Faculty Development Program

Our primary goal is to actively support the academic development of individuals in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine at BWH, and thereby to promote their professional fulfillment and general wellbeing.

Our department, by the numbers:

Faculty

CRNA

Residents

Fellows

17 Promotions to Assistant Professor
3 Promotions to Associate Professor
13 Active Promotions in Progress
3 Active Peer Mentorship Groups
5 Faculty Development Starter Grant Projects
13 Pillar Award Recipients
4 BWPO Awardees
8 Departmental Awardees

A message from the Vice Chair and Associate Vice Chair for Faculty Development:

The BWH Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine consists of a happily wide-ranging and diverse set of talented clinicians, educators, and researchers. We want to share some of the goals we have for the promotion and well-being of the folks who work in our department. We celebrate the many accomplishments that our amazing faculty have achieved in a breadth of academic areas, as clinical innovators, educators, leaders, and researchers. We also share some information and links to career development resources that we have found useful, but more importantly put out the welcome sign for you to ask questions, make suggestions, and share your thoughts and accomplishments!

Kristin Schreiber, MD, PhD
Vice Chair for Faculty Development

Tara Carey, MD
Associate Vice Chair for Faculty Development

“It is the diversity of the people in this department that both fuels its success, but also makes it a uniquely and enjoyable place to do work. This includes diversity not only of gender, ethnicity, race or sexual orientation, but also of specialty, approach, interest, strengths, background, career focus, academic rank, sense of humor, and point of view.”

Faculty Development News

New Initiative: Faculty Development Starter Grant

This year we have announced a new funding mechanism, to be spent on additional time and resources to embark on, or start, a new academic project/direction. It is a very broad call, open to faculty without other substantial external funding, including any project that will enhance development along your career path, whether in pragmatic research, clinical innovation, leadership, education, etc.

Highlights:

up to 50K, to cover additional academic time, RA time, materials
flexible size, duration and schedule of project (plan to fund 2-3/year)

Congratulations to our 2024 Faculty Development Starter Grant Recipients!

Dr. Sebastian Seifert, MD

Dr. Seifert will use the faculty development starter grant to support the growth of an innovative maternal-fetal surgery research program with three initial projects: 1) a pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic study of fetal plasma concentrations of fentanyl, rocuronium, and atropine to inform fetal redosing strategies; 2) evaluate pain scores and opioid use in patients having open neural tube defect repairs with either thoracic epidural anesthesia or lumbar epidural anesthesia with conversion to quadratus lumborum nerve blocks on postop day #1; and 3) evaluate the effects of maternal intravenous dexmedetomidine on maternal stress biomarkers and preterm contractions.

Dr. Arthur Formanek, MD

Dr. Formanek’s project is looking out of this world. Austere environments such as spaceflight, remote locations, and submarine operations make stabilization of fractures, crush wounds, dislocation, and emergent surgical procedures extremely difficult. Given the absence of anesthesiology training among NASA astronauts and impracticality of including an anesthesiologist in all field operations, it is crucial to investigate how tele-mentored and delayed communication impacts the ability to perform anesthesiology using just-in-time training. The goal of the project will be to create a expert tele-mentored regional anesthesia pilot protocol to recommend to the space medicine and austere environment communities.

Dr. Alex Stone, MD

Dr. Stone will be working on with support from the faculty starter grant is about increasing preoperative access to ultrasound guided nerve blocks for hip fracture patients. Hip fracture patients are often frail and at risk for opioid related adverse effects and delirium. This multidisciplinary effort with mentors in regional anesthesia (Dr. Kamen Vlassakov), Emergency Medicine (Dr. Andrew Goldsmith), Geriatrics, and Orthopedic Surgery (Dr. Michael Weaver), will allow us to retrospectively investigate our current processes, and understand the analgesics needs of this population between admission to operating room.

Dr. Sharon Reale, MD

With her faculty development starter grant, Dr. Reale plans to expand upon her role as the BWH Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group (MPOG) research site lead, moderating MPOG Perioperative Clinical Research Committee monthly meetings and evaluating new proposals on a local and national level. Sharon is also principal investigator for several new studies that leverage MPOG data to study maternal morbidity and mortality. These include studies assessing the frequency of adherence to obstetric anesthesia best practices for cesarean delivery, variations in adjuvant analgesic and sedative medications administered during cesarean delivery, as well as practice variations in transfusion ratios in obstetric hemorrhage.

Dr. John Kowalczyk, MD

Dr. Kowalczyk will be conducting a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial of IV oxytocin infusion to assess its ability to decrease opioid use, pain, and opioid-related complications in patients after surgery. Accumulating evidence suggests that oxytocin has analgesic properties as a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator that both decreases inflammation and modulates pain and could represent a safe and effective analgesic applicable to a broad patient population. His initial study will focus on patients undergoing minimally invasive gynecologic surgery.

Spotlights:

Welcome New Faculty

Dr. Joseph Homsi has been with BWH through residency and fellowship and now joins as faculty. He attended medical school at UMass Medical School. Dr. Homsi is most interested in acute perioperative pain medicine as well as regional anesthesia. If he were undergoing induction by general anesthesia, he would choose to listen to the song ’ivy’ by Taylor Swift. Dr. Homsi is from Norwood, Massachusetts.

Dr. Sheila Gokul joins the faculty following their medical/anesthesia training at BWH. Dr. Gokul is most interested in regional anesthesia and acute pain medicine and if she were undergoing induction by general anesthesia, she would choose to listen to the song Claire de Lune! Dr. Gokul calls Dallas Texas home.

Dr. Taylor Maney is joining the faculty following medical school at New York Medical College and anesthesia training here at BWH. Dr. Maney is from Matawan, New Jersey and is most interested in OB anesthesia. If Dr. Maney were to be going down with general anesthesia, she would choose to listen to that classic song ‘These Dreams’ by Heart.

Dr. Matt Wilson joins the faculty following their medical school and then residency at the University of Louisville. Dr. Wilson is most interested in general/ambulatory anesthesia and if he were undergoing induction by general anesthesia, he would choose to listen to the song ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ by the Ramones! Dr. Wilson calls Columbus Indiana home.

Dr. Olivia Sutton is originally from Barrington, Illinois (a Chicago suburb). Dr. Sutton completed her medical school at Cornell and went to John Hopkins for her training in anesthesia. She is particularly interested in chronic pain. If Dr. Sutton were undergoing induction by general anesthesia she is torn and says it depends on the surgical risk. If the surgery were a high risk and high acuity, she would like to listen to one of her all-time favorite songs by either Susanne Sundfor, Simon and Garfunkel, or Mitski.

Dr. Kan Zhang considers Tokyo, Japan to be home. Dr. Zhang went to medical school at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, a first residency at Tokyo Women’s Medical University and then did a second residency at Cleveland Clinic. He then completed training in adult cardiothoracic anesthesia at BWH and pediatric cardiothoracic anesthesia at Boston Children's. If he were to undergo anesthesia he would want to listen to the song ‘Got to be Real’ by Cheryl Lynn. Dr. Zhang is most interested in adult and pediatric cardiothoracic anesthesia and perioperative echocardiography.

Dr. Anna Ray is joining the faculty following medical school at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and anesthesia training here at BWH. Dr. Ray is from Orlando, Florida and is most interested in adult and pediatric congenital cardiac anesthesia. If Dr. Ray were to be going down with general anesthesia, she would choose to listen to that classic song ‘Stayin’ Alive’ by The Bee Gees.

Recent Promotions:

Dr. Daniela Lazea has recently been promoted to Assistant Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School Dr. Lazea’s many accomplishments are focused around Critical Care and Patient Safety. She is the current Co-Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, in which she teaches and mentors both formally and at the bedside, while expertly providing care to some of the sickest patients.