Faculty

Vladimir Nekhendzy
Clinical Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine Clinical Professor, Otolaryngology (Head and Neck Surgery)

Bio

Originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, Dr. Nekhendzy graduated from Pavlov Medical School in 1979. He completed anesthesia residency training at St. Petersburg Institute for Advanced Training for Physicians in 1985, and University of California, San Francisco in 1996.

After completing a research fellowship at Stanford (Dr. Mervyn Maze’s lab), Dr. Nekhendzy joined Stanford Anesthesia Department in 1997. He has been Chief of H&N Anesthesia Division and Director of Advanced Airway Management Program since their inception, in 1998. He also serves as Director of Clinical Fellowship in H&N Anesthesia and Advanced Airway Management, offered by Stanford Anesthesia Department since 2009. A full description of the fellowship is available on the webpage Head and Neck Anesthesia and Advanced Airway Management

Dr. Nekhendzy's major clinical, teaching and research activities are centered on perioperative care of patients undergoing a wide variety of otolaryngologic, neurotologic, maxillofacial, orthognatic, and facial plastic surgical procedures, and on the use of advanced airway management devices and techniques. He has authored several chapters on ENT anesthesia in major textbooks, lectured extensively nationally and internationally, and directed numerous workshops on difficult airway management.

Dr. Nekhendzy's major clinical interests outside of H&N anesthesia include non-invasive brain stimulation and the emerging mobile health (mHealth) clinical platforms.

Alexander Butwick
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (OB) at the Stanford University Medical Center

Bio

He received his medical degree and anesthesia residency training in the United Kingdom. At Stanford, Dr. Butwick completed an obstetric anesthesia fellowship, and later followed with M.S. in Epidemiology.

Dr. Butwick has a long-standing interest in H&N anesthesia and advanced airway management, although obstetric anesthesia remains his main focus. Dr. Butwick has previously won the Gertie Marx award (best paper by a junior investigator) at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) and the award for best paper at the Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association (OAA) Annual Meeting. He gave the prestigious Gerard W. Ostheimer 'What's new in Obstetrics?' lecture at the 2012 SOAP Conference in Monterey, California, and has presented at other national and international obstetric anesthesia meetings.

Dr. Butwick serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia, and is an ad-hoc reviewer for over 8 anesthesia and obstetric journals. He is establishing himself as a clinician investigator with research interests in preventive and therapeutic strategies for the management of obstetric hemorrhage, maternal hemostasis and hematologic-related outcomes-based research in obstetrics. Dr. Butwick has previously received institutional and industry funding for clinical trials in obstetrics, and is currently a recipient of federal funding (K23) from the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Tiffany Cheng
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine

Bio

Dr. Cheng received her B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego prior to obtaining her M.D. at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She completed her anesthesia residency at Stanford.

Dr. Cheng's academic interests include advanced airway management techniques, resident education, and professional nursing/team development through simulation.

Dr. Cheng has been involved in teaching at the annual Stanford Advanced Airway Management and Fiberoptic Intubation course as well as research with Dr. Vladimir Nekhendzy on Transnasal Humidified Rapid Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE) for operative laryngoscopy and Transcranial Electrostimulation (TES) studies.

David Drover
Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center

Bio

His clinical interests are anesthesia care for patients undergoing H&N procedures, neuro-anesthesia, and liver and kidney transplants. He spend about 50% of his time performing clinical research. Dr. Drover has served as a principal investigator and co-PI for many pharmacokinetic studies during my career. Dr. Drover has a strong interest in neonatal and pediatric clinical pharmacology and expertise in pharmacometrics. Dr. Drover has many active as well as completed research projects related to the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs in adult and pediatric populations.

As an anesthesiology researcher, one of his major interests is in the clinical pharmacology of opioids and anesthetics. Dr. Drover use his knowledge of clinical pharmacology to pursue a majority of anesthetics by total intravenous techniques, which are highly beneficial in H&N surgery.

Sara Goldhaber-Fiebert
Clinical Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine

Bio

After anesthesia residency at MGH, Sara completed in 2007 a Simulation and Patient Safety Fellowship at Harvard’s Center for Medical Simulation. Her Stanford roles in patient safety, simulation, and quality improvement include: co-director of Evolve simulation program for residents, faculty for many simulation courses ranging from medical students to faculty instructor courses, a founding member of Stanford Anesthesia Cognitive Aid Group (http://emergencymanual.stanford.edu/), director for Stanford’s interprofessional emergency manual clinical implementation and training, and member of Stanford Hospital’s Quality Patient Safety and Effectiveness Committee.

Nationally, her roles include chair of Society for Simulation in Healthcare’s Anesthesia Section, member of ASA’s Quality Management Departmental Administration Committee and of Society for Education in Anesthesia’s Simulation Committee. Sara is on the steering committee of the global Emergency Manuals Implementation Collaborative (EMIC, www.emergencymanuals.org). EMIC shares free resources on why and how to implement emergency manuals and context-relevant sets of cognitive aids, such as crisis checklists.

More about Sara’s research and academic work can be found at https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/sara-goldhaber-fiebert or if you are a local leader interested in “Why and How to Implement Emergency Manuals” see a graphically-illustrated video of the evidence and tips here.

Brita Mittal
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine

Bio

Dr. Mittal received a B.S. in Materials Science & Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and briefly worked at Intel Corporation as an engineer prior to obtaining her M.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed both her anesthesiology residency and fellowship in Head and Neck Anesthesia and Advanced Airway Management at Stanford.

Dr. Mittal's academic interests include resident education, advanced oxygenation techniques, and anesthesia for patients with epidermolysis bullosa.

Amit Saxena
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine

Bio

A Bay Area native, Dr. Saxena was born in Mountain View, CA and received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco and then moved south to complete his anesthesia residency at Stanford. During residency he was always attracted to advanced airway management techniques and focused on this area during his last year of training. After completing residency, he was excited to stay on at Stanford as an attending and joined the Head and Neck Anesthesia and Advanced Airway Management team.

Dr. Saxena enjoys working with his ENT colleagues, teaching residents on a frequent basis in the operating room, and also teaching at the annual Stanford Advanced Airway Management and Fiberoptic Intubation Course. Dr. Saxena's current research interests include the use of Transnasal Humidified Rapid Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE) for operative laryngoscopy.

Outside of work, Dr. Saxena enjoys traveling, hiking, and seeing his Bay Area sports teams in action with his wife and friends.

Anil Panigrahi
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine Clinical Assistant Professor (By courtesy), Pathology

Bio

Dr. Panigrahi received his undergraduate degree from Duke University, where he studied Biology with a concentration in Genetics. After graduation he continued to pursue basic science research at Duke before obtaining his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. He then completed residency training in Anesthesiology at Stanford University and explored an interest in perioperative Patient Blood Management by completing a fellowship in Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine also at Stanford.

Board-certified in both Anesthesiology and Transfusion Medicine, Dr. Panigrahi splits his clinical time between these two specialties and lectures on topics related to perioperative transfusion. He is actively involved in Patient Blood Management initiatives throughout Stanford Health Care and serves as a member of the ASA's Committee on Patient Blood Management. His clinical interests also include advanced airway techniques and total intravenous anesthetics and he is excited to work with his Anesthesiology and ENT colleagues in H&N surgery.

Victoria Yin
Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine

Bio

Dr. Yin received a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She then spent a year doing genomics research at the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute before attending Loma Linda University for medical school, graduating in 2011. She completed anesthesia residency at Stanford in 2015 and stayed on as faculty in the multispecialty division of the Stanford anesthesiology department.

Dr. Yin is excited to join the Head and Neck Anesthesia team as an associate member. Her academic interests are enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS), quality improvement, and resident education.

Outside of work, she enjoys rock climbing and spending time with her husband, two kids, and friends.

Karen Sheehan, MD
Clinical Instructor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine

Bio

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Dr. Sheehan graduated from University College Dublin in 2013. She completed Anesthesia Residency Training in Ireland, via the Specialist Anesthesiology Training Program, a National Scheme involving Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine in hospital placements throughout Ireland.

Dr. Sheehan’s professional interests include Head and Neck anesthesia, advanced airway management and medical education.

Outside of work, Dr. Sheehan enjoys hiking and swimming.