The Eltzschig laboratory is interested in studying endogenous adaptive pathways that are under the control of hypoxia-inducible factors. These molecular concepts have been applied to a wide range of disease models that are important for the field of anesthesiology, critical care, and perioperative medicine, including acute lung injury, myocardial or hepatic ischemia, acute kidney injury, and intestinal inflammation. It is hoped that these studies contribute to novel pharmacologic approaches to prevent or treat acute organ injury in surgical patients.
Acute Lung Injury (ALI)
The research in the lung group focuses on understanding the inflammatory responses in acute lung injuries, including ventilation induced lung injury (VILI) and LPS-induced lung injury. Our recent studies of lung injuries focus on investigating the role of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) and microRNAs in the underlying mechanisms of ALI.
Myocardial Ischemia
We are also interested in understanding cardio-protective mechanisms and targets during the Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion (IR) injury. Our recent studies showed that changes in metabolic supply and demand lead to the stabilization of hypoxia-inducible transcription factors during myocardial ischemia, resulting in upregulation of cardio-protective small molecules, such as epithelial growth factor amphiregulin (AREG).
Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality of perioperative patients, and therapeutic approaches to prevent or treat AKI are limited. Our recent studies suggested that genetic deletion or pharmacologic inhibition of the renal proton pump ATP4A with proton pump inhibitors conveys very potent renal protection. We hope that our findings could support the potentials of proton pump inhibitors as therapeutic options to prevent or treat AKI.
Intestinal Inflammation
Numerous studies suggest that one of the key elements in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) is dysfunction of intestinal epithelial barrier function caused by intestinal inflammation. Our recent study found that an increase of adenosine levels in experimental colitis might exploit protective adenosine receptor signaling.
Dr. Eltzschig has published over 330 peer-reviewed research contributions, including first or senior-author papers in Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology, Circulation, Gastroenterology, Gut, Science Translational Medicine, The Journal of Clinical Investigations, The Journal of Experimental Medicine, PLoS Medicine, PLoS Biology, Circulation Research, Blood, PNAS, Nature Communications, and many other leading biomedical journals. In addition, Dr. Eltzschig is the lead author of three review papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Moreover, he published review papers in Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Reviews Cardiology, Blood, and Anesthesiology and four review papers in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery that focus on his research findings. With an H-index of 101 and over 39,500 citations, Dr. Eltzschig is among the highest-cited physician-scientists from the field of perioperative medicine.
Original Articles (Clinical Contributions)
Clinical Case Reports
Reviews
Comments and Editorials
Book Chapters
Doctorate of Philosophy Dissertation
Eltzschig, HK: Characterization of an Inhibitor of in vitroTranslation in Lysates of Trypanosoma brucei. Eberhard-Karls-University, Tübingen, Germany, 1996, 124 pgs.
06/1996 – 07/1998 Clinical Fellow, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
07/1998 – 06/1999 Clinical Fellow, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
07/1999 – 07/2003 Clinical Fellow, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
07/2003 – 08/2007 Assistant Professor, and Staff Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
10/2004 Associate Professor (“Habilitation”), Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
01/2006 – 07/2007 Vice Chair (“Leitender Oberarzt”), Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
03/2007 – 07/2007 Professor, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
08/2007 – 6/2010 Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
07/2010 – 8/2016 Professor and Tenure, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
10/2010 – 6/2013 Vice Chair for Research, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado
06/2013 – 8/2016 Director, Organ Protection Program Departments of Anesthesiology, Surgery, Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics; University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado
11/2014 – 8/2016 Chief, Anesthesia Service for Oncologic Surgery, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado
09/2016 – today Director, Center for Perioperative Medicine Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Houston, Texas
09/2016 – today Associate Vice President for Translational Research The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Houston, Texas
09/2016 – 02/2017 Visiting Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
03/2017 – today Professor with Tenure, Department of Anesthesiology McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
09/2016 – 11/2016 Vice Chair for Research, Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
11/2016 – 08/2017 Chairman ad Interim, Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
02/2017 – 2019 John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
09/2017 – today Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
06/2019 – today John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished University Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
10/2022 – today Adjunct Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
1992 – 1996 German National Scholarship Foundation
1996 – 2007 German Association of Physicians
1999 – present American Society of Anesthesiologists
2003 – present German Society of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine
2007 – present Colorado Society of Anesthesiologists
2008 – present Association University Anesthesiologists
2008 – present American Thoracic Society
2008 – present International Anesthesia Research Society
2008 – present American Society of Nephrology
2009 – present American Association of Immunologists
2009 – present American Society of Anesthesiologists
2009 – present Elected Member, Association of University Anesthesiologists (AUA)
2011 – present Elected Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation (one of 8 anesthesiologists in the history of ASCI)
2012 – present Colorado Medical Society
2017 – present Texas Society of Anesthesiologist (TSA)
2020 – present Member, Academy of Research Mentors, Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER)
2021 – present Elected Member, Association of American Physicians (one of 3 anesthesiologists in AAP)
2022 – present Member, Outcomes Research Consortium, Cleveland, Ohio
03/1998 Certificate for Emergency Medicine Baden-Württemberg (“Fachkundenachweis, Mitwirkung im Rettungsdienst”)
05/2001 Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography Exam (National Board of Echocardiography)
09/2002 Massachusetts State Board of Registration
03/2003 German Board of Anesthesiology
05/2003 Transesophageal Echocardiography during Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI)
10/2003 German Board of Intensive Care Medicine
10/2003 American Board of Anesthesiologists
10/2007 National Board of Echocardiography, Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography
07/2007 Colorado State Board of Registration
07/2013 Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology (MOCA)
1996 German National Scholarship Foundation
1994 Poster Presentation Award, European Society of Regional Anesthesia (ESRA), Stockholm, Sweden
1996 Magna cum Laude, PhD Thesis, Eberhard-Karls-University, Tübingen, Germany
2003 Thomas Smith Lecture; Nucleotide Metabolism and Signaling, Harvard Medical School, Boston
2004 Hanse Research Award for Intensive Care Medicine, Bremen, Germany
2006 Hanse Research Award for Intensive Care Medicine, Bremen, Germany
2006 Heinrich-Dräger Research Award for Intensive Care Medicine, Leipzig, Germany
2007 Karl-Thomas Research Award for Anesthesiology, Intensive Care Medicine and Emergence Medicine,Hamburg, Germany
2008 BioSymposia Investigator Award, Ischemia and Inflammation Biosymposium, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
2009 Elect Member, Association of University Anesthesiologist (AUA)
2010-2013 Associate Editor, The Journal of Immunology
2010 Academic Editor, PLoS One
2011 Heinrich-Dräger Research Award for Intensive Care Medicine, Hamburg, Germany
2011 Elect Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI)
2013 Section Editor, 1stTerm, The Journal of Immunology
2013 Associate Editor, Anesthesiology
2015 Section Editor, 2ndTerm, The Journal of Immunology
2015 Member, Editorial Board, Purinergic Signaling
2015 John Hedley-Whyte Lecture. The Hypoxia-Inflammation Link, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
2016–present Permanent Member, NIH Study Section, Surgery, Anesthesia and Trauma (SAT), National Institutes of Health, Center for Scientific Review, Bethesda, MD
2017 John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
2019 Franz-Koehler Inflammation Award, German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI), Berlin, Germany
06/2019–present John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Distinguished University Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, McGovern Medical School; The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
2020 Member, Academy of Research Mentors, Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER)
2021 Elect Member, Association of American Physicians (AAP)
2022 Research Directors Workshop Planning Committee, ASCI / Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM)
2022 Physician-Scientist Development Committee, ASCI
2024 Vice Chair, Physician-Scientist Development Committee, ASCI