 Volume 24 Number 2 Stony Brook, NY June 2015
  
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We bade farewell to the Resident Class of 2015 at the Graduation Party on May 31 at the Port Jefferson Country Club. We asked each graduate to tell us about their future plans and include a few words about their memories of Stony Brook if they wished to. Daniel Brezina, M.D. Pediatric fellowship. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH Siddharth Dave, M.D. Critical care fellowship. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN Eric DeVeaux, M.D. Private practice. New Jersey Carol Eisenstat, M.D. Chief Resident "I am honored to have served as chief resident. I will be joining a private anesthesiologist practice in NJ this Fall. I would like to thank my fellow classmates, mentors, the department's attendings and my family for the support and guidance throughout residency." Beate Evans, M.D. Pediatric fellowship. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH Ahmed Haque, M.D. Chief Resident "As my days at Stony Brook come to an end and I move on to start my Chronic Pain fellowship at the University of Vermont, I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone that has played such a vital part in bringing me to this point. I am fully aware that there are just too many people that have played a hand, and at the risk of missing someone, I would like to thank the anesthesia tech crew, CRNAs, Pharmacists, administrators, PACU nurses, Preop nurses, and on and on. I would like to specifically thank my fellow co-residents that have made my time here truly enjoyable and many I hope will remain a part of my life for many years to come. I would also like to thank my attendings that have been kind enough to discount my limitations and shortcomings throughout the years and impart in me the inclination to be better, for which I am eternally grateful. I will forever remember my time here with great fondness and am sad to be leaving. I am, however, quite elated to be finally done with residency! Congratulations to my graduating class. We can finally see the light." Brett Moses, M.D. Pediatric fellowship. University of Pittsburgh Sherwin Park, M.D. Stony Brook Medicine Department of Anesthesiology Julia Sverdlova, M.D. Julia will graduate officially in November. She has not yet finalized her post-graduation plans. Vassilios Tsafos, M.D. Medical Student Coordinator "I will be moving to New Jersey to join Morris Anesthesia Group (private practice). I would like to wish all my co-residents good luck in their future." Isabel Wu, M.D. "Born and raised in Shanghai, China, I came to the United States at age 11. I attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. I pursued medicine and received my M.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. After completion of my anesthesiology residency here at Stony Brook, I will return to my alma mater, UT Southwestern Medical Center, as a faculty member in the Department of Anesthesiology." Michael Y. Alanes, D.M.D. Private practice in southern California. Lily Hu, D.M.D. "I initially pursued a career in general dentistry and graduated from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. Despite the challenges and adventures of fixing cavities, something was missing. After an externship in Stony Brook, I was immediately drawn to dental anesthesiology after seeing the expertise and skills of the anesthesiologists have in caring for patients during a critically important time in their life. After residency, I will be joining a pediatric dental practice in Boston to provide anesthesia care for phobia, pediatric, and special needs patients. I want to thank the current CA2 class for all the laughter and unforgettable memories throughout this journey. I feel very fortunate to have the mentorship and support from Dr. Epstein, Dr. Boorin, and Dr. Reiner, for their unwavering patience and tireless effort towards making me into not only a better doctor, but a better person. It has been an amazing three years at Stony Brook and I will miss all of you!" Yuen Wu, D.M.D. Chief Dental Anesthesia Resident "I will be teaching and practicing anesthesia at USC School of Dentistry, and joining a mobile dentist anesthesiologist group in Los Angeles. I will also be working as a bartender in Hollywood on weekend nights mixing specialty drinks such as "RSI", "Code Blue", and "High Spinal". I am most grateful for the love of my life, Jenny, who had to deal with my personal and professional issues from 3000 miles away for the past 3 years." |
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Daryn Moller, MD received the 2015 "Excellence in Patient Care in a Surgical Discipline Award" from the Office of Faculty Affairs & Faculty Development. The 3rd Annual Faculty Awards ceremony was held May 29. Daryn was nominated by Drs. T.J. Tan, Stephen A. Vitkun, Apostolos K. Tassiopoulos and James A. Vosswinkel. In presenting the award, Dean Kenneth Kaushansky noted the significance of Dr. Moller having been nominated by surgeons as well as anesthesiologists. Dr. Moller commented on how good perioperative care of patients depends of the efforts of a team of caregivers, not just a single physician. Congratulations to Daryn on receiving this well-deserved award! |
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Kumar G. Belani, MD, Professor of Anesthesiology, from the University of Minnesota is the Visiting Professor for June. Dr. Belani is the Division Chief for Pediatric Anesthesiology and the Director for Research in the department. He has joint appointments in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics and Environmental Health Sciences. He also a Distinguished International Professor of the University of Minnesota and serves as its Assitant VP for India Affairs. Dr. Belani will visit us on Wednesday, June 10th to speak on "International Medicine - Opportunities for Collaboration for Education and Research". |
photo: http://www.anesthesiology.umn.edu/
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Two posters from our department were presented at the 9th Annual Women in Medicine Research Day on May 11. The program took place in the HSC Galleria. Medical Students Lauren Maloney and Kristen Zach collaborated with Drs. Peggy Seidman, Christopher Page and Andrew Wackett (Pediatrics) to present their educational study on "Evaluation of Medical Students' Ability to Learn Simple and Complex Ultrasound Psychomotor Skills using Jell-o Phantoms". Senior Research Scientist Dr. Li Ma and faculty member Dr. Lixin Liu presented results from their basic research project "Antioxidant-Mediated Activation of Mitophagy Restores Isoflurane Preconditioning in Aging Heart". Drs. Mario Rebecchi, Jiang Zhu and Qun Gao collaborated in the project. |
 Lauren Maloney and Kristen Zach  Dr. Li Ma |
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The 2015 Peter Glass Academic Research Evening was held on May 13 in the Charles B. Wang Center. We were pleased that both Dr. and Mrs. Glass were able to attend the Evening. The lobby was festooned with 46 posters contributed by faculty, residents, postdocs and students. Our keynote speaker for the evening was the renown surgeon, Dr. Henrik Kehlet, MD, PhD. Dr. Kehlet opened his fascinating talk with data showing that some patients recover more slowly than others after fast-track surgery. He then demonstrated how he was able to find the causes of this and, in many cases, a solution. It is clear, however, that the solutions are dependent upon the type of surgery being done, among other variables. Dr. Kehlet explained how anesthesiologists can play a role in solving these problems and encouraged members of the audience to participate in such research. Twelve posters were chosen to be presented within three Moderated Poster Discussion sessions. One of the sessions featured posters by Residents. A panel of five judges had the unenviable job of rating these excellent presentations. The winner in the Resident category was Dr. Alexander Praslick for his work on "Personal protective equipment instructions through simulated contamination". Second place in the resident category was awarded to Dr. Roger Moon. First place in the Faculty/Student/Staff division was awarded to Maksym Doroshenko for his research "Dopamine modulation of synaptic transmission in the dorsal horn spinal cord: presynaptic versus postsynaptic effect". Maksym is a graduate student in Dr. Michelino Puopolo's lab. Second and third place went to Dr. Li Ma and Dr. Saikat Chakabortory respectively. The Academic Research Evening was a success because of the efforts of many people. Dr. Helene Benveniste, Vice Chair for Research, noted that the event would not have been possible without all of the work done by her assistant, Gina DiCarlo. Dr. Mario Rebecchi and the Research Committee sorted through the abstracts to select the best ones for the discussion sessions. The distinguished panel of judges included Dr. Peter Glass, Dr. Anat Biegon (Professor of Neurology), Dr. Dennis Choi (Chair of Neurology), Dr. Lorna Role (Chair of Neurobiology and Behavior) and Dr. Suzanne Scarlata (Professor of Physiology and Biophysics). |
 Drs. Glass, Gan and Kehlet  Dr. Praslick  Maksym Doroshenko |
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Two of our residents, Dr. David Soohoo and Dr. Brian Cho received Employee Star Cards from patients on Labor and Delivery. One patient said of David: "Administered epidural comfortably. Gave me all needed information and did not force one decision or another. Very kind and professional." Another patient commented that Brian was "very professional, excellent bedside manner and compassion. He was comforting and reassuring and thoroughly explained everything." |
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"On behalf of the ASC, I want to thank Dr. Deborah Richman for providing a very informative lecture to the ASC staff this past Wednesday. Her lecture on Perioperative Cardiac Device Management was quite enlightening and her ability to engage the staff is to be commended. In my opinion, she has outstanding teaching and communication skills. A true asset to your department." Tom Halton Assistant Director of Nursing Stony Brook University Hospital Ambulatory Surgery Center |
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Dr. T.J. Gan Our daughter, Zoe Gan, is graduating from University of Pennsylvania. She majored in the interdisciplinary study known as Biological Basis of Behavior. Zoe will attend medical school at the University of North Carolina. Lisa Contess Nicholas Contess, son of Lisa and John Contess, was an Honors College (Dean's List) graduate from Suffolk County Community College. He received a degree in Business Administration. Nick was president of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society (as well as a member of the PTK All-New York Academic Team), received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, and was a member of the Alpha Beta Gamma International Business Honor Society. Nick will be continuing his education at Baruch College in New York City in the fall. Joy Schabel Eric Wang, son of Joy Schabel and Edward Wang, was named a National Merit Scholar, an Intel Semifinalist and the Valedictorian of Ward Melville High School. Eric will be attending Harvard College this fall. Family Kudos will be continued next month... |
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Marissa Barone-Citrano
Martha O’Brien joined the department this month as the new CME Coordinator. Martha earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Hope College in Holland, MI. After graduation she relocated to Maryland to teach in Baltimore City Public Schools for several years. She also worked at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus, in the School of Social Work as a Training Officer training child support enforcement officers and welfare staff on policies and soft-skills. Her most recent position was as Office Manager/Assistant to the General Manager in Athens, GA for a company that manufactured made-to-order military aircraft composite parts. Martha is married with two children and enjoys her time sewing, boating and (when they are actually operational) their vintage MG sports cars. Martha will be responsible for all matters related to CME credits, Grand Rounds, Visiting Professors, and the Journal Club, as well as providing administrative support to some faculty.
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Srinivas Pentyala Preparations for the 12th Annual SARAS (Science And Research Awareness Series) are in full swing. This July, we will host 125 high school students from all across the country (and a few from overseas) during the 3-week event held at Stony Brook Medicine (July 6-24). We are planning a program that should educational, inspiring and fun. The continuous run of SARAS for 12 years (2004 to present) is a testament to the contributions of Expert Faculty and Staff of our University, particularly of Anesthesiology department members. The SARAS-2015 program details can be found at: https://sites.google.com/a/stonybrook.edu/saras/. If you are interested in attending any of the lectures or workshops, please let us know so that we can make arrangements to accommodate you. Morning sessions of the program will be held in HSC Lecture Hall 5 on Level 2. The afternoon workshops will take place in different labs (2nd Floor Medical Student Lab, Sim Center, SHTM Clinical Lab, Physical Therapy Lab, etc.) One session that students particularly enjoy is the lunchtime visit to Long Island Veteran’s Home. This includes a workshop about veterans, gerontology and geriatrics. We would like to request help from clinical faculty on July 21 (Monday) afternoon to assist in the Clinical Skills Workshop. We already have core faculty committed to this workshop, but dealing with 125 teenagers requires a bit more doctor-power. If you are available and can spare the time, we'd appreciate your help. This year we are planning a “SARAS GOT TALENT” showcase event on the final day, Friday July 24. This is for current SARAS students, SARAS alumni and Anesthesiology Department members only. If you want to entertain the group with your talent, we would be thrilled. I hope you will have the opportunity to participate in some aspect of SARAS-2015. |
  
Photos from SARAS-2014
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Stephen Vitkun On May 22, thirteen students graduated with a BSHS degree with a concentration in Anesthesia Technology. A number of these students will be joining us in September for the Anesthesia Post-Bac Internship year. Congratulations to Everyone! |
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On May 29, the department said adieu to Dr. Brian Durkin, Associate Professor and the Director of the Center for Pain Management. Dr. Gan thanked Brian for his nine years of outstanding service as distinguished physician, mentor, colleague and loyal friend. As noted in last month's issue of SleepTalker, Brian is starting a new pain group as a subsidiary of Long Island Anesthesia Physicians. He will retain his association with our hospital, so we hope to see him frequently.  |
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Srinivas Pentyala Sunjit Parmar is a sophomore actively involved in the research done in my lab. Sunjit is also the Secretary for Volunteers Around the World (VAW) and team leader for the trip to Dominican Republic this summer. Volunteers will establish mobile clinics in local community centers and schools, bringing doctors and medical supplies from the US. Students will be facilitating the clinic, managing the pharmacy, taking basic vitals, and shadowing doctors. Krupali Chokshi graduated with a Bachelors in Biology from Stony Brook University in May and will attend Stony Brook School of Medicine this August. She received the Academic Excellence Award at the Undergraduate Recognition Awards and loves to volunteer. Krupali is active in the lab, and works on projects in both the Translational Sciences and Education. She is a member of the WISE Honors Program, and enjoys mentoring other students. Last year, Krupali travelled to Panama and Ghana with Global Medical Brigades to provide medical care to impoverished villages. She loves to try new foods, travel, and explore different cultures. She also loves her mischievous puppy Shanti, who is now 10 months old. |
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Pam Lee My daughter, Caroline, married Colin O'Leary on May 13 at Wesleyan Hills in Middletown, CT. |
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SleepTalker, the Stony Brook Anesthesiology Newsletter is published by the Department of Anesthesiology, Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook, NY. Tong Joo Gan, M.D., Chairman. Editorial Board: James P. Dilger, Ph.D., Stephen A. Vitkun, M.D., M.B.A., Ph.D., Marisa Barone-Citrano. |
