SleepTalker January 2018

T.J. Gan, MD, MHS, FRCA, MBA

    I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Christopher Gallagher for his role as Residency Program Director over the past 9 years. He has contributed in many ways to the program. His innovative and novel ideas have made the Stony Brook Anesthesiology Residency Program one of the premier programs in the country. As a national leader in simulation, Dr. Gallagher has led the Department of Anesthesiology’s simulation and MOCA programs. His contributions to education extend beyond the departmental level. Dr. Gallagher has served as the Director of the Simulation Center for the Stony Brook School of Medicine and has volunteered endless hours teaching medical students in the simulation center and serving as the faculty advisor for the School of Medicine Simulation Club. He has taught simulation at both national and international conferences, and received the prestigious IARS Teacher of the Year Award. His educational videos posted on “Dr. Gallagher’s Neighborhood” have educated students and residents throughout the world and are some of the most viewed teaching videos on the web. As a prolific writer, Dr. Gallagher has authored several textbooks on simulation, board preparation, clinical core competencies, fictional books and his latest book, Wretire Wrong, a coloring book on how to retire right, not wrong - how fitting.

more photos from Chris's retirement luncheon

    Dr. Gallagher’s departmental, national and internal contributions to medical and anesthesia education have been extensive. We have been fortunate to have had Dr. Gallagher as a leader in our department for the past 11 years. I wish him the best of luck for his retirement and knowing Chris, he is likely to keep himself active in new undertakings.

Patient comments about our staff from the Press Ganey questionnaires:

   Great anesthesiologist - great work - very comfortable.

   Anesthesiologist was very detailed about what I should expect once I got to the OR. Very personable and funny.

   Anesthesia/Anesthesiologist VERY FRIENDLY - very caring.

   Dr. Barry Florence totally ROCKS!

   The anesthesiologist was extremely nice and calmed me down considering the fact that I'm terrified of needles.

   Dr. Sherwin Park and CRNA Nina Joseph were my anesthesia team. Both of them were highly professional, friendly. They did an excellent job.

   Anesthesia/Anesthesiologist Outstanding - out of 10, I would rate them a 12.

   The December 2017 issue of Anesthesiology includes an article by Dr. Helene Benveniste and her colleagues at Yale and Stony Brook (Drs. Ehab Al-Bizri, Rany Makaryus, and Stephen Probst). The article "Anesthesia with Dexmedetomidine and Low-dose Isoflurane Increases Solute Transport via the Glymphatic Pathway in Rat Brain When Compared with High-dose Isoflurane" was first published online in September. The article was featured in the ASA Newsletter and in the "This Month in Anesthesiology" section of the Journal. Listen to the audio version of the Editor's commentary below [credit].

Stephen Probst, MD

   Stony Brook recently welcomed Dr. Daniel M Birk from the University of Illinois at Chicago to the Department of Neurosurgery. Dr. Birk specializes is spinal surgery, including minimally invasive techniques. Dr Birk recently performed the first trocar directed lumbar spinal fusion ever at Stony Brook. This approach requires only four tiny incisions, minimizes post-operative pain and allows for a more rapid recovery than traditional, open surgery.

   Dr. Charles Mikell is one of very few neurosurgeons in the region performing minimally invasive MRI guided laser treatment of epilepsy and tumor. This procedure, using the Visualase or Monteris system, involves placing a tiny catheter in the operating room via a burrhole craniostomy then transferring the patient to MRI under general anesthesia where a laser is positioned to ablate a seizure focus or an unresectable tumor. Stony Brook has performed several of these cases in the past year with outstanding results.

   Stony Brook has established itself as a leader in acute stroke intervention and our cerebrovascular anesthesia section is well known in the region. Dr. Sofia Geralemou was invited to speak at the Post Graduate Assembly this year to discuss the nuts and bolts of establishing a cerebrovascular anesthesia program, management of mechanical thrombectomy for acute stroke, to address the current controversy over general anesthesia for these cases and to present current evidence of the effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy.

   Through the ongoing partnership of the Neurosurgical department and the Neuroanesthesia division, we continue to push boundaries and innovate collaboratively in this field.

James P. Dilger, PhD
    Our department was well represented at PGA71, the annual meeting of the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists. We presented 13 Medically Challenging Cases, two Posters, one Scientific Exhibit, three Focus Sessions, 7 PBLDs, 6 Scientific Panels, 4 Workshops and one Mini-workshop. In addition, Drs. TJ Gan, Zvi Jacob and Stephen Vitkin were Focus Session Moderators. Dr. Francis Stellaccio presented the keynote address for the 2017 Difficult Airway Workshop. In December's issue of Sleeptalker, we inadvertently omitted Dr. Sofia Geralemou from the presenters at the Scientific Panel: Non-Operating Room Anesthesia (NORA) Update. She spoke on "More Complex Procedures on Sicker Patients".

more photos from the PGA

    The 2nd Annual Alumni Reception was held on the snowy Saturday evening during the PGA. About 60 former and current members of the department gathered for food, wine, beer and memories. This year, we were treated to pleasant background piano music during the event. Our department's research successes were illustrated by a series of posters displayed around the room. Dr. TJ Gan spoke on the highlights of 2017 for the department. Dr. Stephen Vitkun quizzed the group with anesthesia history-related questions and awarded prizes to those with good memories (or rapid googling skills). Friendships were renewed, contacts were exchanged and a good time was had by all!

more photos from the Alumni Reception

    Dr. Gan extends his thanks to the Alumni Reception Organizing Committee: Ms. Marisa Barone-Citrano, Dr. Stephen Vitkun, Dr. Michelle DeLemos and Dr. James Dilger, for all the work they did to make this event such a success. Special thanks go to Ms. Marisa Barone-Citrano and Ms. ShellyAnn Noriega for their tireless efforts over several months coordinating everything, and then, on the big day, for decorating the room and greeting the guests. They, and Dr. DeLemos also extensively searched, phoned and messaged in order to locate many of our graduates.

    Dr. Jun Lin was invited to speak at the first Cancer Pharmacology Research Conference held at St. John's University in mid December. His talk, "Effects of Anesthetics on Cancer Cell Growth and Metastasis" opened the session on "Anesthetics, Opioids, and NSAIDs in Cancer Prevention and Treatment". Postdoc Dr. Ru Li from his lab, presented a poster, "Effects of Local Anesthetics on Breast Cancer Cell Viability and Migration" at the meeting.

Joseph Gnolfo III, CRNA

    National CRNA Week (January 21st -27th) is the AANA’s annual celebration of anesthesia patient safety and the nation’s 52,000+ Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists and student registered nurse anesthetists who provide approximately 43 million anesthetics each year. Here at Stony Brook we have 54 CRNAs (and growing) practicing as a vital part of an exceptional anesthesia department. Please join me in recognizing their strong work and tireless contribution to the institution and its patients. We would also like to welcome all of our new CRNAs to the team!!

Melissa A. Day, CRNA and and Josephine Pace, AT Specialist

    The anesthesia tech role has gone thru various changes this past year as we have worked to comply with the regulatory agencies. As we begin the New Year, we would like to take a moment to Thank everyone in the Anesthesia Department who has played a part in the orientation process and teaching of our 8 new Anesthesia Techs this past year.

    There were many Attending’s, CRNA’s, Anesthesia Techs and Residents who took the time to share their knowledge, guide, teach and answer questions as they learned the Anesthesia Tech role. Your time and dedication to teaching was appreciated by all. We are proud to be a part of the Anesthesia Team and appreciate the time everyone has taken to share their knowledge.

    We wish everyone a Healthy and Happy New Year!

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