Interactive Timeline of Department's Seminal Contributions

Since our department’s inception in 1958, we have been making groundbreaking contributions to the fields of anesthesia and perioperative care, critical care, and pain medicine, including the first 3-function blood gas analyzer, description of MAC, the first description of anesthetic effects in a fetal lamb model, seminal work around the complications and coagulation defects associated with massive blood transfusions, CPAP for neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, first demonstration of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography, and others.

Timeline Link

Open the Timeline (Fullscreen)

“This has been the era of modern anesthesia. Until the 1940’s, few physicians were anesthetists; this was a limited specialty with primitive techniques and a slight body of knowledge. But then this change occurred. New drugs and techniques were developed to induce anesthesia, support breathing, relax muscles, and suppress pain. Technology improved. Suddenly we had ventilators, ECG and anesthetic/respiratory gas monitors, the blood gas analyzer.  All these made anesthesia safer–and more expensive. Knowledge that forms the underpinning of any specialty grew. The information came in a few basic forms: we measured everything affected by anesthetics–breathing, kidney function, cardiovascular function.”  Edmond Eger

To learn more, click on any area of the interactive timeline to see photos and a description of our contributions from that era.

A big thanks to Professors Eger, Katz, Miller, and Rosen for compiling this history, and to Professor Larson and Assistant Professor Lipnick for creating the timeline.