (734) 475-3020

Contact Barbara Hammond: 936-9479

On June 3rd, the Department of Anesthesiology is hosting a symposium on the scientific study of consciousness, with a focus on how the states of sleep and general anesthesia can help elucidate the neural correlates of waking experience.

Speakers include renowned neurobiologist Dr. Allan Hobson from Harvard Medical School, whose work on rapid eye movement sleep led to a neuroscientific understanding of dreams that replaced Freud's psychoanalytic framework. Dr. Ursula Voss from the University of Bonn, Germany, will present her fascinating work on lucid dreaming and its implications for consciousness. Dr. Michael Alkire is an international expert on consciousness and anesthesia and will present work on the neuroimaging of these states. Finally, Dr. George Mashour of the Department of Anesthesiology, will discuss a complex systems approach to understanding consciousness and anesthesia.

Dr. Ralph Lydic, an internationally renowned sleep neurobiologist, has a played a key role in organizing this exciting symposium.

The 13th Annual Practical Updates in Anesthesiology in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico recently completed. Click here to go to the conference schedule, where you can download presentations and handouts. You can also click here for a printable version of the schedule.

University of Michigan Medical Student Ariana Nelson, together with three other Michigan researchers – Alanna Battersby, Helen Baghdoyan and Ralph Lydic – has written the lead article in the December issue of Anesthesiology. The article describes the adenosinergic link between opiates, sleep, and pain.

Opioids are a mainstay of pain management yet they have a number of unwanted side effects. One poorly understood side effect is sleep disruption. Although patients receiving opioids appear to be sleepy, EEG measures show that opioids slow the EEG, blunt wakefulness, inhibit the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep, and decrease the restorative phase of non-REM sleep. This is a problem for pain management because sleep disruption enhances both pain and opioid requirement. What is needed, and presently lacking, are drugs that can diminish pain without disrupting sleep.

The rational development of such drugs will come from understanding the brain mechanisms by which opioids cause sleep disruption. Brain levels of the chemical adenosine are positively correlated with sleep, and blocking adenosine receptors with chemicals like caffeine promote wakefulness. The Nelson et al paper shows for the first time that in areas of the brain known to regulate sleep, opioids decrease adenosine. This finding supports the interpretation that decreasing brain adenosine is one mechanism by which opioids disrupt sleep. Additionally, the paper shows that the opioid-induced decrease in adenosine can be blocked by co-administration of drugs that prevent the enzymatic degradation of adenosine. Thus, these data point the way for the development of countermeasures that may be used clinically to diminish one unwanted side effect of opioids.

1. Currently patients with H1N1 are flagged in ORMIS as ARP (antibiotic resistance precautions). The specifics of the ARP (H1N1, MRSA, etc) are in the microbiology section of Careweb- you may have to search for it. In general when ARP is identified the preop nurses will have already located the specific offending organism, but in some cases you may have to do it yourself. We are trying to make it much more obvious and easy, but this is the situation as it currently stands.
2. Patients with H1N1 will only come to the OR for urgent / emergent procedures. Elective procedures will be deferred until the influenza has cleared. As such it is anticipated that there will be more suctioning, more aerosolized fluids, and more mess than in elective cases.
3. Because of this it is current policy that N95 masks will be worn by everyone in the OR with an H1N1 patient. These masks are available from the OR nurses- they have a stock. If you have been fit for an N95 mask, great; otherwise wear one anyway.
4. Patients with H1N1 will go direct to the OR from their rooms or the ICU. Postoperatively they will go directly from the OR to the ICU or will go to the PACU isolation rooms; if neither of those is available they will be recovered in an operating room. Obviously this will pose an issue for am cases at UH when ECTs are in progress, so planning and flexibility will be essential.
5. Intubations, codes, and near-codes of patients with H1N1 should be performed wearing N95 masks regardless of location.
6. It behooves us to get used to managing these patients now while there arent too many; it is anticipated that the caseloads will go up markedly this fall or winter. Stand by for changes as we gain more experience in dealing with the situation.
7. For questions please see Dr. Turner or Professor Tremper.

OR Policy

General H1N1 information