Clinical Divisions

The Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Division currently consists of a dedicated team of 10 cardiac anesthesiologists. All cardiac faculty have completed a formal cardiothoracic anesthesiology fellowship program and are Diplomates of the Advanced Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography. The University of Minnesota has a long history of contributions to the history of cardiac surgery, with the world's first successful open-heart procedure performed at the University of Minnesota in 1952 and the first implant of an artificial heart valve in 1966. It is a top center for ventricular assist devices, heart and lung transplantation with more than 50 lung transplants per year, minimally invasive cardiac surgery, mitral valve repair procedures, and structural heart procedures.

Our fellowship program provides advanced training in cardiothoracic anesthesiology to two trainees every year with major emphasis in complex cardiac procedures, assist devices, heart and lung transplantation, structural cardiac procedures, as well as experience with new technologies. The program is ACGME approved and equips the fellows with an excellent skill set to pursue a career either in academia or in private practice.

Our division is dedicated to the mission of the Department of Anesthesiology of providing the highest standard of anesthesia care to our cardiac patients and advancing the knowledge in the cardiothoracic anesthesiology through nurturing education, participating in research, interdisciplinary interactions and scholarly activity.

Anesthesiologists in the Chronic Pain Division provide expert pain management services for the prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of painful diseases and conditions. Our Clinic for Comprehensive Pain Management includes anesthesiologists, physical medicine & rehabilitation physicians (PM&R), psychologists, pharmacists, physical therapists and nurse practitioners who have expertise in pain management. We provide the latest treatment advances to help reduce or alleviate pain in the safest manner possible with a focus on non-opioid treatments. This may include medications, interventional procedures and/or pain-control devices to enable you to fully engage in atraumatic exercise and neurobehavioral counseling that serve as the foundation of successful chronic pain management. We work closely with other specialists within the M Health system to coordinate care and to develop the best and safest possible plan for managing pain.

Critical care anesthesiologists are involved with all aspects of critical care at the University of Minnesota Medical Center and throughout the Fairview health system. Critical care medicine at the University of Minnesota is unique in that it is one of the few centers in the United States where departments of internal medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, and emergency medicine have formed a "virtual department" of critical care medicine. Our philosophy is that although our primary specialties are different, our subspecialty training makes us all intensivists. We currently provide critical care services at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in the surgical intensive care unit, the cardiothoracic intensive care unit, and the medical intensive care unit. We also provide critical care services at Fairview Southdale Medical Center and Fairview Ridges Medical Center and telemedicine ICU services for the entire Fairview system in several remote rural hospitals.

Critical care at the University of Minnesota is truly multidisciplinary with rounding teams routinely consisting of intensivists, fellows, residents, medical students, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, a pharmacologist, nutrition specialists and nurses. Our anesthesiology residents rotate through the surgical and cardiothoracic intensive care units at the University of Minnesota Medical Center and we have advanced critical care electives in both of these units as well. We offer medical student rotations in the cardiothoracic, medical, and surgical intensive care units at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. 

In collaboration with the Department of Surgery, we have four critical care fellowship positions that focus on surgical critical care involving critical care rotations at all of our University of Minnesota Medical Center intensive care units as well as intensive care units at Hennepin County Medical Center, Regions Hospital and North Memorial Hospital. For more information on the critical care medicine fellowship, visit the critical care medicine fellowship webpage.

Anesthesiologists in the Multispecialty Division of the department provide anesthesia and perioperative care for adult patients undergoing:

• Abdominal and gynecological surgery, including liver and kidney transplantation and non-cardiac vascular surgery
• Non-cardiac, thoracic surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat surgery
• Orthopedic surgery  
• Anesthesia for off-site procedures such as the cardiac catheterization laboratory and MRI scans. Anesthesia is provided for these procedures both for inpatients and ambulatory care patients in the hospital and the ambulatory care centers on the University campus and Maple Grove. The physicians in the multispecialty division perform all types of anesthesia for surgical procedures (general, regional, peripheral nerve blocks, sedation).  

 Many physicians in the multispecialty division participate in the acute pain service where regional anesthetic techniques to provide analgesia in the postoperative period as well.

The Obstetric Division is charged with providing analgesia for labor and delivery, anesthesia for operative Cesarean Section and pain management for postoperative deliveries. The anesthesia practitioners offer an array of options to patients including continuous epidural infusions, patient-controlled epidural analgesia, and intrathecal analgesia for labor and delivery, as well as epidural anesthesia, spinal anesthesia and combined spinal-epidural anesthesia for operative deliveries. In addition, the department routinely provides Transversus Abdominis peripheral nerve blocks for postoperative analgesia following cesarean deliveries.

The Obstetric Division provides education and training for anesthesia residents, nurse anesthetists, and student nurse anesthetists. In collaboration with the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Department, we provide a robust consultative service for a wide spectrum of complex deliveries including, but not limited to, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, hemoglobinopathies, coagulopathies, congenital cardiac lesions both corrected and uncorrected and care for the super morbidly obese patient. The Division is also actively involved in clinical research in such avant-garde areas as the use of liposomal encapsulated local anesthetics for long-lasting pain relief. The Division is committed to the concept of patient-oriented/family-centric care to provide an atmosphere that focuses on the celebratory and joyous aspects of childbirth and minimizes the hospital component to the greatest degree possible.

These clinical missions are conducted in an exciting atmosphere that reflects a diverse patient population. Our skilled practitioners are guided by three main tenets: to provide pain relief to the best of our ability, to conduct safe and state of the art care, and in all instances to provide sincere compassion for our patients.

The world’s first mother-to-child cross-circulation open heart surgery in 1954, and most recently, the successful separation of conjoined twins took place in the operating rooms here at the University of Minnesota. This was possible because of the pediatric anesthesia expertise in the Department of Anesthesiology.

The Pediatric Division has remained a world-leader because of its continuous involvement in cutting-edge discoveries in pediatric medicine at the Academic Health Center. Thus, the Division has pioneered the perioperative care for children needing solid organ transplantation (liver, kidney, heart, lung, intestine), bone marrow transplantation for both malignant and non-malignant illnesses (the University of Minnesota is the birthplace for bone marrow and stem-cell transplantation), pancreatectomy and auto-islet transplantation and non-operating room diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The Division runs a full-service family-friendly sedation unit with the availability of complementary child-family-life initiatives. The Division utilizes modern and up-to-date technologies in providing baby- and child-friendly anesthesia care for all perioperative needs in all the fields namely general pediatric surgery, otolaryngology, urology, neurosurgery, cardiology and cardiac surgery, dental procedures, gastroenterology, radiation therapy, interventional radiology, orthopedic surgery and diagnostic neurology including care for children with malignant hyperthermia.

We have an ACGME approved Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship program. The majority of rotations for the Fellow are conducted at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital with additional experiences at Shriners Hospital in Minneapolis and an overseas elective at Narayana Health in Bengaluru, India.

The Division’s subspecialties include cardiac anesthesia, regional anesthesia and acute pain, chronic pain, newborn and preemie, care of children with uncommon diseases and non-operating room anesthesia. The section has robust faculty with specialized training and interests.

The University of Minnesota embraces the emerging specialty of Perioperative Medicine with its focus on patient-centered, evidence-based, system-driven continuum of care.  It recognizes and promotes the unique expertise of anesthesiologists in the many facets of perioperative care.

The Preoperative Assessment Center (PAC) evaluates and medically optimizes patients having complex surgical procedures. Staffed by a multidisciplinary team of advanced practice practitioners and led by a board-certified anesthesiologist, the PAC applies the most recent evidence-based guidelines and practice advisories to each patient to create a personal treatment program. Intra- and inter-departmental communication is emphasized in creating seamless transitions through the surgical journey. Specific areas of intervention include: chronic pain management, anticoagulation management, optimization of COPD, coordination of care for acute pain, anemia management, perioperative diabetes management, surgical site infection prevention, frailty assessment, pre-habilitation and care of the geriatric patient.

The Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota also recognizes and promotes the development of systems based initiatives that cross traditional specialty boundaries. Anesthesiologists at the University of Minnesota are leaders in the design, implementation and ongoing management of Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) protocols as well as other clinical pathways that promote patient health and system savings.

Patient safety and quality initiatives created by members of the Department of Anesthesiology are implemented not only at the University, but throughout the entire Fairview healthcare system. The Perioperative Medicine team is uniquely positioned to provide critical expertise and guidance in the transition of medicine from traditional fee for service to the newly mandated system-based, value-driven service model demanded by government and private payers.