Department History
Dr. Douglas Eastwood became Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology in 1955 when it was first organized as a distinct academic entity. He established the residency training program at UVA and served as Chair of the Department until 1971. The residents trained during Dr. Eastwood's tenure include three current full professors in the department, Drs. Cosmo DiFazio, Frederic (Fritz) Berry, and William Ross . Drs. DiFazio and Berry have since become prominent authorities in the fields of regional/obstetrical and pediatric anesthesia, respectively. Dr. Ross was Director of the Virginia Ambulatory Surgery Center (VASC) having received his MBA from the College of William and Mary in 2000. Dr. Harold Carron came to Virginia in 1969 and established what is now an internationally recognized Pain Management Center. The late Dr. Carron also served as Acting Chair of the Department from 1971-72.
Dr. Robert Epstein was recruited from Columbia University in 1972 to be the Department Chair. He served in that position until October 1996. From a prominent position in anesthesia research, he developed a department that is considered to be one of the country's finest. Dr. Epstein has played an important national role in education and the overall development of the specialty. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. At the time of his induction, he was one of only eight anesthesiologists to be so honored. He served as President of the American Board of Anesthesiology and of the Association of University Anesthesiologists. Dr. Epstein arrived to find a department that had a solid clinical foundation. In the middle to late 1970's, he began recruiting individuals who would make the department outstanding including Drs. Thomas Gal and Charles Durbin. They joined the department after completing their residency at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gal is a nationally recognized authority on respiratory physiology and airway management. He is an editor of Anesthesia & Analgesia and author of Respiratory Physiology in Anesthestic Practice. Dr. Durbin is nationally prominent in education and resource management in critical care medicine and respiratory care practice. He is the former director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit here at UVa and received the Forrest M. Bird Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award from the American Respiratory Care Foundation for outstanding scientific contributions to respiratory care. Effective January 2006, Dr. Durbin will become the President of the Society for Critical Care Medicine.
A number of individuals who have gone on to be national leaders in the specialty were recruited in the mid '70s as faculty members in this Department. Dr. David Longnecker was a faculty member for thirteen years before becoming the Chair and Robert Dunning Dripps Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He is now Sr Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs. Dr. Edward Miller, a longtime faculty member, left VA in 1987 to take the E. M. Papper Chair at Columbia University and subsequently, the Mark Rogers Chair and then Dean and CEO positions at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Carol Lake, a longtime faculty member, is the recently resigned Chair at the University of Louisville. Dr. Robert Bedford served as Head of the Anesthesia Department at Memorial Hospital/Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He now divides his time between the Tampa (Florida) Veterans Administration Hospital and the UVA Anesthesiology. Dr. Roger Johns joined our faculty following his residency and rose to the rank of Professor. He joined the faculty of the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University where he was Chairman from 1999-2003.
The solid nucleus of faculty developed by Dr. Epstein has allowed for the continuation of clinical and educational excellence and the development of a strong academic department. Our current faculty are board certified or eligible in anesthesiology. Many faculty members have been recruited from outside institutions giving our Department a blend of various clinical practices rather than a fixed, local "way of doing things".