| Volume 33 Number 3 | Stony Brook, NY | < March 2020 > |
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| New Faculty: Dr. Angelo | March Calendar | STARS | Kudos |
| Visiting Professor | New Research Grants | Anesthesia Interest Groups | Retirement |
| New Publications | Where is That? | Monthly Muscle Chillaxant |
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Welcome Dr. Tiffany Angelo
James P. Dilger, PhD 
Tiffany Angelo, DO has joined our department! A Long Island native, Dr. Angelo received her DO from NYCOM in 2002. She did an internship at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in Bayshore before her Anesthesiology Residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard. She remained at the Brigham for a Fellowship in Obstetric Anesthesiology. After working for one year at Huntington Hospital, Dr. Angelo was appointed Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. There, she served as the Director of Obstetric Anesthesiology. At Walter Reed, Dr. Angelo established several services and safety protocols including a High Risk Obstetric Anesthesiology Consultative Service, Code Cranberry (a Crash Cesarean Section Alert System), and a protocol for treating Postpartum Hemorrhage. In 2007, Dr. Angelo received the 2007 Gertie Marx International Research First Place Award for her presentation at the SOAP meeting: “Warming in Parturients with Epidurals is an Averaging Artifact.” She regularly sponsors residents' Medically Challenging Cases presentations at ASA meetings and has published several case reports. In a few months, Dr. Angelo will assume the position of Chief of Obstetric Anesthesiology in our department, as Dr. Ellen Steinberg anticipates her upcoming retirement. Dr. Angelo has returned to Long Island with her 1 year old daughter, Charlotte. Welcome! 
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March Calendar
Tue. Mar 3. The Journal Club will meet at 6:00 pm at the Curry Club. Wed. Mar 4. Dr. TJ Gan will conduct the Faculty Meeting at 7:00 am in LH5. Wed. Mar 4. Drs. E AlBizri, R Tenure and L Ericksen will conduct the Chiefs Meeting at 7:00 am in HSC, L-3, 155. Wed. Mar 11. Dr. Adam Wetcher will present his Senior Grand Rounds at 7:00 am in LH5. Tues. Mar 17. Visiting Professor, Dr. Martin Angst, will speak to the residents at 5:00 pm in Anesthesiology Library. Wed. Mar 18. Visiting Professor, Dr. Martin Angst, will present his grand rounds talk at 7:00 am in LH5. Wed. Mar 25. Dr. Rishimani Adsumelli will chair the QA Committee meeting at 7:00 am in LH5.
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STARS: STaff Appreciation and Recognition
Dr. Gan received this note by email:
I had surgery in the cardiac cath ep lab and received a pacemaker. Dr. Barathi Scott and Andy Aguilar, CRNA gave me the anesthesia. Just wanted to let you know that they took excellent care of me and were wonderful to my family. Dr. Scott is compassionate, kind and caring. How fortunate I was to have her care for me. 
• Shoba is an amazing preceptor. She always makes time to check in with us and see how we’re doing. I really appreciate her taking a few minutes when she sees us in the OR to ask how our cases are going and answering any questions we may have! • Shoba is great. She’s always there whenever we have questions. I feel very comfortable going to Shoba with questions and concerns about assignments and set up procedures. She always makes sure we are getting the most out of our experience in the OR. • Shoba is amazing. She is the best preceptor we could have ever asked for. She takes time to check in with us to make sure that we are comfortable and confident in what we do. Shoba is also very understanding and warmhearted. She makes sure that we are getting the most out of the program and gives us tips on how we can be better at assisting the anesthesia team. She is always there to answer questions, and she does a perfect job in matching us with the best cases for our rotation. • We are very lucky to have Shoba as a preceptor. I appreciate her coming up to check on not only my work, but how I am doing. She is a wonderful mentor and even better person. • Shoba is wonderful, wonderful preceptor. I can’t emphasize how amazing and kind she is. On top of her busy day, she takes time off to see how we’re doing and how our rotations are going. Shoba has always offered great advice during every rotation and I can’t ask for anyone better.
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Kudos
Dr. Jun Lin, MD, PhD, was appointed to the Journal Board (Reviewer) of Cancers. Congratulations!
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Visiting Professor: Dr. Martin Angst
Our Visiting Professor this month is Martin S. Angst, M.D., Professor of Anesthesia, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA. Dr. Angst received his Medical Doctorate and Thesis from the Medical School at the University of Berne, Switzerland. He did a residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of Burgdorf, Switzerland and a residency in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital of Berne. In 1994, he came to the US to do a fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology at Stanford. At Stanford, he moved up steadily through the academic ranks and became Professor in 2011. Dr. Angst's research interest is the interplay between anesthesia and the immune system. in his current research, his goal is to identify immune phenotypes that predict the outcome of patients receiving anesthesia and/or analgesia. Ultimately, he would like to devise strategies that reduce the risk of postoperative complications due to the effects of anesthetic drugs on the immune system. He and his colleagues have ongoing support from the NIH and other agencies for investigations such as "B Lymphocyte-Mediated Autoimmunity in Pain after Trauma” and “Signatures of Pain Recovery in Teens (SPRINT)”. Dr. Angst is also receiving support from industry to explore how drugs being developed for neurodegenerative diseases, affect blood leukocytes. Dr. Angst has published over 90 peer-reviewed papers and over 80 abstracts on subjects ranging from pharmacokinetics, to hyperalgesia, to bioinformatics, to microgravity. He has presented over 60 lectures internationally, but I think this is his first visit to Stony Brook. We welcome him, and look forward to his presentations. • March 17 5:00 PM Resident Lecture: "Vascular Malformations and Aneurysms of the Brain - Anesthetic Considerations and Management" • March 18 7:00 AM Grand Rounds: "Advancing the Cause of ERAS - Unraveling the Biology of Perioperative Recovery"
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Drs. Kaczocha and Puopolo Awarded New Research Grants
James P. Dilger, PhD and Marjorie L. Lundgren, MBA Dr. Martin Kaczocha and his colleagues Drs. Iwao Ojima (SBU Chemistry), Robert Rizzo (SBU Applied Mathematics and Statistics), and Lloyd Trotman (Cold Spring Harbor Lab) were awarded a 5-year, $4.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute for their project "Development of the Next Generation of FABP5 Inhibitors to Treat Prostate Cancer". With their combined expertise in computer-aided drug design, medicinal chemistry, fatty-acid binding proteins, and prostate cancer biology they will synthesize inhibitors of a fatty-acid binding protein that is upregulated in prostate cancer. They will test these compounds in cell lines and also in a mouse model of prostate cancer. Martin will also be receiving $2.3 million in NIH funding for his grant proposal "Endocannabinoid Metabolism in Acute Pain". The idea for this proposal stems from his group's observation that the levels of some endocannabinoids are raised in patients with high acute postoperative pain (Azim et al, 2018). The project will employ pharmacological and genetic approaches to test his hypotheses. Martin, in collaboration with a colleague from the University at Buffalo, Dr. Samir Haj-Dahmane, is also funded by the NIH to study "Synaptic Transport of Endocannabinoids in the Brain". This two year project obtained $679,000 in funding. Dr. Michelino Puopolo has received $360,000 from NY State for his proposal "Targeting CaV3.2 calcium channel to treat chronic neuropathic pain following Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)". The mechanisms that lead to SCI-pain are poorly understood. Michelino's previous work (supported by the Department of Defense) suggested a link between the spontaneous activity of some nociceptors and the development of SCI pain. His hypothesis is that the activity of T-type calcium channels is increased by injury and this leads to hyper-excitable nociceptors and ultimately to neuropathic pain. He will test this by knocking down T-type calcium channels using antisense oligonucleotides. In collaboration with researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Michelino has also received support from NIH (R61/R33) to develop peptide inhibitors of CaV3.2 calcium channels to treat neuropathic pain.  
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Medical Student Anesthesia Interest Groups
Ursula Landman, DO, FAOCA
On January 27, Dr Martin Griffel gave a talk about Anesthesiology to the Stony Brook Medical Students in the Anesthesia Interest Group. The students enjoyed his presentation. The next meeting, in March, will feature the 4th year medical students who matched into anesthesia residencies. The NYIT-COM Anesthesia Interest Group will have a similar meeting in March. I am always eager to have faculty members speak to the groups about their subspecialty. Please let me know if you are interested.
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Dr. James Dilger Retires
personal communication ;)
It does feel strange writing this, but it is true, I officially retired in mid-January. The department hosted a luncheon on my behalf in February. And yet .. here I am, editing SleepTalker! What gives?? If you heard Dr. Gan speak at the luncheon, you would know that he persuaded me to stay on as both webmaster and newsletter editor for the department. Frankly, it didn't take too much persuasion. For one thing, I enjoy doing them. For another, having stimulating activities to pursue was always part of my retirement plan. This will also take the form of my continued collaboration with Dr. Jun Lin's research project and another one with Dr. Joanne Figueiredo (Smithtown High School) and Dr. Joshua Rest (USB Department of Ecology and Evolution). So, where does the retirement part fit in? Answer: these do not add up to a full-time job and, I can do them where and when I choose! As you may know, my former lab and office space is being converted into a new seminar room for the department. But I am grateful that Dr. Gan has given me an office (next to Jun's) that I can use when I want to be on campus. That's been averaging one day per week so far. Please stop by to say "hi" if you find the door propped open! You can always contact me via email. Just remember to "leave out the medicine". In other words, I had to surrender my stonybrookmedicine.edu email address, but still have the stonybrook.edu one. (Annoyingly, just ask Marisa, Outlook mail will not reject mail addressed to me at SBM; they just won't deliver or forward it. C'mon, this is 2020, surely there has to be a way). 
Thank you to everyone who came to the luncheon! [view photos] I tried to thank people personally, but I may have missed some. And thank you in advance, for continuing to contribute to SleepTalker. If you are not an established contributor, you'll make my retirement even happier by becoming one!
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New Publications
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Where on Campus is That?
James P. Dilger, PhD 
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Monthly Muscle Chillaxant
In January, we celebrated the birthdays of Norman Correa, Jamie Romeiser and Brittany Ayala. And in February, Susan Cumming and Dr. Gan were honored. Unfortunately, a hiccup in the space-time continuum erased photographic evidence of the events. Efforts are being made to apply well-known (and lesser-known) hiccup remedies. If any of these are successful, the restored images will be included in next month's issue of SleepTalker. 
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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., 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. |
