Good news from the ACGME

October 6-12 we celebrate Physician Assistant Week, and the fantastic PAs who are part of our ICU and Comprehensive Pain Center teams. 

Three APOM residents and one faculty member presented at the Oregon Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting last Sunday. Dr. Emily Baird presented "Labor analgesia - Beyond the epidural", Dr. Hunter Alldredge presented "Snake in the Grass: POCUS and Assessment of Hypotension", Dr. Chris Barton presented "Case of Serotonin Syndrome" and Dr. Brian Tully presented "Management of an anterior mediastinal mass presenting with acute, severe dyspnea." Congrats and thank you to all!

Congratulations to Dr. Matthias Merkel who was interviewed in a New York Times article. 

Research

Congratulations to Drs. Katie Schenning and Nabil Alkayed on their article entitled “Gene-Specific DNA Methylation Linked to Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction in Apolipoprotein E3 and E4 Mice” which was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. This article is a result of collaboration with the Departments of Behavioral Neuroscience, Neurology, and the KCVI Epigenetics Consortium.

Congratulations to Dr. Sandy Christiansen who had two abstracts accepted to the ASRA Annual Meeting: “Peripheral Nerve Stimulator Placement for Neuropathic Pain Due to Brachial Plexus Invasion by Lung Cancer: Case Report” with Drs. Mark Muenchrath and Omar Gilani and “A Novel Piriformis Injection Technique Utilizing Combined Fluoroscopy and Ultrasound – A Pilot Study” with medical student Sean Hua.

Congratulations to Dr. Andrei Sdrulla, who was nominated as our representative to the FAER Academic Champions program for the next 2 years. The goal of this program is to form closer two-way relationships between FAER and departments of anesthesiology. 

Education

Following a full ACGME site visit in February 2021, the Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine fellowship program has been granted Continued Accreditation effective 9/13/2021. This moves the fellowship program out of initial accreditation and into the standard accreditation review cycle. Congratulations to Drs. Nathalie Lunden, Ryan Ivie, Glenn Woodworth and all the Regional Fellowship faculty and staff on successfully achieving this status with the ACGME!

Congratulations to Dr. Tara Dhawan for being selected to serve as the resident member on the ACGME Anesthesiology Review Committee. In this role, she will have direct responsibility for reviewing program compliance and education best practices for anesthesia residency and fellowship programs across the country. She will also help shape the future of anesthesia training through proposing, developing, and approving, specialty program requirements.”