| Volume 25 Number 6 | Stony Brook, NY | < June 2016 > |
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Helene Benveniste, MD, PhD
Eric Noll and Martin Kaczocha A total of 46 posters were presented by faculty members, residents, fellows and students. Of these, ten were selected to be presented in two Moderated Poster Sessions. The results of judging from those sessions are:
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We would like to thank Lisa Contess for an outstanding job of coordinating the department’s Academic Research Evening. The event was a huge success in large part because of Lisa’s diligence and dedication. We would also like to recognize our support staff, research associates, lab staff, and our Visiting Scholar, Dr. Eric Noll, for helping Lisa to set up and break down the event.
Patients at the Ambulatory Surgery Center and the Pain Center continue to have nice things to say about us! - Anesthesiologist explained the benefits of the nerve block and was extremely approachable. - Everyone was extremely caring and friendly - was a good experience. - Extremely attentive to safety! - Dr. Tewari rocks the anesthesia! - Dr. Palmieri and the entire staff at the pain center & amb. surgery does an outstanding job. Not only in managing pain but being very professional, friendly, caring, and very concerned for my well being. - Anesthesiologist explained the benefits of the nerve block and was extremely approachable - No one wants to have surgery, but if you have to - this was the best experience you can have - The entire staff was ABSOLUTELY wonderful. - The anesthesiologist was wonderful - he was very comforting as well.
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Dr. Joy Schabel received the 2016 SOAP Teacher of the Year Award in May at the annual SOAP meeting. The "recognizes outstanding practitioners of obstetric anesthesiology who have demonstrated superior teaching primarily of anesthesiology residents and fellows, and secondarily of obstetricians, nurses, midwives, and the lay public". Congratulations, Joy!
Dental Anesthesia Residents Drs. Kevin Dincher, Brandon Fitzgerald, Shelly Levin and Breanna Weiland passed the written board exam given by the American Dental Board of Anesthesiology. The Stony Brook Dental Anesthesia Residency program now has a 96% passing rate for the written board examination. Drs. Tazeen Beg, Francis Stellaccio, Srinivas Pentyala and James Dilger were each awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for Community Service in 2015. Each year, Stony Brook University Hospital and the Department of Community Relations honor those who participated in community outreach. The four departmental recipients this year were recognized for their participation in theHOPE (Health Occupations Partnership for Excellence) program. HOPE promotes and fosters the development of promising high school students from underserved, racially and ethnically diverse communities, and strives to support them in pursuing a college education and future careers in the healthcare industry.
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Shivam Shodhan, MD
Demetri Adrahtas, M.D.Medical School: University of Athens, Greece Hometown: Limassol, Cyprus Hobbies: Reading, Traveling, Soccer Why 51?: University hospital with knowledgeable and approachable faculty, combined with friendly residents create the perfect environment to learn and grow 
Antanique Brown, M.D.Medical School: Rutgers University - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Hometown: Plainfield, NJ Hobbies: Copy editing, Makeup, All things SoCa (Soul of Calypso – Caribbean subculture and music) Why 51?: I loved the diversity of all the faculty and residents. Stony Brook really gave me good vibes. Best of all, it’s not too far from NYC or my family home! 
Joseph Caballero, M.D.Medical School: University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Hometown: Mesa, AZ Hobbies: Piano, Reading, Traveling Why 51?: Great academic institution with emphasis on patient care, clinical excellence and resident education. 
Tinsae Demissie, M.D.Medical School: Georgetown University School of Medicine Hometown: Houston, TX Hobbies: Painting, Drawing, Baking, Being on the beach Why 51?: The anesthesia residents and faculty I met while interviewing at Stony Brook were the most genuine I'd come across. I knew I'd get good training and be around people I'd enjoy working with every day. 
Diana Escobar, M.D.Medical School: Alpert Medical School of Brown University Hometown: Los Angeles, CA Hobbies: Learning Mandarin, Baking, Nail Art Why 51?: Everyone was extremely friendly! 
Michael Khalili, M.D.Medical School: The Commonwealth Medical College Hometown: Roslyn, NY Hobbies: Traveling, TV, Board Games, Salsa Why 51?: “Home of the best ideas in medicine.” I grew up in Long Island knowing the reputation and talent that came out of Stony Brook. “The best there is or ever will be” and I just wanted to be a part of it. Now I can say, “I’m a Stony Brook doctor that’s my job.” 
Justina Lekhraj, M.D.Medical School: SUNY Downstate, College of Medicine Hometown: Richmond Hill, Queens, NY Hobbies: Watching Tennis, Shopping, Watching Marvel Movies Why 51?: It is so close to NYC and home! 
Yuchen Liu, M.D.Medical School: Stony Brook University, School of Medicine Hometown: Rego Park, Queens (originally Beijing, China) Hobbies: Culinary Arts, Ski, Classical Piano Why 51?: I chose this program, because I believe there is so much for me to learn from the family that introduced me to the world of Anesthesiology. 
Sana Na Javeed, M.D.Medical School: SUNY Downstate, College of Medicine Hometown: Queens, NY Hobbies: Hiking, Traveling, Being a foodie Why 51?: Academic training center, Friendly people, Close to family and friends. 
Andie Smestad, M.D.Medical School: SUNY Buffalo, School of Medicine Hometown: Smithtown, NY Hobbies: Playing music (ukulele, drum set, trumpet), writing music, cooking, and everything Harry Potter! Why 51?: Having grown up on Long Island I've always known Stony Brook University Hospital to have a reputation for excellence and I dreamed of working here from a young age. Everyone I met on interview day was incredibly friendly and that has proven true during residency thus far. 
Jonathan Bacon, D.D.S.Dental School: University of Maryland, Baltimore College of Dental Surgery Pediatrics Dental Residency: Children's National Medical Center, Washington DC Hometown: Columbia, MD Hobbies: Painting, Strength Training, Cycling, Beer/Wine Making Why 51?: Stony Brook had the best combination of private practice experience mixed with operating room experience to allow me to be comfortable treating any patient in any setting. 
Tyler Tomkinson, D.M.D.Dental School: Western University of Health Sciences, College of Dental Medicine Hometown: Phoenix, AZ Hobbies: Running, Camping, Theatre Why 51?: Stony Brook offers excellent training and experience with a diverse patient population. 
Hasan Zia, D.D.S.Dental School: SUNY Buffalo, School of Dentistry Hometown: Long Island, NY Hobbies: Hiking, Going to the beach, and Eating out every chance I get! Why 51?: First and foremost, I knew I would receive exceptional training at Stony Brook. I also like the suburban life style without being too far away from NYC. Plus, having a beach nearby, plenty of good food, hiking and biking trails were all more than good reasons to want to live here.
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Ellen S. Steinberg, MD
Our Division continues to care for an increasing number of complicated obstetric patients. Since we instituted a second attending to cover the scheduled cases, we have increased our productivity and our ability to get the scheduled cases finished in a timely fashion so we no longer leave the evening team with scheduled cases to be done. Having the second attending has also allowed us to provide better resident education since we do not always need to have the residents busy doing cases and we are doing a pretty good job of completing our monthly lecture schedule. Our core team of myself and Drs. Abola, Adsumelli, Saunders and Schabel has expanded to include our regular O2 attendings: Drs. Costa, Lokshina and Stanley. This has enhanced patient care as our OB doctors and our OR Nursing team are used to working with this team on a daily basis. In addition, Drs. Landman and Liu continue to do all of their calls on L&D. Currently, Dr. Costa is working on creating a Complications Data Base for us, initially focusing on wet taps and PDPHAs. Dr. Abola is working on a number of projects, including our elective C/section data base and the relationship between epidurals and breastfeeding. Dr. Stanley recently took a workshop on ultrasound guided neuraxial block at SOAP and she hopes to begin incorporating this into resident education. Drs. Lokshina, Abola, Page and I are working with the OB Department to develop a multidisciplinary approach to management of the pregnant patient with opioid addiction which is currently a big problem in Suffolk County. We continue to be leaders for practice changes on L&D. We recently updated our Oral Intake Policy for labor and scheduled c/sections, and we have led the way for changes in our intra-operative and PO/PP administration of Pitocin and the introduction of post-op SQ Heparin for VTE prophylaxis. We are exceedingly proud that our very own Dr. Joy Schabel received the 2016 SOAP Teacher of the Year Award earlier this month at the annual SOAP meeting. We continue to work to fulfill our mission of providing the best and safest anesthesia care for our mothers and babies.
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Chief Resident for Medical Student Activities: Eldhose Abrahams, M.D.
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The annual meetings of the Association for University Anesthesiologists (AUA) and the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) were held in San Francisco last month. Dr. Jun Lin presented “Lidocaine inhibited glioma cell proliferation via TRPM7” at the AUA. This year the AUA host institute (UCSF) presented a fascinating forum on "Precision Medicine: From Molecules to Social Justice". At the IARS meeting, 14 posters from Stony Brook were presented. Chunyun Xiao, a graduate student in Physiology working in Dr. Lin’s lab, presented her work on effects of local anesthetics on breast cancer cells and five other posters with Dr. Lin during IARS.
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Shivam Shodhan, MD From April 20 to 22, 2016, the 4th Annual Congress of Enhanced Recovery and Perioperative Medicine was held in Washington, DC co-hosted by the American Society of Enhanced Recovery (ASER) in conjunction with Evidenced Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM). Over 400 attendees, both domestic and international, participated in this 3-day conference, which featured 45 speakers, 11 Q&A panel discussions, and 24 poster presentations. In the company of our very own Dr. TJ Gan, ASER Founder and President, the other individuals representing 51 were Drs. Francis Stellaccio, Paul Willoughby, and me. Organized by Dr. Timothy Miller, the Scientific Program Chair, this year’s conference began with an initial overview of the idea of enhanced recovery (ER), followed by individual sessions focusing on the multiple topics including economics of healthcare and implementation of enhanced recovery, fluid and hemodynamic management, pain with regards to regional anesthesia and analgesia, and the future of perioperative medicine. Presenters ranged from various aspects health care teams including surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, coordinators, and hospital executives. This allowed the attendees to gain a very insightful perspective of the different aspects and roles involved to successfully implement an ER program. The program ended in a meeting with individuals interested in further involving themselves with ASER committees and becoming ER Champions of their own. Overall, it was a tremendously educational and engaging conference that shared the critical knowledge and tools to successfully bring ER to one’s institution. I’ll definitely be looking forward to next year’s ASER congress!
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Stephen A. Vitkun, MD, MBA, PhD
Our Anesthesia Technology concentration students in the BSHS program of the School of Health Technology and Management graduated on Fri 5/20. All of the students have enrolled in the post-bac program and we will be seeing them in the OR starting in September, 2016. 
Jessica Randazzo, Natasha Carter, Dr. Cimino (front), Melanie Ren (not pictured).
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Editor's note: Dr. Maria Lagade received a letter from Charles Cheung, an AT Intern. It is excerpted here.
One aspect of this program that is unique and advantageous is the classes that are offered during the second semester of senior year in undergraduate college, particularly Anesthesia Pharmacology. Very few undergraduate courses offer as in depth of an examination of medications like this class does. It is extremely helpful not only for the clinical year, but also for health care education in general. Cardiopulmonary Physiology was another very good course. Clinical monitoring gave a brief overview of the various rotations that are in the clinical year. Overall, the classes were great in establishing a science background that acts as good preparation for technologist level work in the clinical year. The clinical portion of the program is in my opinion, the best part of the program because it a hands-on way to learn clinical techniques and reinforce the knowledge learned from the classes in the previous year. I am extremely grateful to be able to work with expert Anesthesiologists who shared knowledge with me that I wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere. On a daily basis, I learned and practiced many of the duties that an anesthesia technologist would be responsible for. I feel very prepared for a future career as an anesthesia technologist. This program is excellent in teaching its interns professionalism and how to be a productive member of the health care team. The one thing that I was able to work on a lot in this program is situational awareness. This is basically the ability to anticipate and adapt to any situation that arises in the operating room so that I can assist the staff accordingly, and help rather than hinder in the patient’s care. The way I did this was by reviewing my journal and keeping track of what I did that day, and keeping a mental note of what I can improve on or do different the next time I encounter a similar situation. By putting the patient first and being aware of my actions, I was able to make the most of this program and learn while helping out the staff. Ultimately, how much you learn and take away from this program is all dependent on what you make of it. We are treated as autonomous adults. In the clinical year, monthly educational schedule, assignments, and evaluation are received. It is each AT intern's responsibility to be proactive and productive for learning advancement as one should be by this age. By walking through those doors with a positive attitude and a curious mind, I’m sure anyone can agree that this program is excellent exposure of direct patient care and an amazing chance to learn, whether for a future career as an anesthesia technologist or pursuit of higher learning.
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Ursula Landman, DO
Dr. Kagan gave a concise review of by Biondi-Zoccai et al. Coronary artery disease. (CAD) was discussed as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Acetlysalicylic (ASA) is the most commonly given antiplatelet medication worldwide. Adverse side effects of ASA were reviewed. In addition, certain cases prone to increased bleeding were discussed. This review was done to increase awareness of the hazard of ASA withdrawal or noncompliance in patients with CAD or at risk for CAD. They concluded that ASA discontinuation should be advised only when the risk of bleeding or other adverse effects overwhelm that of the CV atherothrombotic events. In our discussion, it was noted that the continuation of ASA does not dictate our type of anesthetic. However, the continuation of plavix becomes an issue with regional anesthesia. It was also noted that the new 2016 guidelines take into account the Poise 2 study and actually advocate continuation of ASA. Dr. Bennett-Guerrero suggested some additional articles on the subject. , and
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Tazeen Beg, MD
My daughter, Amber, is a junior at the Stony Brook School. Her Engineering Innovation and Design Class had a project to build a boat out of just cardboard and tape. The students then rowed these boats across the high school's pool. Her group came in second place; Amber is in front on the left in the photo. A video of the in-water test of the boats is posted on . Watch between 3:00 and 3:50 to see the splash she made! |
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Lindsay Fischer
My fabulous news is that we finally got to welcome our newest little members of the anesthesia family.... baby girl "A" Campbell (Cami) Janie (6lbs 7oz) and baby boy "B" Jack Davies (6lbs)! Had an amazing nsvd at 329/337 on May 2 with the absolutely amazing Dr Meng Wang...who as we all know is just simply phenomenal!!! I want to thank everyone who went the extra Mile for me during this pregnancy ... I am truly so very grateful!!!!
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Jim Dilger
This 2-meter diameter sculpture, assembled from 180 aluminum parts, is entitled "Spaghetti Code Sculpture".
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Shivam Shodhan, MD
With the beginning of summer, we are happy to introduce our new section focused on motivating, inspiring, appreciating, and laughing.
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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, Shivam Shodhan, M.D. |