Department of Anesthesiology

Margaret Wood Welcome to the Columbia University Medical Center Department of Anesthesiology Home Page. The purpose of this site is to provide ready access to information about our department and its activities.

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) has a tradition of excellence in the field of anesthesiology, derived from the quality and depth of our clinical program, the range of clinical material in our operating rooms and intensive care units, the professional experience of our faculty, and the high caliber of our research teams. New York Presbyterian Hospital is the only hospital in NYC to be on the Honor Roll of U.S. News and World Report (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007) reflecting the very best in subspecialty medical care. In 2007, New York Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell ranked number 6 on the U.S. News and World Report Honor Roll for Best Hospitals, gaining 21 points in 11 specialties. New York - Presbyterian Hospital based in New York City and affiliated with Columbia University - is the largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital in the country, with 2,369 beds. It provides state-of-the-art inpatient, ambulatory, and preventive care in all areas of medicine. We attend at three centers, New York - Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Children's Hospital of New York and The Allen Pavilion. One of the largest and most comprehensive health-care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education, and community service. It consistently ranks as one of the top hospitals in the country in U.S. News & World Report's guide to "America's Best Hospitals," in New York Magazine's Best Doctors issue, and in many other leading surveys.

The Anesthesiology Service was established as part of the Department of Surgery in 1937 under the direction of Dr. Virginia Apgar, world-famous for the Apgar score that is used to this day in the evaluation of newborn infants. The independent Department of Anesthesiology was founded in 1952, under the chairmanship of Dr. Emanuel M. Papper. Thus, Dr. Papper was the first chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at Columbia University. We celebrated our Golden Jubilee in 2002!

As clinicians we administer around 40,000 anesthetics annually in over 40 operating rooms and anesthetizing locations. Our department directs the combined surgical and cardiothoracic intensive care units under the leadership of Dr. Robert Sladen. We moved into the new Children's Hospital of New York in December, 2003, and the new Women's Hospital (obstetrics) in the same new building in early 2004. The Pediatric Anesthesia Division is led by Dr. Lena Sun and the Obstetric Anesthesia Division is led by Dr. Richard Smiley. We also attend in the pediatric intensive care unit. Finally, we provide treatment of acute and chronic pain for both adult and pediatric patients in our Pain Medicine Clinic and in the hospital at large. We also have a palliative care program. A new Heart Hospital is under construction and will open December 2009 or January 2010. The Cardiac Anesthesia Division is led by Dr. Jack Shanewise.

Our basic and clinical research efforts are expanding the boundaries of medical knowledge and improving patient care. The research program ranges from clinical research to whole animal physiology to cellular and molecular biology. Dr. Carol Hirshman is the Bendixen Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department, and Dr Jay Yang heads up the Anesthesiology Neurobiology Research Center. All our laboratories have been extensively renovated over the last five years.

Our residents and fellows are outstanding, and are provided the opportunity to present their clinical and research findings (in conjunction with faculty) at national meetings. Recently, there has been an interest from resident applicants in international and global health in relation to anesthesiology; New York is an ideal city for this area of activity. New York is truly an international city, and you will have the opportunity to develop as an anesthesiologist skilled in treating patients from diverse backgrounds and cultures. We have 72 residents and more than 20 clinical and research fellows at Columbia. We are moving toward a four year integrated program, so that all our residents will do their “internship” at Columbia as well as the anesthesiology part of their training. This will commence in July 2008. Once the four year program is in place we will have 96 residents. We are leaders in the provision of "cutting edge" anesthesia care for all subspecialties, and are also innovators in residency education. Our commitment to resident education is absolute and our goal is to train the future leaders of our specialty. To ensure that our program director has the time and resources to give his or her "all" to the residency program, we have an endowed fully funded chair for the program director - the Ngai-Jubilee Chair, which is currently held by Dr. Leila Pang.

We are very proud of our residents, and I recognize how privileged I am to have the opportunity to mentor and interact with such an outstanding group of individuals.