University of Vermont College of Medicine Dean Frederick C. Morin III, M.D., and Fletcher Allen Health Care CEO and President John Brumsted, M.D., have announced the appointment of David Adams, M.D., as interim chair and physician leader of anesthesiology. An associate professor and vice chair for education and research for anesthesiology, he also serves as associate dean for graduate medical education at the College of Medicine and designated institutional official at Fletcher Allen. Adams succeeds Howard Schapiro, M.D., who was recently appointed interim president and CEO of the UVM Medical Group at Fletcher Allen and interim senior associate dean for clinical affairs at the College of Medicine.
After joining the Department of Anesthesiology at UVM and Fletcher Allen in 2000, Adams was appointed residency program director in 2004 and subsequently vice chairman for education and research in 2006. He has served as chairman of the Graduate Medical Education Committee since 2007, and currently chairs the UVM Medical Group Research and Education Committee. He is also chair of the joint UVM/Fletcher Allen Learning Environment and Professionalism Committee.
Adams teaches general anesthetics in the Neural Sciences course in the Vermont Integrated Curriculum and mentors residents and medical students in the clinical setting. He has developed curricula, evaluation tools, and administrative processes that have improved the College of Medicine’s GME enterprise, including a collaborative curriculum on communication utilizing Standardized Patients and the Clinical Simulation Laboratory. His research and scholarly interests are focused on methods and implementation of intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring, clinical neurologic outcomes including postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and perioperative cerebral injury. He has presented on memory, awareness and anesthesia at a number of professional meetings and has published more than 30 journal articles and book chapters. Adams is active in many national professional associations including the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the International Anesthesia Research Society, and the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists.
After earning undergraduate and medical degrees at Michigan State University, Adams completed a residency and post-doctoral clinical fellowship in anesthesiology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. Prior to joining UVM/Fletcher Allen, he was a clinical associate professor of anesthesiology and director of the neuroanesthesia division at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Hospital.
Adams will continue serving as associate dean and designated institutional official through the College of Medicine’s LCME accreditation visit in late April, when plans will be announced for a transition in Graduate Medical Education.