Research

The department of anesthesia is a world-leading research department in the field of anesthesia, focusing on both pre-clinical and evidence-based clinical research and research in education.

Mission

To create an internationally competitive research enterprise that: achieves advances in perioperative care; increases our understanding of disease toward its prevention and cure; develops innovative treatments that improve and extend life; and improves the quality of care for those we cannot cure.

Vision

To invent the future of health care.

Our research focuses on four themes

• Neuroscience (cognition, traumatic brain injury and mood disorders)
• Regional anesthesia (particularly for traumatic injury)
• Obstetrical anesthesia (related to blood conservation, trauma and pain)
• Medical educational research (related to eLearning, curriculum design and simulation)

Our research program involves more than 13 principal investigators who are supported by peer-reviewed funds from highly competitive international and national funding agencies, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Physicians’ Services Incorporated Foundation (PSI), Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (CAS), and others.

We are dedicated to training young investigators in the field of anesthesia and perioperative care through the Institute of Medical Science graduate study program and the Department of Physiology. This pre-clinical research program is also available for fellows and junior faculty members. Fellows in obstetrical anesthesia are also involved in clinical research projects as part of the fellowship program, with mentorship from physicians-scientists at OARU/Sunnybrook Research Institute.

Topic of research interest includes:

• Mechanisms of general anesthesia (Dr. Beverley Orser)
• Repurposing general anesthetics for novel treatments of mood disorders (Dr. Beverley Orser)
• Perioperative cognitive outcome following anesthesia (Dr. Beverley Orser, Dr. Stephen Choi)
• Perioperative pain management (Dr. Stephen Choi, Dr. Imad Awad, Dr. Ben Safa, Dr. Paul McHardy)
• Simulation and education (Dr. Jordan Tarshis, Dr. Fahad Alam, Dr. Irene McGhee)
• Quality assurance (Dr. Claude LaFlamme, Dr. Fahad Alam, Dr. Irene McGhee)
• Obstetrical anesthesia (Dr. Pamela Angle)
• Instrument and diagnostic tool development (Dr. Pamela Angle)
• Trauma anesthesia 

Research centers and units

• Clinical Research Unit, Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI)
• Obstetric Anesthesia Research Unit, Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI)
• Clinical Research Unit, Holland Centre
• Pre-clinical Research Unit, Medical Sciences Building at the University of Toronto
• Educational Research, Wilson Centre, University Health Network
• Perioperative Brain Health Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre