Santhanam Suresh, MD, MBA, FAAP, FASA, current Chair of the IARS Board of Trustees, has been recognized with the 2023 Gaston Labat Award and lectureship by the American Society of Regional Anesthesia (ASRA). This distinguished annual award honors the pioneering work in regional anesthesia of Gaston P. Labat, the first president of ASRA in 1923.
Nominated by his colleague, and 2020 Gaston Labat Awardee, Guy Weinberg, MD, at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Dr. Suresh was honored for his significant contributions to advance the specialty of regional anesthesia. “Suresh embodies the concept of practicing what you teach,” Dr. Weinberg elucidated. “Clearly, the most consistent driving force throughout Suresh’s exemplary career has been advancing regional anesthesia specifically for our youngest patients. He adopted this cause decades ago and, more than almost anyone in the community, has contributed successfully to expanding the application of regional anesthesia in pediatrics.”
“The Gaston Labat Award is a validation of many years of work to advance pediatric regional anesthesia, and I am honored and humbled to join celebrities in the area of regional anesthesia who have been bestowed this honor,” Dr. Suresh relayed.
Dr. Suresh’s journey towards a career in anesthesiology began in Madras, India where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Madras Stanley Medical College. He next completed a residency in pediatrics at Cook County Hospital and a residency in anesthesiology at Loyola University Medical Center. His fellowship took him to Children’s Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Medical School. Additionally, he earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago.
His generous service to the IARS and the specialty is multi-faceted. Dr. Suresh began his service with IARS in May 2011 with his election to the Board. He first served IARS as a member of the Annual Meeting Program Committee for four years, while there he spearheaded the committee’s transition to a more inclusive, member engaged meeting planning team. In 2013, he was appointed Steering Committee Co-Chair for IARS in the SmartTots Public-Private Partnership, a critical research initiative between IARS and the US Food and Drug Administration, a role which he has held for the past nine years. His current term as Chair of the Board began in April, 2022.
In addition to his nearly 12 years of service on the IARS Board of Trustees, Dr. Suresh is also an active member of a number of other anesthesiology societies including service on the Education Committee for the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia; oral board examiner, Board member, and former president of the American Board of Anesthesiology; service on the committees on Regional Anesthesia and the Scientific and Educational Exhibits, and past chair of the Annual Meeting Oversight Committee for the American Society of Anesthesiologists; and former member of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Anesthesiology. Additionally, he was a member of the ASRA Pain Medicine Board of Directors from 2011-2015 and received the ASRA Distinguished Service Award in 2016.
Optimizing pain management in a variety of clinical contexts has long been the focus of much of Dr. Suresh’s research and clinical practice throughout his career. He has been instrumental in developing research that has transformed pain management in children worldwide, specifically for his innovations in the use of nerve blocks for perioperative pain control in infants, children and adolescents. During the last two decades, his research has led to innovations in the areas of diagnosis and management of chronic pain in children, publishing the results in high impact anesthesiology and pain management journals. His previous experience also includes work in acute and chronic pediatric pain management, regional anesthesia safety and efficacy, neurotoxicity, as well as pharmacokinetic studies.
“I have accompanied him on morning rounds and observed first-hand his efforts to educate patients, peers and surgeons of the value regional anesthesia brings to perioperative analgesia and outcomes. The surgeons at Lurie Children’s, for instance, now embrace his approach – that every child who could benefit from a nerve block should receive one. This fact is entirely a result of Suresh’s tireless work and teaching by example to advance the cause of regional anesthesia,” Dr. Weinberg continued his praise of Dr. Suresh. “It’s hard to quantify or even imagine the suffering he has prevented locally and around the world by his years of continuous and determined effort to spread the benefits of regional anesthesia among children having surgery.”
Dr. Suresh accepted the prestigious Gaston Labat Award during the 48th Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting, April 20-22, 2023, in Hollywood, FL.
International Anesthesia Research Society
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