Christopher Choukalas, MD

Associate Clinical Professor
[email protected]
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Biography: 

Dr. Choukalas is an academic anesthesiologist and intensive care physician. He is Co-PI on a study investigating the role of sleep, activity, and physical therapy in post-operative delirium and cognitive dysfunction, consults for medical device marketers, leads process improvement/systems redesign efforts using lean methodologies, and thinks and writes about the larger world of healthcare structure and policy, including a book chapter on occupational exposures in anesthesia practice for Miller's Anesthesia, the pre-eminent text in the field.

His undergraduate and graduate degrees are in psychology from Gustavus Adolphus College and Iowa State University, respectively, and he graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School. He completed residency training in anesthesiology at the University of Chicago, and fellowship training in critical care medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He is board-certified in anesthesiology and critical care medicine, and is an active clinician in both specialties.

Publications: 
Verdiner R, Khurmi N, Choukalas C, Erickson C, Poterack K. Does adding muscle relaxant make post-operative pain better? a narrative review of the literature from US and European studies. Anesth Pain Med (Seoul). 2023 Oct; 18(4):340-348.
Tran D, Tang C, Tabatabai S, Pleasants D, Choukalas C, Min J, Do Q, Sands L, Lee K, Leung JM. The Impact of Surgery duration and Surgery End Time on Postoperative Sleep in Older Adults. J Sleep Disord Manag. 2021; 7(2).
Choukalas CG, Vu TG. The Problem of Daily Imaging in the Intensive Care Unit: When You Care So Much It Hurts. JAMA Intern Med. 2020 10 01; 180(10):1369-1370.
Verdiner RE, Choukalas CG, Siddiqui S, Stahl DL, Galvagno SM, Jabaley CS, Bartz RR, Lane-Fall M, Goff KL, Sreedharan R, Bennett S, Williams GW, Khanna AK. COVID-Activated Emergency Scaling of Anesthesiology Responsibilities Intensive Care Unit. Anesth Analg. 2020 08; 131(2):365-377.
Choukalas, CG, Michelow, M, Fitzsimmons, M. Miller's Anesthesia (M Gropper, Ed.). Occupational Safety, Infection Control, and Substance Abuse. 2019; 2:2774-2794.
Choukalas, CG, Nicholau, D. Miller's Anesthesia, 8th Edition (R. Miller, Ed). Occupational Safety Including Substance Abuse. 2015.
Jeffrey A. Katz, Christopher G. Choukalas. Goal Directed Fluid Resuscitation: A Review of Hemodynamic, Metabolic, and Monitoring Based Goals. Current Anesthesiology Reports. 2013 Jun 1; 3(2):98-104.
Katz, JA, Choukalas, CG.. Fluid resuscitation: A review of hemodynamic, metabolic, and monitoring-based goals. Current Anesthesiology Reviews. 2013; 1-7.
Choukalas CG, Kellman S, Keese ML, Loor, M, Vasington, M, O’Connor, MF, Edelson, DP. . Intervention- versus physiology-based risk assessment scores for predicting cardiac arrest: a pilot study. F1000Research. 2013.
Karen Hirsch, Christopher Choukalas, Vineeta Singh. 377. Critical Care Medicine. 2012 Dec 1; 40(12):1-328.
Stechert, MM. Choukalas, CG. . The 5-Minute Anesthesia Consult. N. Singh-Radcliff and A. Gupta (Eds.). The Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome. 2012.
Christopher G. Choukalas. Goal-Directed Fluid Resuscitation. ICU Director. 2011 Sep 1; 2(5):172-175.
Choukalas, CG. Goal-Directed Fluid Resuscitation: Strategies for the Intensive Care Unit. ICU Director. 2011; 2(5):172-175.
Choukalas CG, Walter J, Glick D, O'Connor MF, Tung A, Dinwiddie SH, Nunnally ME. Mask ventilation, hypocapnia, and seizure duration in electroconvulsive therapy. J Clin Anesth. 2010 Sep; 22(6):415-9.
Choukalas, CG, Liu, LL.. Clinical Reviews in Anesthesia (F Moya, Ed.). Coagulation Abnormalities Made Easy. 2010.
Honors and Awards: 
Excellence in Teaching Award, Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators, 2014
Grant to study a proprietary algorithm for the detection of critical illness, Northern California Institute for Research and Education, 2012-2014