CME and Education

Moderator: Matthias Riess, MD, PhD, FASA, TVHS, Staff Anesthesiologist and Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

Dr. Matthias Riess is a physician-scientist who trained at the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg and the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster, Germany. He earned a PhD in Physiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, WI where he completed his residency training in Anesthesiology and continued as Faculty. Since 2014, he practices at the TVHS VAMC and is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Dr. Riess divides his time between the operating room and basic science research focusing on cardiac arrest and resuscitation. He has authored over 240 abstracts and 100 manuscripts and book chapters.

Alpha-Gal Syndrome – What is It and Why is This Important for Patient Care
Basil Kahwash, MD, MMHC, Allergist/Immunologist, Ohio ENT & Allergy Physicians, Columbus, OH

Basil Kahwash, MD, MMHC, is a board-certified allergist/immunologist at Ohio ENT & Allergy Physicians in Columbus, Ohio. Before this, he was an allergist/immunologist and assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. During his tenure at Vanderbilt, Dr. Kahwash was actively involved in clinical research and published in leading journals on topics such as exercise-induced asthma, allergic skin disease, and alpha-gal syndrome. He is an active member of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, where he held leadership roles on the Sports, Exercise, and Fitness Committee and currently serves on the council of the AAAAI Foundation. Feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn, where he regularly shares insights on health care-related topics.

My Patient has Alpha Gal – What Do I Do?
Maziar Nourian, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Maziar Nourian, MD is an adult cardiothoracic trained anesthesiologist who is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Nourian initially became involved with alpha-gal work after treating several patients with alpha-gal syndrome at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Subsequently, he and other colleagues have compiled together perioperative recommendations for patients with alpha-gal syndrome undergoing surgery. Dr. Nourian’s other research interests include capacity building in resource-poor settings with an emphasis on education and improved access to capnography for safer anesthesia.

Implications of AGS during Cardiovascular Surgery
Kara Siegrist, MD, Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Medical Director Electrophysiology and Cardiac Catheterization Lab Anesthesia, and Medical Director Liver Transplant Anesthesiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

Dr. Kara Siegrist is an associate professor of Anesthesiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She completed her anesthesiology residency and cardiothoracic fellowship at Vanderbilt. Dr. Siegrist is the director of Vanderbilt’s Liver Transplant Anesthesia program and the Combined Heart Liver Transplant program as well as the anesthesia director for the Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Labs at VUMC. Her clinical and research interests surround high risk anesthesia cases both in the cardiac and liver transplant rooms and other complex cases like nephrectomy with IVC thrombectomy for renal cell carcinoma.