Ron Liftman Endowed Mentorship Award-Annual update
Jeffrey Feldman MD and Daphne Klausner
Remembering Dr. Ron Litman
Dr. Ron Litman founded and was the original editor of the Pediatric Anesthesia Article of the Day. During this week’s anniversary of his untimely death, I am reposting his obituary from the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia’s website AND an update on the Ron Litman Emdowed Mentorship Award. Myron Yaster MD
From John Fiadjoe MD
I remember when I first met Ron at a scientific meeting. I was a resident, and I had seen his name everywhere: journal publications, invited talks, editorials, pro-con debates, MH hotline. He was famous. I expected a brief nicety when I introduced myself, and then he would go off to chat with more important people.
I was surprised when he engaged with me and spent much of the time getting to know me and chatting about research and responding to questions I had. He was extremely down-to-earth, told it like it is, and had an incredible sense of humor.
Little did I know that day that I would end up training as a fellow under his tutelage, become great friends, travel to exotic lands together, face Moctezuma's revenge together, and debate every topic under the sun vigorously. I remember working with Ron as a fellow, he saw the patient in Preop walked away and said call me when it is done.. my jaw dropped, wow he trusted me enough to let me do the entire case solo…I was special!
later I found that he did that with everyone - JK
I went on to become faculty at CHOP and Ron was one of the few people I could discuss any topic with. I loved our mental jostling around topics like atheism, consciousness, politics, law, pediatric anesthesia, and anything controversial. We enjoyed the process of discovering a new way of thinking about a controversial topic and appreciated being challenged on our strongly held views. There seems to be little room for these kinds of debates anymore without parties feeling personally attacked. I miss my conversations with Ron.
Every conversation delivered a new nugget of learning as his knowledge was vast and deep. Ron had this quick wit and sharp sense of humor which was infectious. We laughed together all the time. I miss his laugh. He was a master storyteller!
He spoke of his wife Daphna and family and his boys often and talked about moving to the Catskills to retire. Sadly that was not to be. I remember him telling me he had a fever and was getting a COVID test. Sadly it was cancer. And through all the treatments he died the way he lived. With dignity, optimism, and humor.
Ron's memory and impact continues to ripple through pediatric anesthesia. This PAAD is a testament to that. But above all, I miss our friendship and time together. In the end, the only thing that matters are our relationships.
From the SPA website
The world and the extended pediatric anesthesiology community lost a cherished friend, mentor, and educator when Ron Litman passed away April 21, 2021 after a year-long struggle with AML. Ron was a long-time member of SPA and an inspirational pediatric anesthesiologist with a long and distinguished career first at the University of Rochester and for the last 20+ years at CHOP. For his entire career, Ron was a guiding light of clinical excellence, a dedicated mentor of all from undergraduate students to anesthesia trainees and faculty colleagues. His unending inquisitiveness and challenging of established dogma led him to innovative clinical research investigations, in which he collaborated with those from many fields outside pediatric anesthesiology (and outside CHOP), from adult pulmonologists at Johns Hopkins, to pediatric oncologists, otolaryngologists and sleep medicine specialists. His innovative findings have educated us all about everything from airway anatomy under anesthesia to pathophysiology of mediastinal masses and malignant hyperthermia. His interest in pharmacology and medication safety led him to leadership advisory roles at the FDA, culminating in his appointment as the Chair of the FDA Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee and the medical directorship at the Institute for Safe Medication Practice. His interest in malignant hyperthermia led him to an enduring collaboration with Henry Rosenberg and a fundamental role in MHAUS and the MH help line. He trained and inspired a generation of pediatric anesthesiologists. A voracious reader, both medical and non-medical, his love of learning and interest in medico-legal issues led him to study law as applied to medicine, receiving a Masters of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. Ron also devoted much time to volunteer pediatric surgical mission around the world. A premier educator/lecturer he was much sought-after speaker at meetings, both anesthesiology and other specialties. As was his custom, he made friends world-wide wherever he traveled and picked up mentees as he went. A pied piper of pediatric anesthesiology, but also Ron was a devoted father, husband, friend, tennis and squash player and filled his and our days with wisdom, laughter and love. May his memory be a blessing for us all.
From Dr. Jeff Feldman
The mentorship award honoring our friend and colleague, Dr. Ron Litman, is one year old. Thanks to the generosity of Ron’s family and others, the endowment is completely funded to provide up to $25,000 each year in perpetuity to support a mentor-mentee relationship at CHOP for projects intended to enhance the practice of pediatric anesthesiology.
The first group of funded mentor/mentee pairs are well underway on their projects and most importantly, continue to honor Ron’s personal commitment to mentoring during his career. In this update we would like to provide information on the progress of the 2022 awardees and announce the 2023 award winner.
2023 Award Winners
Dr. Olivia Nelson and her mentee Sasha Capers (3rd year undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania) are the recipients of the 2023 Litman Mentoring Award. Their project will investigate the prevalence of anemia in infants less than 4 months old with the goals of defining risk factors for preoperative anemia in that population and the indications for a preoperative CBC measurement. A second phase of the project will investigate the potential for non-invasive hemoglobin measurement to replace phlebotomy. Please join us in congratulating Olivia and Sasha.
2022 Award Winners Update
Dr. Anu Doshi and her mentee Isabel Torres received the Litman award in 2022 for their project entitled “Health Literacy in the Pediatric Perioperative Space.” To date, they have interviewed more than 100 patients at CHOP and have recruited additional sites to gain greater insight into health literacy of caregivers. Partner institutions currently include Seattle Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Nebraska, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Boston Children’s, Nemours and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital at OHSU. The initial abstract work will be presented at the Penn Health Equity Conference in April and also to the SPA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group. As a result of this experience, Isabel has applied to medical school. Congratulations to both Anu and Isabel on their progress and good luck to Isabel!
Drs. Rodrigo Daly-Guris and Julia Hickey have been able to pursue formal training in implementation science using funds from the Litman Award. This training will be used as they develop a team approach to difficult airway management.