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Dr. Ivan Kangrga to Serve as Vice-Chair for Health System Liaison

An announcement from Michael S. Avidan, MBBCh, FCASA, Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology, and Head of the Department of Anesthesiology:

I am delighted to announce that Dr. Ivan Kangrga, MD, PhD, has agreed to serve as the inaugural Vice-Chair for Health System Liaison for the Department of Anesthesiology. Dr. Kangrga currently serves Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH) and Washington University School of Medicine as the Director of Clinical Anesthesiology, and he will continue in this important role. In addition, Dr. Kangrga will take on this new leadership position, which is a key strategic leadership function for the department and our partners in the BJH system. The Vice-Chair for Health System Liaison is conceptualized as the senior physician liaison role between BJH and the anesthesiology department.

Dr. Kangrga graduated cum laude as an MD from the University of Belgrade School of Medicine in Yugoslavia. He then obtained his PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from Iowa State University. His scientific work focused on the pharmacology and physiology of synaptic transmission in the spinal dorsal horn. He specialized in anesthesiology at Washington University and was Chief Resident here from 1997-98. Dr. Kangrga has been a core faculty member in the department ever since his residency training. He has held multiple key leadership roles both within the department and within BJH, including the role of Interim Vice President for Perioperative Services. Despite his extensive administrative and leadership responsibilities, as a Professor of Anesthesiology, Dr. Kangrga maintains his skills as an outstanding clinician with expertise in many areas, including perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. He is widely regarded as a world leader in anesthesiology for liver transplantation and vascular surgery. He has lectured extensively internationally, has multiple editorial roles, and has a long track record of scientific publications.

In this inaugural leadership role, Dr. Kangrga will help enhance the collaborations and trust between key stakeholders within the anesthesiology department and BJH. He will partner with key Washington University and BJH leaders in refining relationships at all levels, and in developing joint strategies that are consistent with our common missions and goals. He will partner with leaders in QA/QI to develop innovative processes for delivering standardized, higher quality perioperative anesthesiology services more efficiently and effectively throughout the BJH system. Working with other leaders in Perioperative Services, he will strive to advance our academic medical center as a high reliability organization with the highest standards of professionalism, teamwork, patient safety, and quality of care. He will also help to develop and lead innovative perioperative telehealth initiatives.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Kangrga, and please work closely with him in realizing the many aspirational goals associated with the Vice-Chair for Health System Liaison role.

Michael Avidan, MBBCh, FCASA
Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology
Head of the Department of Anesthesiology