Education and Development
I credit Julian Biebuyck, the Emeritus Chair of the Penn State University Department of Anesthesiology, with catalyzing my career. I interviewed at many of the top anesthesiology programs in the country. My second interview was at Penn State. It was with Dr. Biebuyck I shared my interests, passions, and dreams of melding technology, healthcare, and education. He embraced my vision and offered me unique opportunities as a resident--one that gave me enough flexibility to achieve my goals. As I interviewed around the country my thoughts returned to Penn State. No other program, including those in my native California, were a better match for me. I matched and matriculated to Penn State in 1991 to begin post-graduate training.
Dr. Biebuyck’s support bore fruit —while still a resident, I won several awards both individually and with collaborators as a member of the Penn State Cognitive Science Laboratory (e.g. first place in the Scientific Exhibits at the Annual American Society of Anesthesiologists Meeting). The Cognitive Science Laboratory was one of the first simulation centers in the country. At Penn State, I served as Chief Resident and was was appointed to my first national committee, The Electronic Media and Information Technology (EMIT) Committee of the ASA--where I served for the next 10 years.
During my residency, I developed multi-media and web-based programs with another close mentor, Dr. Kirk Shelley. Several of my projects won awards and gained international recognition, especially those leveraging the newly emerging internet.
My fellowship training was in neuroanesthesiology with an emphasis on neural monitoring. My clinical mentor, Garry Russell, launched a profitable perioperative neural monitoring service where we monitored close to 800 patients per year. In addition to mastering neural monitoring, I continued to expand my interests in the technology of learning. Although my research interests moved away from clinical medicine, my love of neurosurgery bleeds over into my teaching–being one of my preferred subjects to discuss with the residents rotating through the operating rooms and the focus of several of our simulation initiatives.
In 1999 I was recruited to Duke University as a member of the neuroanesthesiology group and became the Director of Informatics Education for the Department.
I completed a 1000-hour fellowship in the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona (www.integrativemedicine.arizona.edu). During my fellowship, I focused on lifestyle interventions to improve health. I am particularly interested in the use of food and mind-body interventions in the maintenance of health and the treatment of disease.
Personal Education and Professional Positions
Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology, 2020
Fellow, Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona 2016 - 2018
Professor of Anesthesiology, Duke University, 2014 - 2020
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Duke University, 1999-2014
Assistant Professor, Anesthesia, Pennsylvania State University 1996 - 1999
Fellow And Clinical Instructor, Neuroanesthesia, Pennsylvania State University1 995 - 1996
Intern/Resident, Anesthesia, Pennsylvania State University 1991 - 1995
M.D., Wake Forest University 1987-1991
B.S. University of California, Davis, 1981-1986