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Nancy A. Nussmeier, M.D., named chair of anesthesiology

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Nancy A, Nussmeier, M.D., director of Cardiovascular Anesthesia Research at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, has been named chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at SUNY Upstate Medical University. The appointment, effective Sept. 25, was announced by Steven J. Scheinman, M.D., SUNY Upstate executive vice president and dean of the College of Medicine.

"Dr. Nussmeier is a nationally recognized leader in cardiac anesthesiology who brings to SUNY Upstate extraordinary academic, clinical and leadership skills," said Scheinman. "She will be an outstanding leader for the department and the institution."

As director of Cardiovascular Anesthesia Research at the Texas Heart Institute, one of the nation's largest cardiovascular centers, Nussmeier directs an aggressive research enterprise dedicated to improving anesthesia and surgical care in patients with cardiovascular disease. Some of Nussmeier's studies under way at the institute and those of her colleagues include how to protect the brain during cardiac surgery and gender-related outcomes after cardiac surgery. Other key projects include the investigation of novel drugs for the treatment of pain after cardiac and thoracic surgery, as well as anesthetic management for people with severe heart failure. Nussmeier was named director of Cardiovascular Anesthesia Research in 1999.

Nussmeier's research has been widely published in a variety of journals, including the the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery, Anesthesiology, Anesthesia and Analgesia, the Journal of Cardiothoracic Vascular Anesthesia, and the Texas Heart Institute Journal. In addition to her dozens of journal articles and abstracts, she has contributed to nearly a dozen medical textbooks.

In addition to her role at the Texas Heart Institute, Nussmeier also serves as a professor professor in the Department of Anesthesia at Baylor College of Medicine and is an attending anesthesiologist at Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital.

Before joining the Texas Heart Institute, Nussmeier held faculty posts at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, and the University of California, San Francisco.

Nussmeier serves on the editorial boards of numerous publications, including Anesthesia and Analgesia and the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia.

She is a member of the board of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, where she serves as chair of its Committee on Research and co-chair of its Task Force for Philanthropy. She also serves on the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia Leadership Committee. She has also held leadership positions with the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

A native of Indiana, Nussmeier received a bachelor's degree from Purdue University in 1975, and a medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1979. Her postgraduate training includes a surgery internship at Massachusetts General Hospital and Waltham Hospital, Boston (1980), anesthesia residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (1982) and a cardiothoracic anesthesia fellowship at Emory University Hospital, Atlanta (1983).

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