OB Endowed Lecture Highlights
Carvalho Intro
Dr. Carvalho is Professor, Chief of Obstetric Anesthesiology and Vice Chair of Faculty Development, in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University Medical Center. He is the Past President of the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP), and founder of the SOAP Center of Excellence for Obstetric Anesthesia Care Designation, which we recently obtained thanks to Dr. Suresh’s efforts. He has published extensively in the field of Obstetric Anesthesia with over 330 peer-reviewed articles, editorials, reviews, book chapters and commentaries. He has received several grants including NIH, pharmaceutical and institutional grants. He has received numerous research awards, including three Best Research Papers at the SOAP scientific meetings. Dr. Carvalho has also received both the early and late-career SOAP “Teacher of the Year” awards. He received his department’s “Teacher of the Year” award at Stanford University. He has been an invited speaker/professorships at over 220 regional, national and international meetings. He serves/has served on numerous national medical society committees and medical journal editorial boards, and as an advisor/consultant to the World Health Organization. His clinical and translational research and scholarly activities include cesarean and labor analgesia, perinatal pharmacology and immunology, obstetric hemorrhage, and postpartum recovery.
Dr. Ezzat Abouleish Endowed Obstetric Anesthesia Lecture Series: Introduction
Last year, Dr. Amr Abouleish gave us an introduction to his father’s illustrious obstetric anesthesia Career. The Abouleish family through their generous endowment established the lectureship series because of Ezzat’s dedication to education and to the UT Houston Department of Anesthesiology.
This year, he honored me with the task of explaining who his dad was to the world of Obstetric anesthesia.
Allowing me to speak about one of the pioneers of obstetric anesthesia is an incredible experience but is also very scary. Who better than his son to describe who Ezzat Abouleish was!
Many of you knew him as he spent many years in this department. Texas Society of Anesthesiologists (TSA) published an article in the TSA Newsletter last year on Dr. Ezzat Abouleish authored by Dr. Amr Abouleish and Dr. Carin Hagberg. The title was “On the Shoulders of Giants Series: Legends of Texas Anesthesiology Ezzat Abouleish, M.D.: Obstetrical Anesthesiology Pioneer, Teacher and Mentor, Artist and Author”.
I was not that lucky to have known him but meeting his family and especially his wife last year during our first lecture of the endowed series gave me a glimpse of who Dr. Abouleish was.
Not only was he an exceptional physician who was one of the first pioneer to introduce the Combined Spinal Epidural Labor Analgesia technique, but also an adored husband and cherished father.
He was the first to perform labor epidural analgesia at Magee Hospital by placing a labor epidural catheter on his wife for the birth of their third child.
In 1974, Dr. Abouleish published his first book, Childbirth: A Joy – Not A Suffering. This book was aimed at providing every future mother with information about her options for obstetrical anesthesia.
In 1982, Dr. Abouleish was actively recruited by Dr. Joseph Gabel, Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston to join the Department of Anesthesiology as a Professor of Anesthesiology and Obstetrics and the Director of Obstetrical Anesthesia.
In 1985, Dr Tom Joyce from Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Dr. Abouleish from UT Houston, founded the Annual meeting, Texas Anesthesia Conference for Obstetrics (TACO). In 1991, Dr Abouleish formally handed over the TACO meeting to Dr. Maya Suresh, the year she transitioned from UTMB Galveston and started as Director of Obstetric Anesthesia at BCM. She later added a Difficult Airway workshop and ran two very successful CME courses from 1991 -2017, inviting both renowned national and international Obstetric Anesthesia and Airway Experts to be speakers at both events.
In 1999, Dr. Abouleish was honored to be selected by SOAP to give the Gertie Marx Lecture. In addition to his 71 peer-review articles, 100+ national and international lectures, Dr. Abouleish was an accomplished calligraphy artist and journalist.
After retirement, his second career as an artist truly blossomed. His true passion was Islamic art where he combined art and calligraphy.