Perioperative Medicine Division
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Perioperative Medicine Doctors William Manson, MD, Stuart Lowson, MD, & Lee Heffner, MD are ready to greet patients.
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Perioperative Medicine Anesthesiologists William Manson, MD, Stuart Lowson, MD, & Lee Heffner, MD, confer about a patient.
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William Manson, MD
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William Manson, MD, consults with a patient.
About
The Perioperative Medicine Division at the University of Virginia (UVA) concerns the care of patients preparing for, undergoing and recovering from surgery. The Division has both a clinical and an educational focus. The clinical focus is to perform a comprehensive evaluation of perioperative patients with the goal of reducing procedure cancellation, and reducing perioperative length of stay. The educational focus is to educate anesthesia residents in the field of perioperative medicine.
Members of the perioperative medicine team evaluate and optimize patients prior to surgery and interventional procedures. The goals are to prepare patients for surgery in order to decrease same-day surgery cancellations and reduce perioperative morbidity and mortality. The team includes members from multiple subspecialties of anesthesia. Patients are evaluated over the phone, in-person and via telemedicine. This team coordinates care with multiple subspecialties including pain medicine, cardiology, pulmonology, and other clinicians.
A Message from the Medical Director
Tyler Johnson, MD
Medical Director of Perioperative Medicine
The Perioperative Medicine Division is currently in an exciting growth period. We are planning a major reorganization of the system to provide evaluation of all patients that receive anesthesia in the UVA System. We have begun work on optimization efforts to manage patients with chronic comorbidities.
The faculty in the Perioperative Medicine Division have a wide array of experience in Anesthesiology. Dr. Heffner has over 10 years of experience in Perioperative Medicine. She was the prior Medical Director of the Pre-Anesthesia Evaluation and Testing Center (PETC) at UVA Health. She brings her wealth of knowledge to the Division. She leads education efforts in Perioperative Medicine. Dr. Lowson has over 15 years’ experience in critical care medicine and anesthesiology. He leads the effort to review guidelines and policies in the Perioperative Medicine Division. Dr. Vizzini is trained as a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist. She directs the care of pediatric patients in Perioperative Medicine. Dr. Lesh is trained in both internal medicine and anesthesiology. He has practiced in both private practice and major academic medical centers. Dr. Chiao completed her residency in anesthesiology here at UVA followed by a fellowship in Quality at UVA Health.
Our Division
Tyler Johnson, MD
Tyler Johnson, MD, Medical Director of Perioperative Medicine
Tyler Johnson, M.D. is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Sleep Medicine at the University of Virginia. His clinical interests include neuroanesthesia (i.e. anesthesia for brain and spine surgeries) and perioperative medicine. In addition to caring for patients undergoing surgery, Dr. Johnson also holds outpatient clinics in sleep medicine, where he treats patients with a wide variety of sleep disorders. Dr. Johnson was born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, his medical doctorate from Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, his residency in anesthesiology from University of Virginia, and his fellowship in sleep medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a chief fellow.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Johnson enjoys spending time with his fiancée and their three cats. They love to spend time outdoors and appreciate all the wonderful features of central Virginia.
Lliam Brannigan, MBBCH
Lliam Brannigan, MBBCH
Lliam Brannigan, MD, is an anesthesiologist who cares for patients before and during surgery, managing their pain, comfort, and consciousness.
Dr. Brannigan was born in South Africa and grew up in Johannesburg, where he decided to become a doctor at age 6. He comes from a large family of Irish descent. He received his medical degree from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
He completed his internship at Paarl Hospital in Cape Town and worked as a community service doctor at a mission hospital in northern South Africa. Dr. Brannigan served as a trauma and helicopter rescue medical officer and was part of the South African Search and Rescue team that worked at the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.
He then completed a specialist degree in anesthesiology at WITS University and a fellowship in critical care at WITS Donald Gordon Medical Center (WDGMC). He was previously director of the ICU at the Life the Glynnwood Hospital in Benoni and director of critical care at WDGMC.
He also holds a master’s degree in perioperative medicine from University College London. Dr. Brannigan’s wife is a physician, and they have two children.
Sunny S. Chiao, MD
Sunny S. Chiao, MD
Sunny Chiao, MD, is a board-certified anesthesiologist. Her clinical practice includes general anesthesiology and obstetric anesthesiology. She grew up in Northern Virginia, and completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Virginia. She received her medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She completed residency training in Anesthesiology also at UVA, and went on to pursue fellowship training in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement, after which time she joined the UVA faculty.
Dr. Chiao has research interests in quality improvement, perioperative informatics, and medical education. In her free time, she has a passion for spending time with her family, traveling, and rescue animals.
Lee Heffner, MD
Assistant Professor
Lee Heffner, MD
Dr. Heffner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology. She completed medical school as well as residency training in Anesthesiology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, after which she spent six years in private practice.
In 2011 she returned to UVA to serve as the Medical Director of the Preanesthesia Evaluation and Testing Center. She continues as faculty in the clinic, reorganized in 2021 as the Perioperative Medicine Division under the leadership of Dr. William Manson.
Dr. Heffner has a strong interest in resident and medical student education and in issues surrounding informed consent and patient autonomy.
Erin Hennessey, MD
Professor
Erin Hennessey, MD
Dr. Erin Hennessey is a professor of Anesthesiology, specializing in Critical Care, and the Vice Chair of Education for UVA Anesthesiology. She completed her Master’s in Education of Health Professions through the Johns Hopkins School of Education and focused her studies on the effectiveness of milestone-based assessments for ACCM programs and the use of a holistic review rubric to aid in the fellow recruitment models. Clinical topics of interest include patient-family interaction in the ICU, communication techniques for hand-offs, procedural training and competency, and ventilator management. She is interested in expanding the role of the anesthesiologist to that of a perioperative physician who provides a continuum of care to patients. She has taught at the undergraduate, undergraduate medical, and graduate medical education level with a keen interest in recruiting competent and compassionate physicians into the field of Critical Care Medicine.
Ryan E. Lesh, MD
Ryan E. Lesh, MD
Dr. Lesh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and is a member of the Generalist group. In addition, he is one of the physicians who staffs our perioperative evaluation and optimization clinic. He completed his medical degree at the University of Rochester and his residency in anesthesiology at the University of Virginia. Following a basic-science research fellowship in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at UVA, he has served on the anesthesiology faculties of Columbia University and the University of Virginia.
Dr. Lesh’s clinical interests involve pulmonary physiology and ventilatory mechanics as they apply to patients undergoing general anesthesia in the operating room. He enjoys reviewing pulmonary physiology with both residents and medical students, especially as it applies to clinical problems. Additionally, he serves as guest faculty in a fourth-year medical school course that addresses the issue of patient suffering and the physician’s response to suffering.
In 2006, Dr. Lesh completed a Master of Divinity degree through the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. In Virginia, he serves as a Sunday supply priest, often in small local parishes.
Stuart M. Lowson, MBBS, Associate Professor
Stuart M Lowson, MBBS
Dr. Lowson is a tenured associate professor and Co-director of the Surgical Trauma ICU. Dr. Lowson is also an attending in the Preoperative Optimization and Evaluation Center which ties in with his interest in perioperative medicine – both the pre and postoperative phases.
Dr. Lowson has an interest in cardiac evaluation, peri-operative anemia management blood conservation, and he serves on the hospital’s transfusion committee.
Read Dr. Lowson’s Full Bio
Link to Dr. Lowson’s Publications
William C. Manson, MD
William C. Manson, MD
Dr. Manson specializes in regional anesthesiology as well as perioperative medicine. He teaches and performs point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) at the local and national level.
Dr. Manson serves on the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) Editorial Board for Point-of-Care Ultrasound, and is the Vice-Chair for the American Society of Regional Anesthesia Pain Medicine (ASRA) POCUS Special Interest Group. He is the Co-Director for the ASRA POCUS Course. Dr. Manson is currently pursuing a Physician Executive Masters in Business Administration (MBA).
Read Dr. Manson’s Full Bio
Link to Dr. Manson’s Publications
Samantha Vizzini, MD
Samantha Vizzini, MD
Dr. Vizzini joined the University of Virginia Department of Anesthesiology in June 2020. She completed her anesthesiology residency at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital in 2014. She subsequently went on to do a Pediatric Anesthesia and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia fellowship at Nationwide Children’s Hospital finishing in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Her interests include pediatric cardiac anesthesia, preoperative evaluation and assessment, resident/fellow education.
American Board of Anesthesiology Certified 2015
Pediatric Anesthesiology Board Certified 2015
Read Dr. Vizzini’s Full Bio
Link to Dr. Vizzini’s Publications
The Perioperative Medicine Division strives for excellent patient care and constant improvement. Over the next few years, there will be a significant revision of the operational process of perioperative medicine. The reorganization will allow the perioperative medicine team to screen the roughly 200 patient anesthetics that occur each day. The screening will focus our efforts towards optimizing outcomes for patients that are at high risk for perioperative morbidity and prolonged length of stay.
Education
The Perioperative Medicine Division has a robust ultrasound education in POCUS for the regional anesthesiology fellows.
Division Chief William Manson, MD is our faculty in perioperative point of care ultrasound at the Perioperative Medicine Summit for the Society of Perioperative Assessment and Quality Improvement (SPAQI).
All CA1 Residents do a one month rotation in our pre-anesthesia screening clinic evaluating patients and creating pre-op plans prior to surgery.