SleepTalker October 2020

  On September 8, the Department held a farewell get together for the upcoming retirements of Dr. Rishimani Adsumelli and Dr. Ellen Steinberg. The HSC Galleria was adorned with balloons and flowers for the occasion.

  Dr. Adsumelli joined the department 24 years ago as a Fellow in OB Anesthesiology. Fortunately for us, she stayed after the one year fellowship to become an Assistant Professor. Over the years, she advanced along the academic ranks to Full Professor. Rishi has been a mainstay in the Division of OB anesthesia, but also served for many years as Chief of the Urological/Gynecological Anesthesia Division. Her service to the department included chairing the monthly QA Grand Rounds meetings. She also contributed to the academic aims of the department through some 12 peer-reviewed publications, more than 50 meeting abstracts and 40 medically challenging case presentations. Rishi officially retired on September 15, but will continue working with the department on a voluntary basis.

  Dr. Steinberg joined the department in 1988 and became chief of the OB Anesthesia Division in 1993. For the past 32 years, Ellen has contributed significantly to the anesthesiology department, Stony Brook hospital as well as the field of obstetric anesthesiology. She served as the Anesthesiology Residency Program Director from 2000-2008 and was Vice Chair of Education from 2003-2012. She is an accomplished educator, and was nominated “Teacher of the Year” awards twice and mentored many faculty and residents. Ellen played an instrumental role in the planning, design and organization of the current Labor and Delivery Unit which opened in 2011 and invested much of her time in the smooth running of the unit, with almost 4000 deliveries a year. Ellen participated actively in many committees, both locally and at the state level. She established the Obstetric Anesthesia Consult service at Stony Brook to improve the anesthesia care for the high-risk and complex obstetric patients. At the state level, Dr. Steinberg has served on the NYS ACOG Safe Motherhood Initiative in its various forms over the past ten years and she continues to be active. She recently completed a two-year term on the first NYC DOH Maternal Mortality Review Committee and is currently the only obstetric anesthesiologist on the newly formed NYS DOH Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Committee. Ellen will continue to work in the Department through the end of the year.

  In 2007, Drs. Adsumelli and Steinberg were awarded the prestigious Ellison Pierce Patient Safety Award from the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation for the Best Scientific Exhibit at the ASA. Their exhibit, "A Response to Maternal Hemorrhage, With a Proactive, Multidisciplinary Approach to Reduce Mortality and Morbidity" described the development of a multidisciplinary rapid response team and protocols for risk stratification, preparation and management of maternal hemorrhage.

  Photos from the retirement party, thanks to Ms. Marisa Barone-Citrano, can be viewed using this link.

Joy Schabel, MD

  A HUGE congrats to our CA2s for passing the 2020 ABA Basic Exam! The national pass rate typically ranges from 88-91%, so our residents did an incredible job despite the COVID impact during prime study months.

   Thank you to all of our Faculty for their Wednesday and day-to-day teachings throughout the year and to Dr. Poovathoor for his targeted exam prep. Thank you also to our CRNAs for assisting with clinical coverage for our weekly education days and on exam days. Our residents are fortunate to have such support!

   New York's Center for Economic Growth featured the cancer research being done by Dr. Jun Lin and Dr. Martin Kaczocha in the August 2020 issue of their Research Connection newsletter. Dr. Lin's project suggests that the choice of anesthesia may change the metastatic process of breast cancer by affecting the cytokine and microenvironment. Dr. Kaczocha and his collaborators are taking a new approach to target proteins involved in prostate cancer.

  

Dr. Joy Schabel and the Residents have created a new Resident Recruitment Video.
Why would a prospective resident choose any other place for their residency?

  Maria Lagade, MD

  The Anesthesia Technology Interns 2020-2021 have commenced their Clinical AT Internship training this week. The interns graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Health Science from the School of Health Technology and Management at SBU. They are pursuing their studies in the Anesthesia Technology Program sponsored by the Department of Anesthesiology with SHTM. The Post-baccalaureate AT internship runs from September until June. Please welcome them as members of the Anesthesia team.

James P. Dilger, PhD