Appointments Faculty & Staff Featured Innovation News

Kerby named inaugural associate vice chair of innovation

We are happy to announce that Paul Kerby, MBBS, has been named the associate vice chair for innovation for the Department of Anesthesiology.

In this new role, Kerby will work closely with the Vice Chair for Innovation, Omokhaye Higo, MD, MBA, to plan, direct, coordinate, and oversee activities related to perioperative telemedicine and other innovative initiatives within the department.

Kerby completed his intercalated BSc from King’s College in London — a combined medical degree with pharmacology and science degree. He joined the Department of Anesthesiology as a research fellow in 2006, and stayed for his anesthesiology and critical care training before joining the team as faculty in 2012.

Two years following his fellowship, Dr. Kerby became the co-medical director, and eventually director of the Critical Care Advanced Practitioner Prover (APP) group. He has presided over growth of the team from 20 to over 70 APPs, created leadership and educational opportunities, facilitated recruitment and training, and expanded APP coverage to several of our community ICU sites.

In addition to serving as the medical director, he also serves as an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care; the academic critical care operations director for the department; and co-medical director of the Telemedicine ICU Center.

Kerby helped build the Telemedicine ICU program in 2016 from the ground up, and it has grown to cover 16 ICUs in academic and community settings. It has become an invaluable asset to BJH/BJC and WUSM, furthering all of our institutional missions. Kerby oversees the creation of workflows and care models for a variety of ICUs and leads the training and education for the clinical teams both in the Telemedicine ICU Center and at the bedside.

Together with his drive, initiative, and impressive work ethic, Kerby‘s extensive experience and exposure at the School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and Barnes-Jewish Center as a whole, have helped him to develop as a seasoned physician leader, who brings a wealth of knowledge to this inaugural position and this augurs well for the future of the department’s Perioperative Innovation Center.

“I have known Dr. Kerby since he was a medical student at King’s College Hospital in London. Already then it was obvious that he was incredibly talented with clear leadership potential,” says Michael Avidan, MBBCh, FCA SA, head of the Department of Anesthesiology. “He has excelled in the many leadership roles he has played at Washington University. He will undoubtedly continue to make major contributions to the advancement of acute care and perioperative innovation within our institutions.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Kerby. We are delighted he has accepted this position and look forward to working closely with him in his new role.

Michael S. Avidan, MBBCh, FCASA
Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology
Head of the Department of Anesthesiology
Anesthesiologist-in-Chief, Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Omokhaye Higo, MD, MBA
Vice-Chair for Innovation