Department of Anesthesiology Research

Anesthesiology research efforts focus on a variety of areas including the aging heart, anesthetic techniques, difficult airways, pain management, pain mechanisms, perioperative care, and sepsis.

Our faculty is very productive in National Institute of Health (NIH) and industry-funded efforts.

Patient recruitment also continues for the North American Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) Registry and genomic analysis for susceptibility to MH. 

Clinical Research Team

Ashish Khanna, MD, FCCP, FCCM, FASA Vice Chairman, Research	Lynne Harris, RN, BSN Research Nurse Manager	Bruce Cusson, RN Research Nurse
Amelia Eaton, RN Research Nurse	Brandon Reeves, RN Research Nurse	Jessica Reeves, RN, BSN Research Nurse
Tanmay Sura, MBBS Clinical Studies Coordinator	Amit Saha, PhD Data Scientist, Biostatistician	Anusha Samant Clinical Research Technician Head

Carter Bell Clinical Research Technician	Alexandra Coffield Clinical Research Technician	Emily Deschler Clinical Research Technician
Nataya Disher Clinical Research Technician	Jaclyn Eberting Clinical Research Technician	Seth Eller Clinical Research Technician
Spencer Faircloth Clinical Research Technician	Tanner Lydic Clinical Research Technician	Abby Reynolds Clinical Research Technician
Lily Sykes Clinical Research Technician	Sydney Ward Clinical Research Technician	Evan Youshock Clinical Research Associate
Bethany Bouldin Clinical Research Associate	Vida Motamedi Clinical Research Associate	Tae Kyong Kim, MD Visiting Scholar
Sandra Bailey Research Admin Coordinator (Grants)	Tina Payne Research Admin Coordinator (Post-award Grants Management)

Research Labs

Pain Mechanisms Lab

The Pain Mechanisms Lab cultivates an open scientific community that transforms pain treatment through innovative research.

Anesthesiology Research Studies and Highlights

Stroke Treatment Ambulance
The Stroke Treatment Ambulance project is an engineering development and construction project that includes safety testing. In collaboration with American Emergency Vehicle Company, the largest ambulance manufacturing company in the U.S., we are developing a prototype of a hyperbaric oxygen chamber-equipped stroke treatment ambulance to:

• Increase the traveling radius for stroke treatment
• Increase the time from of when a stroke can be treated
• Reach more rural areas that are currently out of range 

Chronic Pain After Surgery
The Peters Lab is leading research that’s focused on preventing chronic pain after surgery (CPAS) by providing a standard of medical care perioperatively. Chronic pain after surgery (CPAS) is now recognized as a major public health concern which can affect between 10 and 50% of patients depending on the type of surgery. Currently, there is no standard of medical care provided perioperatively to prevent CPAS. This is due in part to an incomplete knowledge of the risk factors and biological mechanisms that are responsible for postoperative pain transitioning from an acute stage that resolves with wound healing to a more chronic pain state.

Neuropathic Pain and Deep Brain stimulation
Under grant NS074357 from the National Institute of Neurodegenerative Disorders and Stroke, the Martin Lab is studying the effects of deep brain stimulation in rats with neuropathic pain. Deep brain stimulation has recently received renewed interest as a treatment modality for a number of CNS disorders including chronic, intractable pain. We are interested in finding brain regions in which electrical stimulation reverses classical symptoms of nerve-injury associated pain in rats, such as mechanical hypersensitivity.

Chronic pain is a major public health issue
The Ririe Lab studies chronic pain, a major public health issue affecting 30% of the adult population in the U.S.A (1). The burden is immense with lost productivity, utilization of health care resources and a cost over 600 billion dollars per year (2). Nerve injury induces neural activity that establishes altered processing and long term behavioral effects. Despite this, incomplete understanding of ongoing chronic pain has resulted in inadequate treatment options.

Study and characterization of the mammalian somatosensory system
Dr. Boada’s overall goals are focused on the study and characterization of the mammalian somatosensory system physiological functions, in normal as well pathological conditions. Specifically, the molecular basis of the mechanical transduction on primary sensory neurons and the circuits, architecture, and sensory integration in secondary order sensory neurons in the spinal cord.

Normal resolution of pain after surgery
With grant grant GM109333 from the National Institute of General Medicine Sciences, the Romero-Sandoval Lab is studying the role of CD163 in the normal resolution of pain after surgery and its potential therapeutic effects to prevent or treat chronic postsurgical pain. Under this initial hypothesis, our studies have originated multiple projects encompassing a multidisciplinary approach.

Active Grants and Funding