Physicians specializing in anesthesia struggled for decades to achieve the same respect accorded to other medical specialties. On a winter morning early in 1946, 29-year-old Merel Harmel walked out of the operating room devastated. Harmel ’43, had just supervised Olive Berger, the Hospital’s chief nurse anesthetist, as she administered anesthesia to a child undergoing one of chief surgeon Alfred Blalock’s famous “blue baby” operations. Full Story >>

Patient safety expert Dr. Peter Pronovost delivered a dramatic call to arms to his fellow anesthesiologists during his delivery of the prestigious Rovenstine lecture gathered at the 2009 Annual Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). The lecture is an annual event reserved for prominent leaders in our field, and Pronovost facilely delivered a 48th jewel to the audience. As ACCM’s Director Dr. John Ulatowski commented, "Peter demonstrated on the national stage his and your accomplishments to change the face of anesthesiology today and create new missions for the future. His leadership at the national and international level shows we can make a difference in population health and our effect goes beyond singular treatments in individual ORs, ICU and pain treatment rooms inside of ACCM and JHH. He challenged all in attendance to join in a larger venue of health care delivery than tradition would define for anesthesiologists." Full Story >>

In a troubled economy, raising $11 million dollars for a start up is no small feat, but researcher Dr. Dan Berkowitz from the Johns Hopkins Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine has done just that. Arginetix, a Lutherville biotech company of which he is a Scientific Founder, is developing small molecule inhibitors of the enzyme arginase for the treatment of endothelial dysfunction, including pulmonary arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis and asthma. In other words, drugs that could someday treat cancer, asthma and high blood pressure. Arginetix hopes to test its drugs with human clinical trials in the next two years, and if the company is acquired by a large pharmaceutical company, these new drugs may be available to patients within 5-6 years. Full Story >>

Dr. William Merritt M.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and head of the liver transplant anesthesia team at Johns Hopkins since 1987, recently received the Distinguished Service Award from the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS) at their annual meeting, this year in New York City. He is one of the five original founders of the Society, served as its first Secretary/Treasurer, and was President of the ILTS from 1999-2001. Full Story >>

Military personnel evacuated out of Iraq and Afghanistan because of back pain are unlikely to return to the line of duty regardless of the treatment they receive, according to research led by Johns Hopkins pain management specialist Steven P. Cohen, M.D., associate professor of anesthesiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. In a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers found that just 13 percent of service members who left their units with back pain as their primary diagnosis eventually returned to duty in the field. “The whole mission of the medical corps for the military is to preserve unit strength, to keep people doing what they’re doing,” says Dr. Cohen. “If you have only a 13 percent success rate, this is a failure. There’s a systemic problem.” Full Story >>

Critical care researchers are turning attention to what they believe is a treatable complication developed by many who spend days or weeks confined to an ICU bed: debilitating muscle weakness that can linger long after hospital discharge. “Patients who develop muscle weakness while they’re critically ill do much worse,” says Robert D. Stevens, M.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine, neurology, neurosurgery and radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “They have higher mortality, their stay in the ICU is prolonged, their stay in the hospital is prolonged. They incur serious costs. Some of these patients in the long run remain weak and are unable to resume physical activities as before.” Full Story >>

Thirty million surgical procedures are performed in the US each year. All of these patients require preoperative assessment, intraoperative management, and postoperative care. The age and medical complexity of the patient population is increasing, which mandates an up-to-date knowledge base for effective provision of clinical care. The Johns Hopkins Perioperative Management course continues to be the established leader in the field of perioperative medicine. Every year the body of peer-reviewed literature on this topic expands, and we experience a growth in the number of textbooks and CME courses dedicated to this topic. Full Story >>

The 11th Annual ACCM Research Day will be held on Monday, December 14th, 2009 in the Turner Concourse from 3-7 P.M. The format of the Research Day event will be somewhat different from that in years past. Abstracts will be grouped by category after submission to promote discussions in breakout groups during the event. More information on the new format will be provided in a later email. On Tuesday, December 15th, a special seminar will be given by guest speaker Keith Burridge, PhD, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Full Story >>

The Wilmer Eye Institute begins a whole new era with the opening of the new $105 million Robert H. and Clarice Smith Building. Home to six of the most modern ophthalmic operating rooms in the world, Wilmer’s new home is now capable of performing 50 percent more procedures each day. With five floors dedicated to research, Wilmer has also more than doubled the space for what is already the largest eye-related research program in the country. Full Story >>