Overview | The Early Years

In 1983, Dr. Ronald A. Gabel was recruited from Peter Bent Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston to become the Department’s second Chairman. During Dr. Gabel’s tenure as Chairman, the Department continued to prosper. The residency program was expanded and major improvements in the didactic program were implemented.

The Department advanced technically with the purchase of the Department’s first personal computers and the establishment of a department-wide Local Area Network that allowed those computers to share files. Dr. Gabel recruited Dr. David Stern and his wife, Abby, who developed our first computerized Operating Room Database, and established an Information Systems Group.

With the growth of clinical services at the Medical Center, Dr. Gabel saw the need to establish subspecialty groups within the Department. In 1985, a cardiac anesthesia group was formed under the direction of Dr. Thomas Gayeski. In February of 1986, Dr. Gabel recruited Dr. Niels Lund from Sweden to become the new Director of Critical Care Medicine in Anesthesiology and Co-Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Dr. Gabel also recruited Drs. Mark Hafner and Vernetta Johnson to lead a subspecialty group in obstetric anesthesia. In September of 1986, the Department established a Multidisciplinary Pain Treatment Center under the direction of Dr. Jaimala Thanik and Dr. Michael Feuerstein, a clinical psychiatrist, as Director. Dr. Gabel also went on to establish a Pediatric Anesthesia Group under the direction of Dr. Ronald Litman, and a Neuroanesthesia Group under the direction of Dr. Kevin Gingrich.

Under Dr. Gabel’s leadership, the Department became involved in the management of the operating rooms. Dr. Gabel established and chaired the Operating Room Management Committee with representatives from Anesthesiology, Surgery, Nursing, and Hospital Administration. He also participated in the Surgical Operating Room Committee. He appointed Dr. Svend Eldrup-Jorgensen as Director of Clinical Affairs. Dr. Jorgensen served on both of the above Committees and coordinated the day-to-day running of the operating rooms.

Renovations were completed in our Administrative Offices and a new Anesthesiology Library was built in 1989. The Library included a conference room, study area, and kitchenette was dedicated to our former Chairman Dr. Alastair Gillies and an education fund was established in his honor.

In 1990, clinical work was expanded to the nearby Lattimore Community Surgicenter, a small outpatient day surgery center. This offered residents an opportunity to develop skills in managing cases efficiently with rapid operating room turnover.

In 1992, Dr. Denham S. Ward was recruited from UCLA as the Department’s third Chairman. Dr. Ward promoted innovative educational programs. He supported the purchase of one of the first Anesthesia Human Patient Simulators in the country which is used for research and education of residents and medical students. The Department also hosted the first international conference on medical simulation. Dr. Ward established the TAPS Program (Training Anesthesiologists as Physician Scientists) under the leadership of Dr. Richard Rivers and the Anesthesiology MBA Program under the direction of Dr. Stephen Lee. The TAPS program allowed residents additional time to do laboratory research while in the residency program and obtain a basic science Ph.D. The Anesthesiology MBA Program prepared anesthesiologists for careers as physician executives in health care management by combining anesthesiology fellowship training with the Simon School business curriculum leading to a Master of Business Administration degree. Dr. Ward was also a strong advocate of faculty development establishing various programs such as the faculty development course in Biostatistics.

During Dr. Ward’s tenure, the scope of the clinical services at the Medical Center continued to grow. In 1993, he recruited Dr. Richard Wissler to direct the Obstetric Anesthesia Group. The Liver Transplant Program which had a slow start in the early 1990s was revived and in 1994, Dr. Ashwani Chhibber was appointed Director of the Anesthesia Liver Transplant Group.

In 1996, Dr. Stew Lustik was appointed as Director of the Ambulatory Surgical Center and of the Pre-Admission Testing and Anesthesia Clinic, which was renamed Pre-operative Evaluation Clinic (PEC). The PEC has been highly successful in identifying problems at the time the patients are screened and evaluated prior to surgery. This gives clinical staff advance notice of unusual problems so they can prepare adequately and minimize complications. It also reduces the number of last minute cancellations.

In July 1998, the Anesthesiology faculty from Strong Memorial Hospital and Highland Hospital merged into a single Anesthesiology Group. This was the first merger of a major group since the creation of Strong Health. This merge was very successful allowing the clinically-oriented core of faculty members to work in a clinical practice track.

The Department also took a leadership role in managing the operating rooms at Strong Memorial Hospital with Dr. Ward being named Senior Director for Surgical Support Services and Dr. Jay Kulli as Director of the Operating Room. Dr. Ward along with Drs. Gabel, Kulli, and Lee and Debra Spratt, RN wrote a book entitled “Operating Room Management” which was published in 1999.

In 2000, Dr. Ward established the Ronald A. Gabel, M.D. Award for Teaching Excellence in honor of Dr. Gabel for his dedication and commitment to the Department and his love for teaching.

Further growth in basic science research was led by Drs. Jay Yang, Kevin Gingrich, Richard Rivers, and Molly Frame and more clinical trials followed. The total extramural research funding reached an all time high for our Department ranking us among the top 25 NIH funded Anesthesiology Departments in the country. In 2001, Dr. Ward hosted the 48th Annual International Meeting of the Association of University Anesthesiologists. This marked the first time the annual meeting was ever held in Upstate New York and the first time in 30 years since it was held in New York State.

In 2001, Dr. James L. Robotham succeeded Dr. Ward as the Department’s fourth Chairman. During his tenure, Dr. Robotham recruited several basic science researchers and established the Mitochondrial Research & Innovation Group.

During a national shortage of anesthesiologists and of academic anesthesiologists in particular, Dr. Robotham focused much effort on recruiting quality faculty members to cover the increasing clinical demands.

In 2005 Dr. Robert Lawrence, the first resident in the department and a former faculty member, passed away. As a perpetual memorial to Dr. Lawrence, the Department of Anesthesiology along with his wife, Dr. Ruth Lawrence, a pediatrician, and their nine children, established the Robert M. Lawrence, First Resident Award to honor his outstanding contributions to the department and the specialty.

In 2008, the Department was fortunate to once again have Dr. Ward, who was now the Dean for Faculty Development at the University of Rochester Medical Center, appointed as our Chairman. We look forward to the years ahead as our commitment to excellence and "medicine of the highest order" continues.