Anesthesiology Summer Research (ASSURE) Fellowship and Global Research Initiatives

The Anesthesiology Summer Research (ASSURE) Fellowship program changes the future trajectory for scholars and fellows. The program, which started in June 2021 and lasted to the beginning of August 2021, split students up into labs across the department and concluded with poster presentations from each fellow scholar. Scholars had the choice to work on their own project, directly studying in the lab, or create their own experiment.

The Scholar Experience: ASSURE Fellowship

Like many college students, Jakayla Folarin-Hines’ senior year was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She found the Anesthesiology Summer Research Fellowship (ASSURE) Program site and met with Robert Gereau IV, PhD, vice chair for research for the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, about potential opportunities. Two ASSURE fellows were selected for the inaugural program, but because of the strength of the applicant pool, Jakayla was chosen among the applicants to be part of Summer Scholars—an exclusive group of students who joined the ASSURE program but were not funded as fellows.

Jakayla decided to study the open field test (a common behavioral test for rodents that is used to study locomotor and anxiety behavior) with the goal of making it more accurate. Jakayla worked alongside Victoria Brings, PhD, to complete the project, and through the program, Jakayla developed a love for research. She noted, "Research is the creative side of science, and it makes sense to me. I owe that revelation to the program." Much like Jakayla, Preston Boyd, another 2021 Summer Scholar, has always planned to go to medical school after graduating from WashU in 2023. Preston worked with the Chief of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research...

Department of Anesthesiology Global Research Programs

The Department of Anesthesiology is currently conducting several global research projects in collaboration with National and International Academic Medical Institutions. These projects are essential to the mission of our global program, which is committed to clinical service, education and training, and research around the world. The following table summarizes key international initiatives:

Perioperative Mortality Rate (POMR) with RedCAP App

Dr. Kelly McQueen and Dr. Eric Simon launched a Perioperative Mortality Rate (POMR) project in Rwanda in August 2022. This work piloted the RedCAP app, providing important outcomes and patient safety data within Kigali, Rwanda, where data collection is often severely constrained. This project concluded in Feb 2023 and has wide applicability in other hospitals in Rwanda, and across the region. Little is currently known about POMR in low and middle-income countries, and a secure data collection platform like RedCAP impacts reliable POMR data collection.

Building Capacity to Improve Surgery and Anesthesia Care in Sub-Saharan Africa

Drs. Deborah Rusy, Nabeel Zafar, Kelly McQueen, and Girma Tefera received a Baldwin Grant proposal entitled Building Capacity to Improve Surgery and Anesthesia Care in Sub-Saharan Africa. The goal is twofold. The plan is to first improve patient data collection by implementing an easy-to-use, low-cost, mHealth based system of peri-operative data collection designed to assess and improve the care of patients undergoing surgery. Additionally, the project will work to build capacity in research methods, and medical quality improvement focused on improving mortality and morbidity for patients undergoing surgery.

The final goal is the identification and training of “quality improvement champions” at each site. These champions will eventually be the trainers of quality improvement in the future. The spirit of the ‘Wisconsin Idea’ will be propagated by sharing the knowledge, skills, and expertise within the DOS and DOA with our partners in Sub-Saharan Africa to ultimately improve the lives of thousands of patients undergoing surgery.