Johns Hopkins Associate Professor of Anesthesiology Marek Mirski, along with his colleague Associate Professor David Gracias of Biomedical Engineering, were recently awarded a fully funded grant for their Therapeutics proposal submitted to the Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT) at Johns Hopkins. Their proposed project, "Development Of A Serotonin Nano-wire Electrode To Evaluate Synaptic Mechanisms Of Anticonvulsant Deep Brain Stimulation (dbs) In Anterior Thalamus," is one of four projects fully funded by INBT. Full Story >>

Johns Hopkins anesthesiologist Jerry Stonemetz and and co-editor Keith Ruskin recently published the first book dedicated to the topic of Anesthesia Information Management Systems, with chapters written by leading authorities in the field and useful case scenarios focusing on the ideal components of a fully automated record-keeping system. Anesthesia Informatics uses a case-based approach to review the subject in a practical manner and is written with the practicing physician in mind. with the ultimate goal of improving patient safety and health-system efficiency. Full Story >>

Celebrating significant service milestones with faculty and staff is always an eagerly anticipated fall event on the Johns Hopkins campus, but perhaps nowhere is this more true than in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. Hopkins Anesthesiology employees were recently feted at a special luncheon for employees celebrating special employment year milestones, held during the annual Employee Recognition week. Full Story >>

Paul Christo, M.D., M.B.A., Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and Director, Multidisciplinary Pain Fellowship, has been named as one of six new fellows of the Mayday Fund, a New York City-based foundation dedicated to alleviating the incidence, degree, and consequence of human physical pain. Established in 1992, the Mayday Fund is dedicated to further Shirley Steinman Katzenbach’s commitment to social and medical causes. Her special interest in the treatment of pain forms the core of the Fund’s mission.
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One of the many important roles that Dr. Michael Phelps enjoys as an Anesthesiology faculty member is that of welcoming the newest generation of Anesthesia Technicians for their Hopkins rotation. In part, his interest in this mentoring project stems from the fact that before he became a Johns Hopkins faculty member in the Department of Anesthesiology, Phelps began his career in medicine as a critical care technician. Now, as an anesthesiologist at one of the most prestigious academic medical centers in the country, he takes time out of a packed climical schedule to extend a warm welcome to the Anesthesia Technician program students from the Community College of Baltimore County. Full Story >>

The Johns Hopkins Anesthesiology Residency Program has a long tradition of training future health care leaders, and the current crop of residents is right on track. Chief Resident Dr. Matthew Crooks’ work with anesthesia residents now extends far past the walls of Johns Hopkins. In addition to being named one of the Departments’s two new Chief Residents, Crooks was recently honored with an appointment as the Resident Chair Elect of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA). In this new role he will work with residents from across the country, and in May 2009 he will take over as the new ASRA Resident Chair. Full Story >>

The Pain Division of Anesthesiology recently scored a major pain research "double hit" with the publication of two papers and editorial reviews in the same issue of Anesthesiology. Dr's. Steven Cohen and Robert Hurley's paper, titled "Randomized Placebo-controlled Study Evaluating Lateral Branch Radiofrequency Denervation for Sacroiliac Joint Pain" appears in the August 2008 issue. It was also the subject of an editorial by James P. Rathmell, M.D. titled "The Promise of an Effective Treatment for Sacroiliac-related Low Back Pain." The Cohen/Hurley paper was followed by a second paper by another Johns Hopkins Anesthesiology pain specialist team, Christopher L. Wu, M.D and colleague Shefali Agarwal, M.B.B.S., M.P.H. Full Story >>

Anesthesiologist Jerry Stonemetz is one clinician in the Johns Hopkins Operating Rooms who has discovered first hand that taking the "green" path in healthcare can be a win-win proposal. In the past year, Stonemetz led a project based in the operating rooms whose goal was to separate recyclable trash from medical waste. As a result of these efforts, Hopkins has less medical waste to dispose of cutting down on over a million pounds of waste each year.
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Well-equipped operating rooms and Molly the plastic "Sim Baby" are all part of the $5 million dollar state-of-the-art Johns Hopkins Simulation Center where Hopkins trainers test future doctors in lifelike scenarios. Elizabeth “Betsy” Hunt, director of the new Simulation Center and assistant professor in anesthesiology and critical care, knows the critical task for her in the new center is to challenge medical students and residents to take chances. She cites a study that found that elite figure skaters who fall down on the ice more often outperform others because they are more likely to take risks. “They got to be the best because they pushed themselves,” Hunt says. Full Story >>

The new Simulation Center in the Outpatient Center building will be the site of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Airway workshops. Upcoming dates will be posted on the ACCM web site. The workshop format for anesthesiology residents will consist of a short didactic session followed by stations for difficult airway simulation, and mannequin practice of a variety of airway devices. Full Story >>