News & Updates | Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine | School of Medicine

Welcome Visiting Professor:

Dr. Hilary Grocott

Professor and Head in the Department of Anesthesia, Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada

Dr. Grocott serves as Professor and Head in the Department of Anesthesia, Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. He completed medical school in Canada at the University of Saskatchewan in 1990, and later trained in anesthesia at the University of Manitoba. He also completed both cardiothoracic anesthesiology and research fellowships at Duke University after which he spent 12 years advancing from fellow to full professor (with tenure). Subsequently, he served as tenured professor in both the Departments of Anesthesia, Perioperative & Pain Medicine, and Surgery at the University of Manitoba for 15 years before moving to UBC in 2022.

In addition to having served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, he has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, abstracts, and book chapters on a range of topics related to perioperative outcomes after cardiac surgery, amongst others. His has given more than 230 invited lectures and visiting professorships across six continents.

Department of Anesthesiology Grand Rounds in Richardson Amphitheatre
October 21, 2026 at 0700hrs

Managing the vulnerable brain in the perioperative period

Learning Objectives:

To define the neurocognitive disorders associated with brain vulnerability
To discuss the key risk factors and pathophysiology contributing to perioperative brain vulnerability
To discuss perioperative risk management strategies mitigating functional cerebral decline after surgery

A Zoom link will be distributed.
Please contact the Anesthesiology Admin team at extension 67827, if you wish to receive the Grand Rounds Zoom link

Anesthesiology Resident Academic Program in the Dietary 3 Board Room & Via Zoom
0830-1130hrs

EEG and other Neuromonitoring: the lines, the colours, the numbers and beyond

Learning Objectives:

To understand the key studies in the development of our current understanding of perioperative EEG monitoring intraoperative awareness neurologic outcomes
To discuss potential roles of EEG monitoring beyond those related to
To discuss cerebral oximetry and its roles in optimizing perioperative

Dr. Melinda Fleming Appointed Department Head

News & Announcements | October 15, 2026

The Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Melinda Fleming as Department Head, effective October 15, 2026.

Since joining Queen's University in 2002, Dr. Fleming has been a respected clinician, educator, and leader. Her clinical expertise includes neonatal, pediatric, and thoracic anesthesia, while her academic interests focus on medical simulation and competency-based medical education. She has held numerous leadership roles, including Program Director of the Anesthesiology Residency Program, Perioperative Course Director for Undergraduate Medical Education, and Director of Pediatric Anesthesia.

The Department extends its sincere thanks to Dr. Ramiro Arellano for his years of dedicated leadership and service. His contributions have played an important role in advancing patient care, education, research, and departmental growth.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Fleming on her appointment and wishing her continued success in this new role.

Welcome Visiting Professor:

Dr. Andre Denault

André Denault MD PhD FRCPC FASE ABIM-CCM, FCCS

André Denault is an academic physician with special interests in ultrasound. His medical qualifications and specialties include internal medicine (1991), critical care medicine (1993) and anesthesia (1996). In 2010 he completed a PhD in biomedical Science at the University of Montreal. He has advanced certification in National Board in Echocardiography (NBE) in perioperative transesophageal echocardiography and critical care ultrasound. Dr Denault has written 375 peer-reviewed articles, 74 book chapters and 4 textbooks on perioperative transesophageal and critical care ultrasound. He has been invited as speaker in local, national and international meeting. He won several teaching awards including the Canadian Anesthesia Research Award in 2022, the Toronto Perioperative Echo Symposium Award in 2025 and the Canadian Anesthesia Gold medal in 2026. He currently works as a cardiac anaesthesiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute. He is the director of education at the Montreal Heart Institute and co-director of research and the whole-body ultrasound fellowship program in the department of Anesthesia at the University of Montreal. Major interest includes right ventricular function, venous congestion, brain monitoring and whole-body ultrasound.

Department of Anesthesiology Grand Rounds in Richardson Amphitheatre
October 7, 2026 at 0700hrs

Venous Congestion

Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lecture, the participants will:

Appreciate the importance of venous congestion in perioperative medicine
Identify the component and the determinants of the Venous Excess ultrasound Score (VExUS) (RV function) and alternative approaches
Apply bedside strategies in managing patients with venous congestion

A Zoom link will be distributed.
Please contact the Anesthesiology Admin team at extension 67827, if you wish to receive the Grand Rounds Zoom link

Anesthesiology Resident Academic Program in the Anesthesiology Library & Via Zoom
0830-1130hrs

Rescue TEE

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the Resident Academic Program, the participant will:

Review and practice the basic rescue TEE views
Identify specific pathologies in those views
Develop an approach to hypoxia and hemodynamic instability using TEE

Welcome Visiting Professor:

Dr. Louise Sun

Dr. Sun is Professor and Director of Cardiovascular Research at Stanford Medicine. Her clinical areas of expertise are advanced therapies for heart failure and hemodynamic monitoring. Her methodologic areas of expertise are causal inference, predictive analytics, and health services research using large high-dimensional databases. Her patient-centered research program leverages big data to bridge key gaps in cardiac health delivery. This includes building high-performance models to predict outcomes, response to treatment, and health resource utilization, as well as effectively deploying these models in clinical settings through customized software applications and hardware devices. She specializes in rapid deployment of data-driven solutions to enhance operational efficiency and patient care and holds several patents.

Dr. Sun is active in the scientific community and is a champion of artificial intelligence in medicine internationally. She sits on a number of US and international editorial boards, leadership and scientific committees and study sections including the American Heart Association, Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, International Academy of Cardiac Anesthesiologists, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; serves as a writing group member on multiple AHA and APSF clinical practice guidelines and scientific statements; and collaborates on a variety of national and international population health and data science initiatives. She is regularly invited to speak about big data and artificial intelligence, consult for the industry, and share her clinical expertise in cardiac anesthesiology and critical care medicine around the world. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications, many in leading journals including JAMA, Circulation, JACC, and Anesthesiology; and has mentored a large number of faculty and trainees from a wide variety of disciplines, many of them went on to have successful academic careers.

Department of Anesthesiology Grand Rounds in Richardson Amphitheatre
April 22, 2026 at 0700-0815hrs

Transforming Cardiovascular Care - Turning Big Data and Biotechnology into Actionable Intelligence

Learning Objectives:

Define big data and understand the data-to-intelligence continuum
Describe how big data and biotechnology can be leveraged to their fullest potential to address clinically relevant, patient-centered questions
Describe how AI and predictive analytics can be integrated into clinical workflows to improve patient outcomes and health care resource utilization

A Zoom link will be distributed

Welcome Visiting Professor:

Dr. Sharon Peacock

Dr. Sharon Peacock, staff anesthesiologist at Sinai Health, obtained her Bachelor of Health Sciences in Physical Therapy (2002) from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec; Her Doctor of Medicine (2011) from Queen’s University. She completed her anesthesia residency at the University of Toronto (2011-2016) and obtained her Fellowship, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, in Anesthesiology (2016). She did a regional fellowship at Sunnybrook (2017) and advanced clinical fellowship at Sinai Health (2018). Her clinical interests include regional anesthesia, point of care ultrasound and medical education.

Department of Anesthesiology Grand Rounds in Richardson Amphitheatre
April 15, 2026 at 0700-0815hrs

Cutting Calories and Risks: Managing GLP-1RAs Perioperatively

Understanding GLP-1 Agonists: Pharmacology and Perioperative Implications
a) Mechanism of action of GLP-1 agonists
b) Evidence of delayed gastric emptying and perioperative risks
c) Fasting guidelines and how GLP-1 agonists challenge current practices.
Using Gastric Ultrasound to Assess Aspiration Risk
a) Basics of gastric ultrasound: technique, landmarks, and interpretation
b) Quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate gastric contents.
Developing Evidence-Based Perioperative Protocols for Patients on GLP-1 Agonists
a) Changes to fasting guidelines
b) Changes to preoperative medication prescription and use- when to make it a team approach
c) Practical steps for incorporating gastric ultrasound into perioperative care.
d) Airway management strategies based on ultrasound findings.

A Zoom link will be distributed

Welcome Visiting Professor:

Dr. Sabri Soussi

Anesthesiologist at Tronto Western Hospital,
University Health Network Assistant Professor,
Department of Aneshtesiology and Pain Management, University of Torornto, ON, Canada

Department of Anesthesiology Grand Rounds in Richardson Amphitheatre
January 21, 2026 at 0700-0815hrs

Interest of identifying distinct biological subphenotypes in cardiogenic shock: Insights from the Shock CO-OP Research Program

Learning Objectives:

To explain the need for the identification of cardiogenic shock (CS) biological subphenotypes in clinical reasearch and how they may be of interest for clinicians and patients
To examine the research objectives and key findings of the Shock CO-OP Consortium to identify CS biological subphenotypes
To analyze the implications of the Shock Co-OP consortium insights to personalize CS patients care and optimize their outcomes

Resident Academic Program in the Anesthesiology Library

January 21, 2026 at 0830-1000hrs

An Echocardiography-Based Approach to the Patient in Shock

Learning Objectives:

Describe a stepsise cardiac POCUS approach to categorize shock states
Explain the value of cardiac POCUS for real-time hemodynamic assessment and monitoring in circulatory shock
Integrate cardiac POCUS findings into clinical decision-making to optimize hemodynamic management (fluids, vasopressors/inotropes)

Welcome Visiting Professor:

Dr. Sylvie Aucoin

Anesthesiologist, Ottawa Hospital
Associate Professor - Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa
Chair of the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society Hospital Chiefs of Anesthesia Section
Vice-Chair of Ontario’s Anesthesiologists (Ontario Medical Association’s Anesthesiology Section)

Departments of Anesthesiology & Surgery Combined Grand Rounds in Etherington Hall Auditorium
September 17, 2025 at 7:00 am

The VICTORY Randomized Trial: Virtual, Innovative, postsurgical Care To Optimize Return home for older people with frailtY

Learning Objectives:

Describe the postoperative virtual care landscape in Canada, including the Virtual Recovery After Surgery (VRAS) programs at Kingston Health Sciences Centre and The Ottawa Hospital
Understand the evidence for perioperative frailty as a risk factor for postoperative morbidity
Review the research plan for VICTORY and its upcoming launch at Kingston Health Sciences Centre

Resident Academic Program in the Anesthesiology Library

September 17, 2025 at 8:30 am to 11:30 am

Dogma in Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine: An Interactive case based session

Welcome Visiting Professor:

Dr. Jason McVicar

Anesthesiologist at Royal Inland Hospital, Kamloops, BC
Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia
WFSA Pain Committee, CAGA Co-Chair, ACUDA Global Rural Health Committee

September 24, 2025 at 7:00 am in Richardson Ampitheatre

A Theatre of Reconciliation: How Surgical Teams can be Allies for Indigenous Peoples

Learning Objectives:

Describe the context of healthcare for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in Canada
Define reconciliation and explore what it means for healthcare providers
Describe how surgical teams can be allies for Indigenous patients

Welcome Visiting Professor:

Dr. Gaston Nyirigira

Dr. Gaston Nyirigira is a Senior Consultant Anesthesiologist at King Faisal Hospital, Rwanda, and a leading expert in pain management. He chairs Postgraduate Medical Education at Africa Health Sciences University and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Rwanda.

Topic: “Health System Resilience in LMICs: Rwanda as a Case Study in Sustainable Innovation.”

Learning Objectives:

Describe the core principles of health system resilience and their relevance to the global health workforce crisis projected for 2030.
Examine Rwanda’s strategies for addressing health workforce shortages, such as task-shifting, training innovations, and interdisciplinary simulation, and evaluate their sustainability.
Analyze how Rwanda’s approaches align with or diverge from the WHO Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 and consider their adaptability to other settings.
Reflect on how lessons from Rwanda’s workforce development efforts can inform Canadian global health partnerships, training programs, and domestic rural/remote workforce planning. Promoting Knowledge Translation