Featured Anesthesiology Members

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: July 2024

Richard Benzinger, MD, PhD, currently serves as Interim Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Anesthesiology. He grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, where he learned to drive cars with manual transmissions on hilly streets. He received his BS in biology from the California Institute of Technology in 1993, followed by a PhD in neurobiology and an MD from the University of Chicago. He joined our department as a resident in 2001, couples-matching with his wife Tammie, who is now the Hugh Wilson Professor of Radiology.  Dr. Benzinger has made invaluable contributions to our team, including serving as Chief Resident, the William Owens Research Fellow in Anesthesiology, and the residency program director from 2011 to 2018.  Clinically, he is a member of the liver transplant team and works in the CPAP clinic. Outside the OR, he enjoys working on his house, traveling, and caring for his collection of geriatric cats.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: November 2023

Andrea Bigogno is a board-certified Adult Geriatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner who has worked in Surgical Critical Care within the Department of Anesthesiology since 2015. Andrea immigrated to St. Louis with her family from Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994. She started her nursing education at the University of Missouri-Columbia and received her Bachelor of Nursing from Goldfarb School of Nursing in 2009. Andrea worked in the Surgical/Trauma/Burn ICU at BJH as a nurse and graduated from her alma mater with her Master of Science in Nursing in 2015. As a provider, she loves being able to build connections with her patients and their family members.

Outside of work, Andrea spends the majority of her time with her awesome husband, Tony, as they juggle their busy schedule with their three wonderful children, Johnny (7), Dominic (5), and Mila (4). Andrea is a self-proclaimed gym rat and bookworm, and in her free time spends her time at the gym or with her nose buried in a book.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: February 2024

Abby Bisch is a CRNA and Co-Director of the Mentorship Program at WashU Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology. She floats to all pods and recently started rotating to the OB floor. She hails from Ottawa, KS, and went to Kansas State University where she studied Food Science, and Industry and Non-Profit Leadership. She earned her BSN at the University of Saint Mary, in Kansas City, KS. She gained ICU experience in Dallas, TX, at Baylor, Scott, and White Medical Center. Finally, she earned her DNP at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX.

It was at K-State where she fell in love with her now-husband, Aaron. Together they have an almost two-year-old son, Luka, and a 6-year-old Shiba Inu, Kairo. They are also expecting identical twin girls this April (feel free to send all name ideas via email)! Abby loves traveling, camping, baking, trying new restaurants, drinking bourbon, playing Settlers of Catan, and doing house projects.

Department of Anesthesiology APP of the Quarter: June 2023

Michelle joined the Department of Anesthesiology in 2015 as a nurse practitioner (NP) with critical care medicine. Her NP career initially began in 4400 Surgical/Burn/Trauma ICU but with the growth of the division, her career also expanded to 7800 SICU, eICU, Memorial Hospital Belleville, 8200 COVID ECMO, and a small amount of time at Christian Hospital Northeast to provide additional support during the COVID pandemic. Additionally, in 2019 she accepted an APP Leadership position at Memorial Hospital, Belleville.

Michelle says she is “grateful for the opportunity to take care of patients and families during some of the darkest days of their lives”, citing this as “a constant reminder that both humbles and inspires me to be grateful for everything I have each day.”

Within our department, she finds great joy in the expansion of our critical care APP group, citing these new opportunities to learn and work alongside such a diverse group of highly intelligent, culturally diverse, and engaged colleagues as a personal motivator to continue to improve her practice each day.

Michelle was named the Q2 2023 APP of the Quarter! Her nominator says, “Michelle is a great teammate, leader, patient advocate, and friend. She truly cares about our ICU as one that not only delivers quality care to our patients, but that’s great to work in as well.”

Outside of work, Michelle is engaged with her spouse, young family (children ages 8, 5, 2), and dog.  She has newly adopted yoga as a daily practice both to challenge her body physically and to release some of the emotional stress brought on by caring for critically ill patients.

Fun fact, Michelle grew up in a small town in southern Illinois – so small that the entire town’s population is less than half that of the BJH patient bed capacity.