SleepTalker August 2020

  We would like to welcome Christopher M. Gidicsin, MD to Stony Brook Anesthesiology. Dr. Gidicsin is a graduate of Hofstra-Northwell School of Medicine and did his Anesthesiology Residency at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is joining the General Division.

  Dr. Gidicsin complements his clinical expertise with a background in research. While an undergrad at Boston University, he spent a semester in Ireland assisting in a study that examined exercise physiology in patients with Cystic Fibrosis. Within his school's Psychology Department, he studied visual processing in autistic individuals. After graduation, he spent two years working as a technician at the MGH in Boston where he worked on the Harvard Aging Brain Study. Most recently, as a resident he was on the Eliasberg Scholar Research Track. He worked on two projects. The first concerned the role of sleep quality and cognition in the development of post-operative cognitive dysfunction. The second was directed towards the utility of a pre-rotation simulation session in resident comfort and proficiency performing common regional anesthesia nerve blocks. Dr. Gidicsin has published several manuscripts from these projects and others are in preparation. He was also involved in a study just published in Anesthesiology, "Differential Ventilation Using Flow Control Valves as a Potential Bridge to Full Ventilatory Support during the COVID-19 Crisis: From Bench to Bedside."

James P. Dilger, PhD

  Our Visiting Professor this month is Amanda J. Rhee, MD, MS. Dr. Rhee is currently Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Dr. Rhee received her MD from Tufts University School of Medicine. She did a General Surgery Internship and Residency at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. Dr. Rhee continued witha residency in anesthesiology at Montefiore Medical Center. She returned to Mout Sinai as a Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellow. Recently, she obtained an MS in Health Care Delivery Leadership from Icahn School of Medicine.

  Dr. Rhee's research is focused on designing and implementing strategies that address performance improvement, quality assurance, and process design needs. For example, she led an effort to create and implement a bloodless surgery program, including for cardiac surgery patients. This year, she led the effort to create and execute clinical operations for building off-site locations for Mount Sinai Health System during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

  Dr. Rhee will make two presentations during her virtual visit to Stony Brook. On Tuesday, August 11, she will speak to the residents on "Alternate Care Locations: Experience Setting up Off-Site Locations During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City". The following day, she will present to the department at Grand Rounds "Preventing Infections Recent Evidence and Recommendations Affecting Anesthesia Practice".

  Department members made three presentations at the Perioperative Medicine Summit in Orlando in March.

  Our virtual presentations for the IARS 2020 meeting were:

Srini, Li and Jim in 2016

James P. Dilger, PhD

  Occasionally, I hear from former students and/or colleagues who have some good news to share. In July, I heard from Dr. Li Ma. Some of you may remember her. Li worked in the lab of Dr. Lixin Liu. Together with Dr. Mario Rebecchi, they published a paper, "Restoring Pharmacologic Preconditioning in the Aging Heart: Role of Mitophagy/Autophagy". In addition, Li and I co-wrote a book chapter on "Antimicrobial Peptides as Potential Therapy for Gastrointestinal Cancers". Li left Stony Brook in 2016 for a teaching position in medical pharmacology at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. I was delighted to hear that she has been promoted to Associate Professor! Fantastic news!

James P. Dilger, PhD