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OHSU Anesthesiology Department Recruits New Faculty

   Portland, Ore.

Oregon Health and Science University's new chairman of anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine, Jeffrey Kirsch, M.D., has recruited an impressive group of additional scientists and educators for the department.

"In the short term this new team of scientists will help train OHSU medical students to become physician scientists," said Kirsch, former professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins, where he was also vice chairman of education and training. "They will also share their expertise and knowledge with residents, fellows and junior faculty to help them become better scientists. And in the long run the presence of these scientists will transform the department of anesthesiology into a center for excellence in the development of new therapies to protect the brain from injuries caused by lack of blood flow."

Patricia Hurn, Ph.D., has joined OHSU as professor and vice chairman of research in anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine. She is internationally known for her work in gender biology and brain injury, and her research is well funded by the National Institutes of Health. She serves on several editorial boards and study sections.

Richard Traystman, Ph.D., now a professor of anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine, was previously endowed senior vice chairman for research in anesthesiology and critical medicine at Johns Hopkins and director of the Eugene and Mary B. Meyer Center for Advanced Transfusion Practices for Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. His research interests include the mechanisms of cerebrovascular regulation in the fetus, newborn and adult; neuroprotection during stroke and cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and the mechanisms of brain injury following focal and global cerebral stroke. He has several NIH grants supporting these endeavors.

Hurn and Traystman together bring with them research grants that will total nearly $10 million during the next five years. The grants will make the department one of the top 15 anesthesiology departments in the country in terms of NIH funding.
   
Nabil Alkayed, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine. He was previously an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is interested in the molecular mechanisms of brain injury following stroke and in the mechanisms regulating blood flow in brain. His research focuses on how men and women respond differently to stroke and the roles played by the female sex hormone estrogen and a particular group of enzymes in regulating blood flow in brain and protecting an individual from stroke.

Stephanie Murphy, V.M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine, was previously an assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins. A junior scientist with outstanding potential, she provides veterinary support for investigators and is also developing into an independent investigator. She is conducting an NIH-funded investigation into estrogen and progesterone as potential neuroprotective agents and exploring their interactions in stroke mechanisms.

Valerie Sera, D.D.S., M.D., an assistant professor of anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine, was an assistant professor of anesthesia and critical care medicine and clinical coordinator of the operating rooms in the Division of Cardiac Anesthesia at Johns Hopkins. She originally trained as a nurse and then as a dentist. She completed her training in oral surgery at OHSU and received her medical degree at the Medical College of Virginia. After completing her anesthesiology residency at Johns Hopkins she completed a fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology and joined the faculty. She was a member of the cardiac anesthesiology faculty and was co-director of the office anesthesia group. She brings to OHSU expertise in cardiac anesthesiology, trans-esophageal echo-cardiology and office anesthesia.

Also joining the department is Myrdalis Diaz-Ramirez, M.D. An assistant professor of anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine, she completed an anesthesiology residency at OHSU in 1999 and a pain management fellowship at OHSU in 2001. Joining the team from Sarasota Pain Associates in Florida, she specializes in spinal pain and oncologic pain.

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