Research

The Department of Anesthesiology’s mission is to “provide better care tomorrow” through state-of-the-art, high-quality perioperative anesthesiology, pain management and critical care for our patients. We leverage our energy to inform decisions in clinical operations, education and quality improvement to continually elevate our patient care at Montefiore.

Our national and international collaborations enable us to contribute to the progress of perioperative medicine around the world through multicentric studies that can be generalized to patients anywhere undergoing surgical procedures or with critical illnesses that require immediate treatment. Our clinical research is the direct consequence of our colleagues’ experience in the operating room and the intensive care unit.

We use the generation and analysis of highly granular pharmaco-physiological patient data to understand the effects of new medications on patients’ recovery from surgery or critical illness. We regroup, validate, and utilize available health care data from more than 1 million patients who underwent surgery at Montefiore or at one of our collaborating health care networks including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Boston. This powerful information helps us identify rare complications and is the foundation for individualized perioperative treatment. We then confirm our results through clinical studies, improving the efficacy and future implementation of promising treatment strategies.

Jerry Chao, MD, MS

Associate Professor

Faculty Profile

Basic Science and Pediatric Anesthesiology Research

As a graduate of the Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) at Montefiore Einstein, Dr. Jerry Chao has designed prospective studies of the effects of anesthesia on infants’ developing brains and parental perceptions of commonly employed anesthetic techniques, particularly regional anesthesia, for intraoperative and postoperative analgesia. Dr. Chao’s NIH-supported research focuses on obtaining and interpreting the non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) during general anesthesia and spinal anesthesia. He collaborates with and receives mentorship from a multidisciplinary team with expertise in epidemiology, pediatric neurology, biostatistics and computational neuroscience. We work with national experts as well as Montefiore Einstein’s Department of Neurological Surgery to better understand the mechanisms of sleep and anesthesia in infants and children.

Clinical and Observational Research

How can we create an optimal treatment plan to minimize the risk of a stroke after surgery? Which patients are at high risk and should receive a new treatment? Our digital health databases allow us to answer these questions in a standardized manner and test hypotheses around potentially improved treatments.

During the last 15 years, we have established and validated hospital registries in Boston and New York City. These databases are unique since they provide a granular picture of patients’ perioperative risks. These risks are analyzed based on patients’ comorbidities, medications, and the severity of the primary diseases leading to hospital admission and surgery. The database records also allow us to integrate information about any added risks based on the surgical procedure performed. For example, did the patient have a major bleeding complication? Did the patient develop heart problems, low blood pressure, or a pulmonary complication during the operation? Was the patient admitted to the intensive care unit?

One of our team’s primary research focuses is interprofessional quality improvement. A current project in collaboration with Dr. Jeff Freda, Vice Chair of Perioperative Medicine, and Dr. Peter Shamamian, Vice President and Chief Quality Officer, has resulted in a decreased risk of case cancellations. Case cancellations are unpleasant for patients who were scheduled to receive a procedure. Further, same-day cancellations reduce utilization of operating rooms, affect surgeon productivity and staff morale, and result in extra costs for patients, physicians, and hospitals.

As such, our Research team developed a never-before used automated tool to help determine which patients are at high-risk for case cancellation. In collaboration with Surgical Services and the Pre-Anesthesia Testing team, we work to mitigate these cancellations by providing interventions that allow patients to get the treatment they need on time. These interventions include consultations with patients who have a history of anxiety disorder as well as arranging free transportation to and from the hospital for those that have a barrier to accessing transportation.

Matthias Eikermann, MD, PhD

Chair, Department of Anesthesiology
Professor

Faculty Profile

Clinical Trials

The Department of Anesthesiology provides support for faculty, residents, students, and pharmaceutical sponsors conducting research within the field of anesthesiology and its subspecialties at Montefiore and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Our clinical research core provides assistance in study design, protocol development, contract executions, budget development, data collection, and statistical analysis.

The team works as a liaison between subspecialties within the department and other research organizations at Montefiore Einstein. Our staff is experienced in preparing IRB applications, preparing informed consents, submitting amendments, and fulfilling other various IRB and research requirements. Our clinical trial staff support researchers on how to obtain assistance from the Montefiore Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) facilities such as the Montefiore Office of Clinical Trials (OCT), the Clinical Research Center (CRC), and the Biostatistics and Study Design Department. The OCT assists investigators in budget negotiations, contract executions, invoicing for services, subject recruitment, and retention planning. The CRC provides a space for expert staff to conduct outpatient research studies and assists in collecting, processing, and shipping biological specimens. The Biostatistics and Study Design Department offers expertise in designing complex study protocols and providing analytical solutions for preparing manuscripts.