Congratulations to Phillip S. Adams, DO, FASA, who has been named Director of our Anesthesiology Residency Program, effective October 1, 2021.
Dr. Adams graduated from Lake Erie Osteopathic Medical College and completed his anesthesiology residency training as well as fellowships in pediatric anesthesiology and congenital cardiac anesthesiology at UPMC. During his residency, he was active in resident recruitment and curriculum development as an Associate Chief Resident and Junior Chief Resident for Recruitment. Dr. Adams also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship under our T32 Training Grant in 2016. He joined the faculty at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in July 2017.
At Children’s, Dr. Adams was director of the pediatric anesthesiology fellow cardiac rotation, developing the didactic curriculum for fellows and creating the rotation schedules. He was also a regular interviewer for fellowship recruitment. For residents completing a pediatric anesthesiology rotation, he presents several lectures on basic pediatric anesthesiology. He also presents lectures within the general residency education program, including the pediatric anesthesiology problem-based learning discussions.
His work within our residency program also includes development of the Pittsburgh Academic Anesthesiology Scholar Track (PAAST), which recently morphed into the Pittsburgh ANesTHEsiology Research (PANTHER) Track, an integrated research pathway for residents interested in careers as physician scientists. Most recently, Dr. Adams helped facilitate the creation of the Pittsburgh Innovation and Technology Track (PITTrack) within our residency program. Similar to PANTHER track, the PITTrack is designed for residents with medical device innovation ideas and provides them with didactic training and protected time for project completion.
Dr. Adams is a member of our residency program’s Resident Education Committee and its Clinical Competence, Curriculum, Recruitment, Wellness, and Program Review subcommittees. In 2016, he began presenting residency lectures and workshops on physician well-being and formally became Chair of the Anesthesiology Resident Wellness Committee in 2017, which he continues to oversee at the present time. He will also continue to serve in his role with the UPMCME Wellness Committee.
He is active at the national level within the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, and as a member of the Society for Education in Anesthesia (SEA), participating as a member of both the SEA Research and Journal for Education in Perioperative Medicine (JEPM) Committees. He has served as an associate editor for JEPM since 2019. He is active at the regional level as a resident mentor for the annual Pennsylvania Anesthesia Resident Research Conference.
His current educational research interests include physician well-being and curriculum development. His clinical research focuses on child outcomes after congenital cardiac surgery, and he is a member of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society’s Quality and Patient Safety Committee. With several residents and fellows, he has presented his research at regional and national conferences and has authored numerous publications. Some of his most recent publications focus on mindfulness and well-being (J Educ Periop Med, 2020) and compare resident and faculty well-being (J Clin Anes, 2019).
We express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to our outgoing Program Director Dr. David Metro for his 15 years of dedicated, exemplary service and outstanding leadership of the residency program. Transitioning this role to Dr. Adams will allow Dr. Metro to focus more on his departmental roles as Senior Vice Chair for Education and Senior Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs. Dr. Metro will continue to be heavily involved in residency recruitment and curricular development efforts and ensure continuity for Dr. Adams’ seamless transition into program leadership.
Thank you to both Dr. Adams and Dr. Metro for your continued and on-going commitment to the academic development of our residents.