Emergency Checklists in Anesthesia Practice

Dr. Hannenberg was the 2010 president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and served as its Chief Quality Officer. He is a founding trustee of the Lifebox Foundation US, an organization focused on improving the safety of surgery and anesthesia globally and has led Lifebox safety programs in Central America. He is senior research scientist at Ariadne Labs, a health systems innovation center at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Brigham & Women’s Hospital where he works on surgical safety programs. He previously chaired the national Council on Surgical and Perioperative Safety, a multi-professional consortium. He is a co-founder of ORDxRx, a multidisciplinary surgical safety consultancy. Dr. Hannenberg practiced clinical anesthesiology for 35 years, mostly at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in suburban Boston. He has been recognized for his work with the Distinguished Service Award of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and Honorary Membership in the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

Dr. Agarwala is Associate Director of Quality and Safety and Division Chief for General Surgery Anaesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. He leads departmental quality improvement initiatives and has implemented emergency crisis manuals in the operating room, improved ICU-OR handoffs, and enhanced perioperative anaesthesia evaluation. His research focuses on cognitive aids and structured processes to reduce errors and improve patient care. He has published and presented nationally on emergency manuals, handoffs, and enhanced recovery. Dr. Agarwala holds a B.S., M.D., and M.B.A. from UCLA, and completed his anaesthesia and critical care residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.