Evan D. Kharasch, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Professor of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
This is the second anesthesiology professorship established through gifts from the Sheldens. The first was endowed in 1998. Russell Shelden is an anesthesiologist and graduate of the School of Medicine who earned his medical degree in 1949 after completing undergraduate work and two years of medical school at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Kharasch was installed as the Shelden Professor by Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.
“I thank the Sheldens for their continued generosity to Washington University,” Wrighton said. “Endowments for professorships provide key support for our mission to recruit and maintain the outstanding researchers and educators who make up our faculty, and the Sheldens have been extraordinarily generous in helping make that possible.”
“Evan Kharasch is one of the leading physician-scientists in the field of translational research,” said Shapiro. “Endowed professorships like this one allow us to recognize outstanding work by individuals such as Dr. Kharasch and to support their important contributions to research and education.”
Russell Shelden served on the clinical faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1983. He spent most of his medical career at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, where he served as president of the staff and received the Medical Staff Distinguished Award. He also has been president of the Kansas City Society of Anesthesiologists, the Missouri Society of Anesthesiologists and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. He is a member of the American Medical Association and Missouri State Medical Association.
The Sheldens received the Robert Brookings Award at Washington University’s Founder’s Day last November. He has served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 65 years, attaining the rank of colonel, receiving a number of military honors, including three battle stars from World War II. He is a recipient of the Department of the Army’s Meritorious Service Medal and of the University of Missouri Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
“I am very interested in medicine in my state,” Shelden explained. “These endowments are our attempt to further the progress of medical education and research both at Washington University and the University of Missouri-Columbia.”
According to Alex S. Evers, M.D., the Henry Elliot Mallinckrodt Professor and head of the Department of Anesthesiology, this second Shelden Professorship will help support the department’s efforts to efficiently advance research findings into clinical practice.
“The continued generosity of the Sheldens enables us to more fully support and maintain Dr. Kharasch’s major contributions in translational anesthesiology research and thereby enhance and maintain our department’s preeminent position in anesthesiology research,” Evers said.
Kharasch directs the Department of Anesthesiology’s Division of Clinical and Translational Research. He came to Washington University in 2005 from the University of Washington in Seattle, where he was the assistant dean for clinical research as well as vice-chair of the Department of Anesthesiology. His own research interests include clinical pharmacology, drug metabolism, drug interactions, mechanisms of drug toxicity and pharmacogenetics, a recent clinical pursuit that focuses on understanding individual differences in responses to drugs.
“I am privileged and grateful to receive this honor, and I believe it recognizes the entire Department of Anesthesiology, its culture of scholarly inquiry and education, and our clinicians, scientists, and leadership,” Kharasch said. “These individuals are responsible for making this one of the very best academic anesthesiology departments in the United States, and I am proud to be a member of the team.”
Kharasch has received various honors and awards throughout his career, including the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists’ New Investigator Award, the B.B. Sankey Anesthesia Advancement Award from the International Anesthesia Research Society and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Foundation Faculty Development Award in Clinical Pharmacology. He also is one of 23 inaugural members of the Honorary Academy of Mentors for the American Society of Anesthesiologists Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in medical sciences, a doctorate in pharmacology and a medical degree from Northwestern University in Chicago. He then completed an internship, residency and a research fellowship in anesthesiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he joined the faculty in 1988.
He is the author of more than 160 scientific articles and also has written a textbook on anesthetic pharmacology. Kharasch is active in many professional societies and organizations, and he has been invited to lecture all over the world. He currently is an editor for the journal Anesthesiology and a reviewer for numerous other publications.
Both Russell and Mary Shelden are Missouri natives. They have established three other endowed professorships in anesthesiology. In addition to the other Shelden professorship at Washington University, there are two Shelden professorships at the University of Missouri-Columbia. They also recently established the Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Clinical Simulation Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine.
Washington University School of Medicine’s full-time and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked fourth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.