SleepTalker July 2019

Jeremy Poppers, MD, PhD, FASE

    It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Paul Jules Poppers on June 10, 2019 at the age of 89.

    Paul was born in the Netherlands in June of 1929. He and his family survived the Holocaust by being hidden for nearly 2.5 years on a farm on the outskirts of the his hometown of Enschede, near the German border. After the war, he went on to study medicine at the University of Amsterdam, graduating in 1955. In 1958, Paul emigrated to the United States and completed an internship at Brookdale Hospital in 1959, an Anesthesiology residency at Columbia Presbyterian in 1961 and an NIH postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Physiology at Columbia in 1962. He remained on staff at Columbia until 1974, and was ultimately promoted to Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and director of Obstetric Anesthesiology. It was during this time at Columbia that he met Ann Feinberg, whom he later married on June 3, 1969.

    In 1974, Paul joined the Anesthesiology department at NYU as Professor and Vice Chairman, and remained there until 1979 when he was recruited to become the founding Chairman of Anesthesiology at Stony Brook Hospital on Long Island. He started the department with just a few attendings and, over the next 20 years, continued growing the department and residency program to more than 30 clinical and basic science faculty, and over 20 residents at the time of his retirement. Throughout his tenure as chairman, he emphasized world-class clinical care and resident education, while supporting the advancement of research in the field of neuroscience in the NIH-funded research laboratories within the department. In 1999, Paul retired as Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

    Over the years, Paul has served the Anesthesiology community through his work as a consultant in anesthesia to the United States Navy for more than 15 years, and for NASA in 1962 as they sought to safely monitor primates in the early stages of the space program. He served with distinction in both the ASA and NYSSA, chairing a number of committees, as well as at the PGA, where he was the General Meeting Chair from 1977 until 1980. Paul was appointed to several editorial boards and has over 200 publications to his credit. He received numerous awards in recognition of his contribution to the field of Anesthesiology, including Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1987.

    Paul Poppers will be remembered for being a true European gentleman-scholar. He was a man of excellence, honor, integrity, charity and beneficence. He portrayed these attributes with a refined and subdued elegance, making a lasting impact on the lives of his patients and the careers of so many. He is survived by his loving wife of 50 years, Ann, his sons, David Poppers MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (gastroenterology) at NYU Langone and Director of Quality and Strategic Initiatives at NYU’s Tisch Center for Men’s Health and Tisch Center for Women’s Health, and Jeremy Poppers MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Chief of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology at Stony Brook University, his daughters-in-law, Karen and Joy and his four adoring grandchildren, Ayelet, Benjamin, Alyssa and Joshua.

   

Richard Tenure, MD

    On Sunday June 9th our current CA-3 and DA-2 Residents graduated from residency at Stony Brook. It was a pleasure working with every single one of them. From calls, to nights out, to hanging out in the PACU, everyone will be missed. Here is a list of where everyone will be practicing or doing fellowship:

Tanya Ambrose, CRNA

   I’d like to recognize one of our colleagues for not only her help, but her exceptional knowledge and compassion dealing with patients. I’d like to share a story about our Anesthesia Tech Ms. Tamethia Bradley aka Tammy The Diva. I responded to a code called in an operating room. Upon entering the room, I saw Tammy doing compressions on the patient! Yes, there were nurses, residents and attendings in the room. I said to myself, wow, did she shove them out the way? (I say this in a very professional manner)

    In emergency situations there are people you want by your side. Tammy is one of them. She is the epitome of professionalism, compassion, dedication and a team player. There is never an order too tall. Her response is always ‘ok no problem’, despite her being at lunch, despite her being in another building. Please join me and honoring and thanking Ms. Tamethia Bradley for her work ethic.

Beverly Ann Gill, T&RII EP lab

    We had a patient who was s/p a TAVR and was to be d/c'd. It was noted she required a permanent pacemaker before she was to go home. She arrived in the EP lab. We were all busy setting the patient up, when Dr. Bharathi Scott noticed the patient had gone into asystole. Chest compressions were initiated. The anesthesia team intubated the patient and placed a left radial A line. EP doctor placed a RFV TPM. The patient did well.

    It was Dr Scott's quick professional assessment and management skills that helped save our patient.

    In June, we bade fond farewells to two faculty members.

Dr. Rany Makaryus has been at Stony Brook Medicine since his medical school days. He then did his Anesthesia Residency here as well. In his final residency year, Rany did a research rotation with Dr. Helene Benveniste. He continued this with a Research Fellowship with Helene at Brookhaven National Labs. He became a faculty member in 2010 and divided his time between clinical practice and research. He is well regarded as an anesthesiologist, teacher and mentor. His research on the effects of anesthetics on the developing brain has produced multiple publications in Anesthesiology and Frontiers in Neuroscience. Rany has decided to work closer to his home so he swap boring commuting time for fulfilling family time. We wish him the best possible future!

Dr. Marco Palmieri attended medical school at NYCOM. He joined our department for his Anesthesia Residency. He did a Pain Medicine Fellowship at Mount Sinai Medical Center and then joined our faculty in 2010 to work with the Chronic Pain team. In December 2015, Marco was appointed Director of the Center for Pain Management and in November 2017 was promoted to Clinical Associate Professor. We wish him the best in his new undertaking.

• Smith J, Probst S, Calandra C, Davis R, Sugimoto K, Nie L, Gan TJ, Bennett-Guerrero E. Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) program for lumbar spine fusion. Perioper Med (Lond). 2019 May 28;8:4
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• Noll E, Ohana M, Hengen M, Bennett-Guerrero E, Diana M, Giraudeau C, Pottecher J, Meyer N, Diemunsch P. Validation of MRI for Volumetric Quantification of Atelectasis in the Perioperative Period: An Experimental Study in Swine. Front Physiol. 2019 Jun 4;10:695

James P Dilger, PhD