SleepTalker February 2020

Ellen Steinberg, MD, Chair of the Endowment Committee

  As many of you already know, our founding Chairman, Dr. Paul Jules Poppers, passed away on June 20, 2019, at the age of 89. Dr. Poppers led a remarkable life and career. He was born in the Netherlands in 1929 and he and his family survived the Holocaust by going into hiding on a farm for more than two years. After the war, he went on to complete his medical degree at the University of Amsterdam in 1955 and then came to the United States for residency training. He was a faculty member at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital from 1963-1974 and then joined the faculty at NYU as Professor and Vice Chairman. He was recruited to Chair the Department of Anesthesiology in the newly formed Stony Brook School of Medicine in 1980.

  During his 20 year tenure as Chairman of our department, he remained committed to excellence in clinical care and research, recruiting top-flight faculty physicians, developing a competitive Residency Training Program and attracting NIH-supported basic scientists. By the time Dr. Poppers retired as a SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1999, he had transformed our department, growing it from a handful of faculty members to include more than 30 clinical and basic science faculty and over 20 residents. We are fortunate that the legacy of Dr. Paul Poppers lives on in our department through his son, Jeremy Poppers, MD, PhD who is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Chief of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology.

  Our department and the family of Dr. Paul Poppers intend to honor his memory by establishing an endowed lectureship, which will enable the department to invite a renowned guest speaker each year to deliver the Paul J. Poppers Distinguished Lecture. This fund is administered through the Stony Brook Foundation and is established in perpetuity. To launch this effort, the Poppers family has agreed to seed the fund with a donation of $50,000, which will be matched by our department.

  In addition, our department has agreed to match all other private donations we receive up to $25,000. We invite you to participate with a gift of your own toward the fund. All donations are welcome. Whatever you choose to give, please know that the amount of your donation will never be shared with either the department of the family.

  Visit our Make a Gift to Anesthesiology page for details about how to contribute to the endowment.

We were honored to have members of the Poppers family with us at the Alumni Reception:
Dr. Poppers' wife Ann, and their sons David and Jeremy.

Joseph Gnolfo III, DNP, MS, ACNP, CRNA

   I am writing to recognize a display of vigilance and teamwork I witnessed that without a doubt saved a life. On 12/19 in the E.P. lab a patient’s vancomycin was started by EP staff to cover a device implantation, no sedation or anesthesia had been given at this point. The patient expressed not feeling well and shortly afterwards her condition quickly deteriorated. The SRNA (Shaleha Khalique) and CRNA (Loren Crowley) in the room quickly recognized the seriousness of the situation and began to treat a suspected anaphylactic reaction to the vancomycin while alerting the team. By the time I had arrived back to EP after being alerted of the event the team including Loren, Shaleha, and Dr. Bennett-Guerrero were in full swing and working together. A code blue was eventually called and the instant response by additional members of the anesthesia team including Dr. Poovathoor and Dr. Kowal to the EP lab helped to streamline care. After we had continued to perform many interventions and began the implementation of ACLS the patient’s condition began to stabilize. There is no doubt that the quick recognition, diagnosis, and action by Loren and Shaleha allowed to team to provide lifesaving actions. At that moment I was reminded how honored and privileged I am to be part of the Stony Brook Anesthesia team. I feel the definition below is an appropriate portrayal of our team’s abilities.

Elite: a select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society.

Drs. TJ Gan and Joy Schabel received this note from a patient

   I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for the treatment I received by one of your residents, Dr. Adam Wetcher. I apologize for the lateness in my note, but perhaps that demonstrates how lasting of an impression Dr. Wetcher left on me. On May 26-27, 2018, Dr. Wetcher assisted in the labor and cesarean delivery of my son. From the moment Dr. Wetcher entered the room to explain the epidural procedure to the assistance he provided throughout the cesarean delivery he was kind, informative and patient. He truly provided both me and my husband with the assurance that my son and I were in good hands.

   So often the positive actions of doctors go unrecognized, as I am sure you are frequently contacted with complaints opposed to accolades. I wanted to take the time to share the extremely positive experience I had with Dr. Wetcher and to thank him for going above and beyond to provide care and comfort during a very stressful time.

Dr. TJ Gan and CRNA Joseph Gnolfo received this message from a patient.

   I had the pleasure of being a patient of Nancy Perez, CRNA on November 4th. I was having a hip replacement and was quite anxious but fortunately, Nancy was the CRNA on my case. She is pleasant, caring and professional. I cannot tell you how much of a difference it made for me to have her take care of me!

Srinivas Pentyala, PhD

   Our department is sponsoring the 17th Annual Science And Research Awareness Series (SARAS) in July 2020. This summer program runs for 3 weeks (July 6 to 24) and consists of lectures, experts views, video workshops and hands on workshops. This program is designed for high school and undergraduate students. Program details, photos, students and parents comments, video excerpts and application material can be found at the SARAS website.

Scenes from SARAS 2019

RIchard Tenure, MD

    One of the members of my firehouse is going to be hosting a Pediatric Cancer Fundraiser in Smithtown in March.

• Awad H, Bai M, Ramadan ME, Shabsigh A, Backes F, Craven MA, Abdel-Rasoul M, Bergese SD, Slabaugh M. The Effect of Increased Intraocular Pressure During Steep Trendelenburg Positioning in Robotic Prostatectomy and Hysterectomy on Structural and Functional Ocular Parameters. Anesth Analg. 2019 Dec 9
• Roberts SM, Klick J, Fischl A, King TS, Cios TJ. A Comparison of Transesophageal to Transthoracic Echocardiographic Measures of Right Ventricular Function. J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2019 Dec 6
• Pappada SM, Owais MH, Cameron BD, Jaume J, Mavarez Martinez A, Tripathi R, Papadimos T. An Artificial Neural Network-based Predictive Model to Support Optimization of Inpatient Glycemic Control. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2019 Nov 5
• Jin Z, Liu J, Li R, Gan TJ, He Y, Lin J. Single injection Quadratus Lumborum block for postoperative analgesia in adult surgical population: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Anesth. 2020 Jan 19;62:109715
• Carbonetti G, Converso C, Clement T, Wang C, Trotman LC, Ojima I, Kaczocha M. Docetaxel/cabazitaxel and fatty acid binding protein 5 inhibitors produce synergistic inhibition of prostate cancer growth. Prostate. 2020 Jan;80(1):88-98
• Wong J, An D, Urman RD, Warner DO, Tønnesen H, Raveendran R, Abdullah HR, Pfeifer K, Maa J, Finegan B, Li E, Webb A, Edwards AF, Preston P, Bentov N, Richman DC, Chung F. Society for Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement (SPAQI) Consensus Statement on Perioperative Smoking Cessation. Anesth Analg. 2019 Nov 18
• Maloney LM, Seidman PA, Zach KM, Tewari NK, Tito MF, Page CR. Use of gelatin puzzle phantoms to teach medical students isolated ultrasound transducer movements and fundamental concepts. BMC Med Educ. 2020 Jan 29;20(1):26
• Li R, Huang Y, Lin J. Distinct effects of general anesthetics on lung metastasis mediated by IL-6/JAK/STAT3 pathway in mouse models. Nat Commun. 2020 Jan 31;11(1):642