July 24, 2024
Message sent on behalf of Sandra L. Wong, MD, MS, Dean, Emory School of Medicine; and Joon S. Lee, MD, CEO, Emory Healthcare
Dear colleagues:
We write today to share that Andrew (Drew) Patterson, MD, PhD, will be stepping down from his role as Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, effective August 31, 2024. Dr. Patterson has served as chair since January 2019, when he joined Emory from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Patterson will remain on faculty as a professor of anesthesiology.
We are grateful for Dr. Patterson’s outstanding leadership over the past five years. Key department accomplishments during his time as chair include:
- The anesthesiology clinical operations team’s adoption of the mantra "we're always open," ensuring that anesthesia services were not a barrier to care by Emory surgeons, interventionalists, endoscopists, cardiologists, and obstetricians, even during the peak of the COVID pandemic.
- Anesthesiology critical care team expansion to the fifth largest team in the country. Anesthesiologist intensivists provide service to several of Emory Healthcare's highest acuity intensive care units. The anesthesiology critical care team also led the ECMO team during the COVID pandemic.
- Expansion of the residency training program into a four-year categorical program that is now one of the most popular programs in the country with more than 1,500 applications each year for twelve positions.
- Growth of the anesthesiology global health program into one of the most successful and robust programs in the country. Faculty and trainees now travel to India, Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, and Eastern Europe, providing humanitarian aid and essential services throughout the year.
Anne Marie McKenzie-Brown, MD, professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, has agreed to serve as interim department chair while a search is conducted for this important role. Dr. McKenzie-Brown is currently vice chair for professional development in the department and a faculty counselor to Woodruff Health Sciences Center of the Emory Board of Trustees.
Dr. McKenzie-Brown completed her residency at Emory, and after one year of fellowship training in pain medicine at Johns Hopkins, returned to join the Emory faculty in 1992. After serving as educational director of Emory’s anesthesiology pain fellowship program from 1993 -1997 she served as program director from 2004-2014, converting the program from a single specialty (anesthesiology) to a multidisciplinary pain fellowship program.
Dr. McKenzie-Brown has held leadership roles in both Emory Healthcare and Grady pain clinics and served as division chief of the Pain Division in the Department of Anesthesiology from 2003-2022. Her numerous national leadership roles include serving as Chair of the American Board of Anesthesiology Pain Medicine Examination Committee and Vice Chair of the ACGME Review Committee for Anesthesiology. She is currently an Executive MBA student at the Goizueta Business School, as a recipient of the Executive Women of Goizueta Scholarship. We are grateful to Dr. McKenzie-Brown for providing leadership and ensuring continuity during this transition.
Join us in thanking Dr. Patterson for his dedicated service, and congratulating Dr. McKenzie-Brown on her new role.
Sandra and Joon
Sandra L. Wong, MD, MS
Dean, Emory School of Medicine
Chief Academic Officer, Emory Healthcare
Joon S. Lee, MD
CEO, Emory Healthcare