Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD
Brian K. Ross, PhD, MD
Richard Satava, MD, FACS
Thomas J. Benedetti, MD, MHA
Mika N. Sinanan, MD, PhD

Staff

Faculty

Staff

Directors

Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD
Chairman

Carlos A. Pellegrini, MD is professor of surgery, chair of the Department of Surgery, and holder of the Henry N. Harkins Endowed Chair in Surgery at the University of Washington.

He received his MD in 1971 from the University of Rosario Medical School in Argentina. After training in general surgery in Argentina, he completed a second residency at the University of Chicago.

In 1979 he was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco, where he developed and directed the Center for GI Motility. As an active gastrointestinal surgeon at UCSF, he was recognized on several occasions by residents and students for his teaching.

In 1993 he became chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Washington in Seattle. A world leader in minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery, Dr. Pellegrini is a pioneer in the development of videoendoscopy for the surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease and esophageal motility disorders, particularly achalasia.

At the University of Washington he developed two major clinical research programs: the Center for Videoendoscopic Surgery and the Swallowing Center. He was a leader in developing the UW Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies (ISIS) and is board chair of the institute.

Dr. Pellegrini has been a leader in medical education and was a major contributor to the fundamental reform of residency work hours. In 1996, in recognition of his role in the strengthening of all clinical, teaching, and research programs of the Department of Surgery, he became the first holder of the Henry N. Harkins Endowed Chair in Surgery, named for the first chairman of the UW Department of Surgery.

Currently, he is a Regent of the American College of Surgeons, a Director of the American Board of Surgery, President of the Society of Surgical Chairs, Chair of the Digestive Disease Week Council and he is a past-president of the American Surgical Association.  He has recently been named as Vice-President of the World Organization for Specialized Studies on Diseases of the Esophagus (OESO) and President of the OESO 9th World Congress which will be held in 2008.

Dr. Pellegrini serves on several editorial boards and publishes regularly in the field of minimally invasive surgery for upper gastrointestinal diseases, esophageal cancer, and related areas, as well as the field of training and new technologies for preparing surgeons in this area. His bibliography lists more than 300 articles, chapters, editorials, and books, as well as 11 surgical videos and movies.

Brian K. Ross, PhD, MD,
Executive Director

Brian K. Ross, MD, PhD, UW Medicine professor of anesthesiology, received his PhD in physiology/pharmacology from the University of North Dakota in 1975. He completed postdoctoral research in respiratory diseases at the University of Washington in 1979, where he also received his MD in 1983. In 1984, he completed an internship in UW School of Medicine. In 1986, Dr. Ross completed a fellowship in Obstetrical Anesthesia from the University of California at San Francisco. In 1987, he completed a residency in anesthesiology, also at the University of Washington.

Dr. Ross has been on the UW School of Medicine faculty since 1987. In 2003, he was appointed full professor status. Dr. Ross has been involved in medical simulation at the UW since 1996, when he developed the initial curriculum for the Department of Anesthesiology. Since then, he has developed 20 courses for medical students, residents, and nurses.To promote careers in health care, he performs outreach to local high schools, conducting full-scale virtual operating room scenarios using the human patient simulator. Dr. Ross is the energy behind the advancement of medical simulation within the Department of Anesthesiology, reaching throughout the UW schools of medicine, nursing, and dentistry.He identified equipment and designed the labs that became the cornerstone of the Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies (ISIS). Based on his vision and expertise in medical simulation, Dr. Ross was appointed by the dean of the School of Medicine to serve as the first executive director of ISIS in November 2005. He will take ISIS into its next phase, as it expands into its new offices and labs in the UW Medical Center Surgery Pavilion, and as ISIS establishes itself as the medical simulation resource for the UW, community, industry, and the five-state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho).

Richard Satava, MD, FACS,
Senior Executive Advisor

Richard Satava, MD, FACS, is professor of surgery at the University of Washington and senior executive advisor for ISIS. In addition, Dr. Satava serves as the director of research at the Telemedicine and Advanced Technologies Research Center (TATRC). Prior to that, he was the program manager of advanced biomedical technology at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and special assistant in advanced surgical technologies at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command in Ft. Detrick, Maryland.

Previous positions include professor of surgery at Yale University and a military appointment as professor of surgery (USUHS) in the Army Medical Corps assigned to general surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. His undergraduate training was at Johns Hopkins University, medical school at Hahnemann University of Philadelphia, internship at the Cleveland Clinic, surgical residency at the Mayo Clinic, and a fellowship with a master of surgical research at the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Satava has served on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Committee on Health, Food and Safety. He is currently a member of the Emerging Technologies and Resident Education Committee and the Informatics Committee of the American College of Surgeons, is past president of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons, past president of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, and is on the Board of Governors of the National Board of Medical Examiners, as well as on a number of surgical societies.

He is on the editorial board of numerous surgical and scientific journals, and active in numerous surgical and engineering societies. He has been continuously active in surgical education and surgical research, with more than 200 publications and book chapters in diverse areas of advanced surgical technology, including Surgery in the Space Environment, Video and 3-D Imaging, Telepresence Surgery, Virtual Reality Surgical Simulation, and Objective Assessment of Surgical Competence and Training.

During his 23 years of military surgery he has been an active flight surgeon, an Army astronaut candidate, MASH surgeon for the Grenada invasion, and a hospital commander during Desert Storm, all the while continuing clinical surgical practice. While striving to practice the complete discipline of surgery, he is aggressively pursuing the leading edge of advanced technologies to formulate the architecture for the next generation of medicine.

Thomas J. Benedetti, MD, MHA
Chair, Patient Safety and Quality Committee

Thomas J. Benedetti,MD, MHA, is professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington.

He received his MD in 1973 from the University of Washington in Seattle and completed his obstetrics and gynecology residency and maternal fetal medicine fellowship at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Dr. Benedetti joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 1979, serving as Director of the Maternal Fetal Medicine Division, Department of Ob-Gyn from 1983-2002. He received his masters in Health Administration from the University of Washington in 2000.

Dr. Benedetti has been recognized throughout his academic career by residents and peers for his teaching as well as excellence in research at both the University of Southern California and the University of Washington.

Dr. Benedetti's main clinical research interest has been in birth trauma. He spent a recent sabbatical in Bristol England studying at the Bristol Simulation Center and Southmead Hospital. He has adapted a prototype Birthing Trainer developed in Bristol by Limbs and Things Corporation for simulations at the University of Washington for shoulder dystocia and other obstetric emergencies. Dr Benedetti serves on the Editorial Board of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, presents at Simulation Conferences, and is a guest faculty at other simulation centers, including the University of California, Davis. As a result of his interest and expertise in shoulder dystocia simulation, he was appointed Chair of the Patient Safety and Quality Committee, Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies.

Mika N. Sinanan, MD, PhD,
Chair, Research and Development Committee

Mika N. Sinanan, MD, PhD, professor of surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine, received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1980. He completed his residency at the University of Washington in 1988 and then joined the faculty of the UW Department of Surgery. Dr. Sinanan received his Ph.D. in gastrointestinal physiology in 1991 from the University of British Columbia. In addition to his School of Medicine appointment, Dr. Sinanan is an adjunct associate professor in the UW Department of Electrical Engineering.

Widely published and recognized as a leader in minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery, Dr. Sinanan became co-director the Center for Videoendoscopic Surgery at the UW School of Medicine in 1993.

Dr. Sinanan is committed to the advancement of robotic surgery and was the Co-PI of a grant from the Department of Defense, “Studying Mini Robot Design for Military Telesurgery in the Battlefield.”

Dr. Sinanan’s other positions include medical director of the Surgical Specialties Center and chief of medical staff and associate administrator of quality for UW Medical Center. As chair of the Surgery Pavilion Project Management Committee, Dr. Sinanan was instrumental in the design and planning of the new 160,000-square-foot wing of UW Medical Center, where the Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies (ISIS) has had its labs and offices since 2007.

Brenda Zierler, PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Director & Chair of the Interprofessional Education and Practice Committe

Professor in Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems; Adjunct Professor Department of Surgery, Vascular Division, School of Medicine; Adjunct Professor Department of Health Services, School of Public Health; and Adjunct Professor Department of Medical Education and Biomedical Informatics.

Dr. Zierler's research explores the relationships between the delivery of health care and outcomes- at both the patient and system level. In collaboration with other scholars and clinicians in the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy, she created an interdisciplinary work group that developed appropriate and specific health outcome measures to evaluate the effectiveness of a coordinated approach in care delivery for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Her previous research supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Patient Safety Grant) focused on the implementation and evaluation of a system- supported VTE Safety Toolkit. The Toolkit has been disseminated nationally for the purpose of improving the quality and safety of care. As co- principle investigator of a Macy Foundation-funded study (with Brian Ross, MD, PhD,) Dr. Zierler leads a group of interprofessional faculty and students in the development of a simulation-based, team training program to improve collaborative interprofessional communication both within teams and with patients. Her team will conduct a validation study of the impact of a simulation- based team training program on students' interprofessional communication skills as measured by an innovative web-based assessment tool. In addition, Dr. Zierler and team will prepare the validated training program for dissemination to other health sciences schools by creating an exportable "Interprofessional Training Toolkit."

Dr. Zierler is Co-Director of the Clinical Informatics and Patient Centered Technologies masters program. She currently leads a HRSA- training grant focusing on faculty development in the use of technology. Dr. Zierler was a fellow in the RWJ Nurse Executive Program (2008 cohort). Dr. Zierler is the Associate Director of the Institute for Simulation and Interprofessional Studies in the School of Medicine.

Staff

Farrah Leland, JD
Administrator

Megan Sherman
Program Operations Specialist

Elizabeth Buttrick
Program Operations Specialist

Andrew Naluai-Cecchini
Lab Technical Manager

Samuel Park
Lab Ops Manager

Jonathan Del Toro
Instructional Scientific Technician

Justin Andros
Instructional Scientific Technician

Micah Mack
Laboratory Technician

Cameron St. Hilaire
Laboratory Technician

ISIS Faculty

Core Faculty Members

Adedipe, Adeyinka — Emergency Medicine
Allan, Christopher — Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
Carranza, Leslie — OB/GYN
Davies, Jo — Anesthesiology
Ferreira, Manuel — Neurological Surgery
Fialkow, Michael — OB/GYN
Hurley, William — Medicine, Emergency
Khandelwal, Saurabh — Surgery, General
Low, Daniel — Anesthesiology
Lombaard, Stefan — Anesthesiology
McDonough, Karen — Medicine, Internal
Metzner, Julia — Anesthesiology
Mokadum, Nahush — Surgery, Cardiothoracic
Morris, Amy — Medicine, Pulmonary & Critical Care
Pellegrini, Carlos — Surgery, General
Ross, Brian — Anesthesiology
Sinanan, Mika — Surgery, General
Souter, Karen — Anesthesiology
Taitsman, Lisa — Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
Varghese, Thomas — Surgery, Cardiothoracic
Vitin, Alexander — Anesthesiology
Wright, Andrew — Surgery, General
Wu, Michael — Ophthalmology

Adjunct Faculty Members

Amies-Oelschlager, Anne-Marie — OB/GYN
Barei, David — Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
Beard, Mark — Family Medicine
Davis, Greg — Otolaryngology
Dembo, Gregory — Anesthesiology
Dunbar, Robert —Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
Edwards, Thomas —Anesthesiology
Ellenbogen, Richard — Neurological Surgery
Figueredo, Edgar — Surgery, General
Fligner, Corrine —Pathology
Friedrich, Jeff — Surgery
Joffe, Aaron —Anesthesiology
Kent, Christopher — Anesthesiology
King, Mary — Family Medicine
Lingen, Lynn — Nursing
Manner, Paul — Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
Martin, Alexa —MEDEX
Moe, Karen — Nursing
Moe, Kris — Otolaryngology
Nork, Sean — Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
O'Connell, Kathy — Nursing
Ortner, Clemens — Anesthesiology
Osborne, Justin — Family Medicine
Peterson, Gene — Anesthesiology
Plitt, Ken — Anesthesiology
Reid, Jennifer — Pediatrics, Emergency Services
Sardesai, Maya — Otolaryngology
Sayre, Cindy — Nuerological surgery
Sekhar, Laligam — Neurological Surgery
Sivarajan, Gouri — Anesthesiology
Sivarajan, Murali — Anesthesiology
Souders, Jenny — Anesthesiology
Stanley, Robert — Otolaryngology
Starnes, Benjamin — Surgery, Vascular
Stone, Kimberley — Pediatrics, Emergency Services
Strandjord, Tom — Pediatrics
Taravati, Parisa — Ophthalmology
Thorngate, Lauren — Nursing
Torgeson, Reiko — Nursing
Vater, Youri — Anesthesiology
Verma, Shilpa — Anesthesiology
Wolff, Juvann — Nursing
Wong, Karena — Nursing
Wong, Karen — Anesthesiology
Zaichkin, Jeanette — Neonatal Outreach

Research Faculty Members

Chen, Frederick — Family Medicine
Adams, Christine — Nursing
Brinkley, James — Biological Structure
Carvalho, Paula — Medicine, Boise VA
Clark, John — Biological Structure
Cline, Lauren — Nursing
Jackson, Molly — Anesthesiology
Jense, Ryan — Anesthesiology
Kupchik, Nicole — Nursing
Lendvay, Thomas — Urology
Odegard, Peggy — Pharmacy
Shannon, Sarah — Nursing
Sokol-Hessner, Lauge — Medicine, Internal
Wang, Carolyn — Radiology
Whipple, Mark — Otolaryngology
Zierler, Brenda — Nursing

CVES Faculty Members

Oelschlager, Brent — Surgery