Duke Anesthesiology Fist Bump

Fist Bump for Sujatha Cumaran, MD

I wanted to pass along how impressed I have been with the performances of one of the anesthesia interns, Dr. Sujatha Cumaran, on the general pulmonary service. As a nocturnist, I get to interact with a lot of interns, and she seems far ahead of the curve on all counts – her clinical thinking is very organized, she is excellent at quickly incorporating new information into her treatment plans, and she demonstrates a lot of compassion and respect for her patients.

Fist Bump for Christian Keville

A big thank you to our anesthesia technician, Christian Keville. While working an overnight, Christian used his limited downtime to meticulously set-up my operating room for the morning case. I had the pleasant surprise of walking in that morning to find that much of my usual preparation had already been done minutes before. Additionally, his setup showed a deep understanding of the needs of the (pediatric) case—he had set out both my intended primary airway equipment, as well as the relevant rescue/secondary equipment.

Fist Bump for Emily Masterson, MD

Emily and I had a rather busy day in ECT. In each case, she made a point to try and engage each patient and became a pro at bag-mask ventilating. One of our patients was a very challenging case both in terms of psychiatric acuity and inadvertent loss of IV access. Emily took it in stride and didn't let the stressful case shake her. She picked up right where we left off with the next patient, ultimately caring for 18 patients that day! Great job, Emily! - Amanda Faulkner, MD

Fist Bump for Ashley Grantham, PhD

Ashley has been an amazing source of support for the Critical Care Medicine (CCM) Fellowship and the division. She has gone above and beyond to help the fellowship with evaluations, setting up our Sakai site, reinvigorating didactics, and many other things. She helped us conduct our first post-Match survey and helped the division by creating a wellness survey. Thank you, Ashley, for going above and beyond for the CCM fellows and faculty! - Drs. Nazish Hashmi, Nitin Mehdiratta and Vijay Krishnamoorthy

Fist Bump for Matthew Li, MD

Cheers to Dr. Li for being such a great team player. He was in the CTICU education role recently, where he regularly spent time with medical students. He also agreed to a last minute switch to cover nights in the SICU so that his colleagues could have a night off and attend a mechanical ventilation workshop. - Nazish Hashmi, MD

Fist Bump for Loreta Grecu, MD

I want to acknowledge Dr. Grecu's commitment to fellow education. She has been a great advocate for fellow involvement in the CTICU. Recently, she worked a busy Friday night without a fellow, allowing them a night off to attend a planned didactic session the next morning. The fellowship team and our fellows thank you for your dedication to their education and learning opportunities. - Nazish Hashmi, MD

Fist Bump for Emily Barney, MD and Liliane Ernst, MD

Dr. Barney and Dr. Ernst did an extraordinary job of caring for a particularly vulnerable and challenging obstetric patient. They showed cultural competence to bridge language barriers, and compassion for our patient and their family member. They were professional in their interactions with other staff to facilitate care, advocated for the patient and even found a way to include the medical student working with us. - Jennifer Dominguez, MD

Fist Bump for Joseph Tolnay

Joseph Tolnay is the consummate professional. Always willing to go the extra mile, explain everything thoroughly, and answer any questions that might pop up. He does it all with a smile, the patience of a saint, and uncommon insight. He is an exemplary employee and someone to emulate! - Ronan Walker

Fist Bump for W. Michael Bullock, MD

I have to commend Dr. Bullock for being such a team player during some very busy 24-hour pediatric calls where he was the call attending. Without any discussion or complaint, he stepped up to help me with my cases, to keep things efficient and to ensure safe patient care. During one case that required my full attention, Dr. Bullock ensured that a pediatric urgent case could get started so that the surgeon did not have to wait for me, and so that I did not have to care for any patients after experiencing a traumatic case.