Department Honors, Awards, Appointments, and Publications - June 2026

Awards

Irfan Kathiriya, MD, PhD. “Getting Together” Funds awarded by the UCSF School of Medicine and UCSF Health. 

Irum Khan, MD, PhD. 2026-2027 MPOG Outcome Research Fellow. Dr. Khan’s research focuses on supraglottic airway utilization and its impact on perioperative efficiency and resource use. As an MPOG Fellow, she will evaluate whether supraglottic airway use is associated with improvements in anesthesia phase times and medication utilization, with the goal of informing data‑driven optimization of modern perioperative care.

Nicholas Mendez, MD. 2026-2027 MPOG Outcome Research Fellow. Dr. Mendez focuses his research on leveraging large datasets to evaluate and improve perioperative outcomes. As an MPOG Fellow, he will investigate practice pattern variations in anesthesia for magnetic resonance imaging, aiming to establish data-driven safety standards for patients undergoing anesthesia in complex non-operating room environments.

Honors

Michael Bokoch, MD, PhD. William K. Hamilton Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2025 - 2026.

Litty John, MBBS. Ronald D. Miller Award for Resident Mentorship, 2025 - 2026.

Nicholas Thompson, MD. Stuart C. Cullen Award for Excellence during Residency, 2025 - 2026.

Roshan Nayak, MD. Mark A. Rosen Award for Scholarship during Residency, 2025 - 2026.

Eden Patton, MD. Jeffrey A. Katz Award for Work Ethic and Professionalism during Residency, 2025 - 2026.

In the News

Newly Launched Uganda Hypoxia Lab is a Step Toward Greater Equity in Medical Device Testing.

Meet the Maker — Litty John, MBBS. 3D-printed heart models for educational use.

Meetings and Presentations

Joint Obstetrics and Gynecology and Anesthesia Forum 

Optimizing Care for Patients with Pain During Cesarean Delivery. This session was hosted by the departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, and focused on recognition of intraoperative pain, communication with patients and across teams, and practical management approaches. June 18, 2026.

63rd Annual Western Anesthesia Residents Conference (WARC)

We had some terrific presentations from our residents and medical students, including Lisa Young, Keith Shaffer, Krystal Karunungan, Abe Cortez, and Emma Wu. Emma took home top prize for oral presentations for her presentation on the QI Handoff tool that she and the resident QI team has been working on. Congratulations to her and to all the participants for their fantastic presentations.

Thanks also to the faculty who supported these projects, including (but may not be limited to): Andrew Bishara, Solmaz Manuel, Manny Pardo, Dylan Masters, Kris Breyer, Kaveh Hemati, Albert Yen, Jenny Woodbury, Linda Liu, Odmara Barreto Chang, Stephanie Lim, Nandini Palaniappa, and Matthias Behrends.

Podcasts

Alexander Butwick, MBBS, MS, FRCA. Delivering Under Pressure. OB Anesthesia 101.

• Episode 1: Postpartum Hemorrhage: The Anesthesiologist’s Role When Seconds Count.
• Episode 2: High Stakes and Low Platelets – Managing HELLP Syndrome in the OR.

Publications

Berger-Estilita J, Absalom AR, Gelb AW. Making brain monitoring routine: why processed EEG monitoring should be standard practice. J Clin Monit Comput. 2026 Jun 05.

Bishara A, Lin M, Digitale J, Yim JWL, Soleimani H, Robinowitz D, Pletcher M, Ramaswamy P. AI-Guided Surgical Blood Readiness: Overcoming Real-World Challenges in Prospective Validation for Safer, More Efficient Blood Preparation. NEJM AI. 2025;2(12).

Chen B, Gao L, Bönninger M, Huang T, Krez N, Wen W, Bowen M, Lou J, Marks JD, Rummel A, Jin R. A belt-buckle checkpoint regulates the onset of botulinum neurotoxin intoxication. Nat Commun. 2026;17(1). 

Crisan I, Berger-Estilita J, Saxena S, Abramovich I, Bilotta F. Eyes wide open in the ICU: A scoping review of tools and strategies for situational awareness. Eur J Anaesthesiol Intensive Care. 2026;5(3):e0109.

Ehie OA, Wood AW, Chang OLB, Langnas EM, Vu TT, Lilaonitkul M, Gropper MA. Perioperative outcomes: Transforming healthcare. J Natl Med Assoc. 2026 Jun 02. 

Ford JB, Nzoutchoum OT, Weinrich JA, Chatterjee D, Basbaum AI, Paz JT. A focal ischemic stroke of the somatosensory thalamus produces persistent spontaneous pain-like behavior. Neurobiol Dis. 2026;227:107490.

Garcia B, Dixit AA, Legrand M. Balancing the evidence with the SPAQI recommendations: from perioperative discontinuation towards continuation of SGLT2 inhibitors. Br J Anaesth. 2026 Jun 11.

Higgins KE, Mansolf M, Duggan EW, Wingert T, Vinson AE, Sinskey JL, Margolis R, Correll LR, Pappas H, Swisher JL, Rothschild L, Saddawi-Konefka D, Carey T, Was A, Durand MJ, Budd A, Hernandez Carcamo J, Park C. A Multi-Department Investigation of Occupational Well-Being, Systemic Features, and Organizational Outcomes in Anesthesiology Using the Well-Being Influencers Survey for Healthcare (WISH). Anesthesiology. 2026 Jun 02.

Khan R, Sun KJ, Zuraek A, Zhang L, Leung J. An Exploration of "Near-Miss" Events in Non-Operating Room Anesthesia Locations. Anesth Analg. 2026 Jun 01.

Leriche RB, Wozny TA, Saal J, Motzkin JC, Sellers KK, Starr PA, Chang EF, Shirvalkar P. Human intracranial signal stability tracks anatomical accuracy after electrode reimplantation. J Neural Eng. 2026 Jun 22. 

Marcus SG, Mathis M, Bokoch MP, Freundlich R, Chen D, Chen L, Legrand M. Rapid Sequence Induction Practices and Outcomes in Abdominal Surgery Patients: A Multicenter Observational Cohort Study. Anesthesiology. 2026 Jun 08.

Yap EN, Wei J, Zeltser DW, Khersonsky J, Lin S, Bal KS, Gray A. Regional anesthesia for distal radius fracture repair: a multicenter retrospective cohort study of perioperative outcomes and postoperative healthcare utilization. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2026 Jun 15.

Zhang Y, Wang Y, Yang Y, Mei H, Liu X, He Y, Qin S, Feng B. Gut-Liver Axis Failure in Critical Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease: From ICU Secondary Hits to Microbiome-Targeted Therapy. Mediators Inflamm. 2026;2026(1):e3968719.

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