Recent Highlights

Jake Sunshine, MD, recipient of the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association 2026 Luminary Award, will present at Redefining Healthcare in the Age of AI, a Nature Conference, held September 8-10 in Paris, France. Learn more about Dr. Sunshine’s work.

Deepak Sharma, MBBS, MD, DM, presented “Perioperative Monitoring of Cerebral Perfusion: Neuroanesthesia, Neurocritical Care and Beyond,” during the World Brain Health Day webinar co-hosted by the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) and the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology & Critical Care (SNACC) on July 22.

Dan Raftery, PhD, was awarded a NIH S10 grant to support the purchase of an Advanced Multiplexed UPLC-MS/Mass Spectrometry System for Target Metabolomics.

Shabnam Salimi, MD, MSc, was selected as the recipient of our department’s Spring 2026 Pilot Grant Award for her project, “Detection of Early-stage Chronic Kidney Disease Using Bayesian-based Metabolomic Clocks.”

Sara Nikravan, MD, FASE, FCCM, presented “POCUS Revolution” at Grand Rounds for the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University in St. Louis in July. She also delivered the Kerber-Kirkpatrick Ethics/Humanitarian Lecture at the 2026 American Society of Echocardiography Scientific Sessions. Her topic, “POCUS at the Heart of Global Health,” reflected on the ways point-of-care ultrasound can empower healthcare providers, strengthen systems, and foster meaningful global partnerships.

Dustin Long, MD, was awarded an NIH R35 for his project, “Targeting the preoperative microbiome for the prevention of surgical site infection and prophylactic antibiotic resistance.”

Tonya Palermo, PhD, joined the North American Pain School, held in Quebec, Canada at the end of June, as a guest speaker. She was also inducted as a 2026 USASP Fellow at the United States Association for the Study of Pain 2026 Annual Meeting. The highest class of membership within the USASP, the designation recognizes members who have demonstrated excellence in advancing the understanding of pain through sustained scholarship leadership and service.

Itay Bentov, MD, PhD, is featured in “Episode 190: Perioperative Care for Older Adults,” part of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Central Line podcast series. He also co-authored the featured opinion piece in the June issue of the ASA Monitor, “The Aging Brain – Our New Frontier in Perioperative Excellence.”

Department Chair G. Burkhard Mackensen, MD, PhD, FASE, FSCAI, co-led multiple live, premiere classes in mitral TEER imaging at the Congenital & Structural Interventions (CSI) Congress, held in Frankfurt, Germany this June. CSI is dedicated to promoting development in the field of structural, valvular and congenital heart interventions worldwide. Dr. Mackensen is the recipient of the American Society of Echocardiography 2026 Outstanding Achievement in Perioperative Echocardiography Award. Read the full announcement.

NIH awarded an R01 to Li Li, MD, PhD, for his project “Elucidating locus coeruleus homeostatic mechanisms in opioid-induced sleep disturbances.”

Wang Wang, MD, PhD, presented “Emerging Roles of Redox and Mitochondrial Dynamics in Metabolic Heart Disease,”  at UW’s 2026 Annual Diabetes and Metabolism Symposium on May 7th.

Rong Tian, MD, PhD, professor and director of the Mitochondria and Metabolism Center, was the Emil Bozler Distinguished Lecturer at Ohio State University’s 20th Annual Physiology and Cell Biology Research Day. Dr. Tian’s presentation, “Mitochondria in Cardiac Physiology and Disease,” highlighted research at the intersection of cellular energetics and cardiovascular health.