Brunson Teaching Day

Brunson Teaching Day and our departmental graduation ceremony for the residents and fellows was held Saturday, June 4, 2022.  Brunson Teaching Day highlights our graduating senior residents and their research projects that they worked on throughout the year.  Each one crafted their presentation and delivered it in front of the residents and staff gathered in the UMMC School of Medicine.  These presentations were then compiled and attendings in attendance scored each presentation.  The following were this year’s projects:

• Jason Johnson, M.D.—“The July Effect and Elective Cesarean Sections at UMMC”

        Mentor: Arthur Calimaran, M.D.

• Luiz Lima Filho, M.D.—“Intercostal Nerve Block with Plain Bupivicaine vs. Plain Plus Liposomal Bupivicaine in Video Assisted Thorascopic Surgery (VATS)”

        Mentor: Bryan Heirlmeier, M.D. 

• Kathleen Lyons, M.D.—“Ultrasound-Guided Subcostal Transversus Abdominis Plane Block with Liposomal Bupivicaine in Patients Undergoing Liver Transplantation”

        Mentor: Bryan Heirlmeier, M.D. 

• Renee Marchegiani, D.O.—“TAP Blocks in Elective C-sections”

        Mentor: Bryan Heirlmeier, M.D. 

• Clayton Newell, M.D.—“Charles McCluskey and His Role in the Development of Anesthesiology”

        Mentor: Douglas Bacon, M.D.

• Mike Onion, M.D.—“Stellate Ganglion Block for Cerebral Vasospasm”

        Mentor: Anand Prem, M.D.

• Elliott Pennington, M.D.—“Procedural Outcomes in Fluoroscopic Image Review Educational Activity”

        Mentor: William Gusa, M.D. 

• Annilin Severns, M.D.—“Structural Heart Disease: How the Development of Cardiac Angiography Transformed Modern Intervention”

        Mentor: Bryan Heirlmeier, M.D. 

• Nathan Teague, M.D.—“Obstetric Patients with Inherited Bleeding Disorders: Clinical Guidelines Past and Present”

        Mentor: Bryan Heirlmeier, M.D. 

• Callah West, D.O.—“A Quality Improvement Retrospective Chart Review of Patient, Surgical, and Anesthetic Factors Associated with Perioperative Cardiac Arrest and Stroke in the UMMC Patient Population”

        Mentor: Michelle Tucci, Ph.D. 

The anesthesiology attendings present at Brunson Teaching Day served as judges.  Many thanks to the efforts of the program committee—Drs. Claude Brunson, Doug Bacon, and Bryan Hierlmeier.  Dr. Mike Onion was awarded first place, Dr. Renee Marchegiani second place, and Dr. Luiz Lima third place for their presentations respectively.  

The festivities continued on into the night at the Two Museums downtown for the graduation ceremony.  Dr. Doug Bacon, previous chair of the department, delivered the graduation address.  Drs. Renee Marchegiani and Annilin Severns were recognized for their service to the department as Chief Residents for this past year.  Awards were given to the resident in each class with the highest In-Training Exam (ITE) score for this past year—Dr. Dallas Domangue (PGY-1); Drs. Shawn Deas, Alan Hsu, Micki Scopel, and Kayla Robinson (CA-1); Dr. Tyler Shack (CA-2), and Dr. Renee Marchegiani (CA-3).  Drs. Justin Cook and Wesley Dillard were awarded the resident citizenship award, Dr. Annilin Severns was given the colleague of the year award, and Dr. Renee Marchegiani was presented with the resident of the year award.  

Along with the senior residents mentioned above, the pain fellows, Drs. Matthew Blanchard, David Buford, William Chiang, John Lutz, and Walker Sturdivant; the cardiothoracic anesthesia fellow, Dr. Tatiana Tverdohleb; and the pediatric anesthesia fellow, Dr. Paige Deichmann, were all recognized.  The Chair’s faculty awards went to Drs. Ramarao Takkallapalli who received the Patricia Norman Professionalism Award and Dr. Patrick Newman who received the John I. Lauria Resident Advocacy Award.  Additionally Drs. Anesh Rugnath and Oscar Alam-Mendez were awarded Teachers of the Year for the Residency.  

Drs. William Chiang and David Buford were applauded for their hard work as the pain fellowship chief residents, and Dr. John Lutz was awarded the ITE Excellence Certificate for obtaining the highest exam score in his class.  Dr. Anand Prem was given the Pain fellowship Teacher of the Year by the fellows.  

Congratulations to all our graduating residents and fellows!