SleepTalker July 2021

SleepTalker
Volume 36 Number 1 Stony Brook, NY  <       July 2021       > 
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Welcome Dr. Nada Resident Graduation Annual Awards CABG Program
LEND Grant Academic Research Evening AOBA/AOCA News SARAS
New Publications Photography Corner Where on Campus is That? Monthly Muscle Chillaxant
Dr. Nada, Chief of Regional Anesthesia Division

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

   I am pleased to welcome Dr. Eman Nada to the Department of Anesthesiology as Chief of Regional Anesthesiology, effective June 1, 2021. This is a newly named division, merged from the Division of Orthopedic and Plastic Surgery, as well as the Division of Acute Pain. Dr. Nada will replace Dr. Syed Azim, who has decided to step down as Chief, and will continue with the department focused more on clinical research. Dr. Christopher Page, previous division chief of Acute Pain, will continue to serve as the Medical Director of the Acute Pain Service.

   Eman earned a Doctorate of Anesthesia and Intensive Care from Alexandria University, Egypt. She completed a residency in anesthesiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas. In addition, she competed a fellowship in regional anesthesia and acute pain, and a fellowship in neuroanesthesia, both at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Eman is board-certified in anesthesiology. Most recently, Dr. Nada was a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, in the department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine.

   Over the years, Dr. Nada’s active teaching of residents has earned her several awards, including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Marc Wise Award for improving resident wellbeing, and the Original Research Award from the Midwest Resident Anesthesia Meeting. Eman has published numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts and co-edited a book on regional anesthesia and pain management. She has also co-authored book chapters in Problem Based Learning Discussions in Neuroanesthesia and Neurocritical Care and Anesthesiology: A Problem-Based Learning Approach. Eman is a reviewer for the Clinical Journal of Pain, Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology, Open Anesthesiology Journal, and PLOS One.

   Please join me in welcoming her to the faculty at Stony Brook.

   I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Syed Azim and Dr. Christopher Page for their exemplary leadership of their respective divisions for the past 11 and 12 years, respectively.

Resident Graduation
View the photos from graduation

  Congratulations to our graduates! What lies in store for their future?

Robert Chojnowski, M.D. - Pain Fellowship at Mount Sinai West

Youngil (Sam) Kim, M.D. - Private St. Catherine's Hospital, Long Island

Shuran Ma, M.D. - Pain Fellowship at Oregon Health and Science University

Josiah Miles, M.D. - Cardiac Anesthesiology Fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center

Duran Mitchell, M.D. - Pain Fellowship at Duke University

Jerimarie Pasiliao, M.D. - Private Practice, Southern California

Ravi Shah, M.D. - Pain Fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital

Ramiz Shuminov, M.D. - Mt. Sinai Queens, New York

Usama Siddique, M.D. - Regional Anesthesia Fellowship at Mt Sinai West

Adam Taft, M.D. - Cardiac Anesthesiology Fellowship at Maine Medical Center

David Guthrie, D.M.D. - Private Practice, Louisville, Kentucky

Allison Lee, D.D.S. - Private Practice, Dallas, Texas

Whitney Saarem, D.M.D. - Private Practice, Advanced Dental Anesthesia Services (NY/NJ/PA)

Annual Awards

   Here are the recipients of our annual awards! Congratulations!

• Chief Resident - Adam Taft, M.D.

• Chief Resident - Ravi Shah, M.D.

• Chief Resident - Josiah Miles, M.D.

• Chief Dental Resident - David Guthrie, D.M.D.

• Chief Dental Resident - Whitney Saarem, D.M.D.

• Resident of the Year - Adam Taft, M.D.

• Dental Resident of the Year - David Guthrie, D.M.D.

• Resident Teacher of the Year for Medical Students - Josiah Miles, M.D.

• CA-3 Team Player of the Year - Ramiz Shuminov, M.D.

• CA-2 Team Player of the Year - Carlos Figueroa, M.D.

• CA-1 Team Player of the Year - Jack Scorsese, D.O.

• CA-1 Team Player of the Year - Elliot Turkiew, M.D.

• Dental Resident Team Player of the Year - Allison Lee, D.D.S.

• Dental Resident Team Player of the Year - Whitney Saarem, D.M.D.

• Attending Teacher of the Year - Daryn Moller, M.D.

• Attending Teacher of the Year - Shaji Poovathoor, M.D.

• Attending Teacher of the Year - Jeremy Poppers, M.D.

• Attending Teacher of the Year for Medical Students - William Caldwell, D.O.

• Attending Teacher of the Year for Medical Students - Joy Schabel, M.D.

• Attending Teacher of the Year for Medical Students - Jeremy Poppers, M.D.

CABG Program

Jeremy S. Poppers MD PhD, FASE

   Dr. Tannous informed me that our CABG program has, once again, received the great honor of being recognized by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons with a 3-star accreditation. He is so happy and was kind enough to reach out to me to express his appreciation for our group’s efforts that have contributed to this recognition. We have a fantastic team - nurses, surgeons, perfusionists and anesthesiologists. We should all take pride in this distinction.

LEND Grant

Ralph Epstein, DDS

   Dr. Michelle S. Ballan, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, School of Social Welfare and her colleagues were awarded a grant to establish a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program here at Stony Brook. LEND programs are funded by the Health Resources & Services Administration through the Maternal & Child Health Bureau. Stony Brook was one of just three programs funded. I am one of the Core Faculty Members on the grant.

   The LEND grant provides ~$2.2 million of funding over 5 years to support trainees and faculty involved in the program. The LEND program will produce resources, research, and quality improvement to enhance education and quality of care for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders throughout the region. It will also provide a mechanism for coordinating and tracking core service delivery throughout Stony Brook to individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, providing essential metrics for identifying, benchmarking, and improving quality of care.

Academic Research Evening 2021

Elliott Bennett-Guerrero, MD

   Due to a scheduling issue, the new date for the Peter Glass Academic Research Evening is Tuesday, August 31, 2021. The event will be held in the MART from 3:30-8:00. Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Pamela Flood, MD from Stanford University Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine.

   The deadline for submission of abstracts is 5:00 pm, Monday, July 26, 2021. Please see the Call for Abstracts for complete information including eligibility and abstract formatting.

AOBA/AOCA News

Ursula Landman, DO

   I was a virtual oral board examiner for the AOBA ( American Osteopathic Board of Anesthesiology) orals on June 12. I attended multiple training sessions to learn the protocol. I also had an audio check with a tech consultant to get my audio working properly. This was not trivial as it took hours to find out the volume mixer settings. I learned new ways to get the audio working by having this volume mixer unmuted. The oral board examiner experience in 2021 was definitely much different than all my prior years of being an examiner in person. Unlike in-person exams, the sessions were recorded. Going forward, this is a good option because the examiner can go back and review answers given by the examinees. Candidates and examiners both save time and money for travel and lodging.

  On June 14th, I spoke at the AOCA (American Osteopathic College of Anesthesiologists) student forum. There were students from 20 Osteopathic medical schools. They asked a lot of fabulous questions regarding anesthesiology and rotations and studying overall. Many are looking forward to starting their clinical rotations. I love seeing all the interest that the students have and it truly brings me joy to teach them.

SARAS 2021
Srinivas Pentyala, PhD

   It is with great pleasure that I inform you about our 17th Annual “Science And Research Awareness Series” (SARAS) that will be held July (5-23). We started this summer program in 2004 with 21 students and 1 faculty, where students learn about innovative technologies and novel findings in the field of Biomedical Research. Interest in the program grew rapidly and now, we host 130 students from all over the country for 3-weeks at our University. Last year, we had to cancel SARAS because of the pandemic. This year, we organized the program to accommodate 60 students (250 students applied in the first 10 days of opening the registration) following strict COVID-19 safety rules and guidelines. I am proud to inform that we are the only program with In-person education in the STEM field this summer (other summer programs organized by our Competitors - Harvard, Yale, MIT, Hopkins etc. were canceled). Thanks to the enthusiastic support from our colleagues and the administration, we were able to plan SARAS this summer. More than 60 experts from clinical sciences, basic sciences, translational sciences, administration, law and business have volunteered to educate, excite and inspire the students. Please check out the program details by going to the SARAS website https://sites.google.com/a/stonybrook.edu/saras/. If you find any of the topics interesting (or never had a clue of what these topics and clinical or research areas are), you are more than welcome to attend the program that runs from July 5 to July 23 in MART Auditorium. This is “our” program being organized by “our department”, so drop by during the program and see what goes on in SARAS. Thanks for all your support in making SARAS one of the most sought-after summer programs of Biomedical Sciences in the country.

SARAS 2019 Students and Faculty
New Publications

Figure from Jin et al 2021

  • Thiele RH, Theodore DJ, Gan TJ. Outcome of Organ Dysfunction in the Perioperative Period. Anesth Analg. 2021 Jun 1
  • Jin Z, Daksla N, Gan TJ. Neurokinin-1 Antagonists for Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting. Drugs. 2021 Jun 9
  • Romeiser JL, Smith DM, Clouston SAP. Musical instrument engagement across the life course and episodic memory in late life: An analysis of 60 years of longitudinal data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. PLoS One. 2021 Jun 24;16(6)
  • Naftalovich R, Iskander AJ, Eloy JD, Tateosian VS, Naftalovich D. The Case for Bougie Consideration in Every Intubation. Air Med J. 2021 Jul-Aug;40(4):194
  • Beg T, Daoud BE, Richman DC. Preoperative optimization of patients undergoing interventional procedures: infrastructure, logistics, and evidence-based medicine. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2021 Aug 1;34(4):482-489
Photography Corner

James P. Dilger, PhD


The early seagull catches the crab
Where on Campus is That?

Tazeen Beg, MD


Monthly Muscle Chillaxant
We celebrated Darcy Halper's birthday!

SleepTalker, the Stony Brook Anesthesiology Newsletter is published by the Department of Anesthesiology
Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook, NY
Tong Joo Gan, M.D., MHS, FRCA, MBA, Chairman
Editorial Board: James P. Dilger, Ph.D.; Stephen A. Vitkun, M.D., M.B.A., Ph.D.; Marisa Barone-Citrano, M.A.; Ramanjot S. Kang, M.D.