SOCCA’s Clinical Practice Committee (CPC): Driving Collaboration in Critical Care Medicine

As the SOCCA Clinical Practice Committee (CPC) concludes its second year, we take a moment to reflect on the incredible progress we have made. The CPC has fostered collaboration across multiple subspecialties of critical care medicine, an area where we, anesthesia intensivists excel.

The CPC is composed of multiple workgroups, each dedicated to advancing best practices, education, and innovation in critical care. Whether it’s the ECMO Workgroup, Obstetrical Critical Care Workgroup, Global Critical Care Workgroup, or Transplant Critical Care Workgroup, we are seeing compelling projects emerge. From quality improvement initiatives to curriculum development for ECMO and transplant critical care, each workgroup is getting ready to make an impact on the field.

One area where we seek greater engagement is Neuro Critical Care. We currently lack leadership representation in this domain and are eager to identify experts and passionate contributors to help develop this crucial subspecialty. If you are interested in shaping the future of Neuro Critical Care within SOCCA, we invite you to reach out and join our efforts.

The CPC remains committed to advancing the specialty, fostering collaboration, and driving innovation in perioperative and ICU care. We look forward to another year of growth, discovery, and impactful contributions.

For those interested in contributing, please contact us—we welcome your expertise and enthusiasm! Please join one of our workgroup meetings during the SOCCA (IARS) Annual Meeting in Hawaii (see below).

Friday, March 21st, 2025 Kahili Meeting Room

• 10:00 am - 11:00 am: CPC QI Workgroup (with Dr. Somnath Bose)
• 11:00 am - 12:00 pm: CPC Global CCM Workgroup (with Dr. Vanessa Moll) & CPC- OB CCM Workgroup (with Dr. Ioannis Angelidis) (both are meeting at the same time in the same room)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2025 Coral 5 Meeting Room

• 4:30pm - 5:30pm: SOCCA Business Meeting
  

Several SOCCA members have already expressed interest in contributing to this initiative, and we welcome further participation from those with experience in QI implementation or repository development. We will discuss the logistics and framework of the repository at the upcoming Clinical Practice Committee Quality and Patient Safety Workgroup meeting during the SOCCA Annual Meeting in Hawaii this March.

Establishing Guidelines for Surgical ICU Quality Metric Reporting
In addition to the QI project repository, our second major initiative focuses on establishing standardized guidelines for surgical ICU quality metric reporting. Quality metrics are essential for benchmarking performance, identifying areas for improvement, and ensuring high standards of patient care. However, there is currently a lack of consensus on which metrics should be prioritized and how they should be reported across institutions.

To address this gap, we are exploring the use of a Delphi process to develop these guidelines. The Delphi method, a structured communication technique that gathers expert consensus through iterative rounds of surveys, has been successfully employed in various fields to establish best practices. We are currently in preliminary discussions with SOCCA members who have experience with the Delphi process to determine the most effective approach for our initiative.

By creating standardized guidelines, we aim to enhance the consistency and reliability of quality metric reporting in surgical ICUs. This effort will not only benefit SOCCA members but also contribute to broader improvements in surgical critical care quality and patient outcomes. As this project progresses, we will seek input from members with expertise in quality measurement, data analytics, and critical care outcomes research.

Looking Ahead
Dr. Somnath Bose, Chair of the Quality and Patient Safety Workgroup, and Dr. Joy Lo Chen, Vice-Chair, are eager to collaborate with our workgroup members on these important initiatives. We look forward to discussing these projects in greater detail during our upcoming meeting at the SOCCA Annual Meeting in Hawaii and encourage all interested members to participate.

By working together, we can create impactful resources and guidelines that will support our collective mission of advancing quality and patient safety in critical care. We welcome feedback, ideas, and contributions from all SOCCA members as we move forward with these projects. Here’s to a productive and successful year ahead!

SOCCA Clinical Practice Committee: Workgroup Questionares

Mechanical Circulatory Support/ECMO/CT ICU (SCA & STS) Workgroup

Chair: Lovkesh Arora, MD, MBBS
Clinical Associate Professor, ECMO
Medical Director
University of Iowa Physicians

What inspired you to join and lead the Mechanical Circulatory Support/ECMO/ CT ICU (SCA & STS) workgroup of the CPC?
I am honored to lead the Mechanical circulatory support group as it gives me a chance to work with the best of the best people in this field, learn and collaborate with them and work towards the common goal of improving patient care by bringing evidence-based management guidelines and standardization to this evolving field.

What do you love about Anesthesiology Critical Care? What excites you the most right now?
The most exciting aspect for me is that anesthesiologists and intensivists are the best perioperative physicians. With a strong foundation in medical education, procedural skills, and administrative expertise, we have the ideal platform to lead critical care initiatives. Our role extends far beyond the operating room, enabling us to help institutions achieve larger goals in patient care and healthcare management.

Vice Chair: Lauren Sutherland, MD
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology Columbia University
Irving Medical Center

What specific areas of critical care medicine are you most passionate about? (What can people talk to you about)
I love cardiothoracic critical care. I split my time between the cardiothoracic operating rooms and cardiothoracic ICU, so I spend most of my day managing patients during and after open heart and lung surgery. I especially love managing (and trying to wrap my mind around) all different configurations of mechanical circulatory support. I am passionate about quality improvement initiatives in the CTICU such as improving mechanical ventilation times, organizing interdisciplinary simulations on cardiac arrest after cardiac surgery, and teaching transesophageal echocardiography to critical care fellows.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I have 3 little kids at home, 5- and 3-year-old boys and a 10-month-old girl, so life can be pretty chaotic! Our family was on a home renovation TV show before moving into our house in Westchester 3 years ago. It was a really fun and interesting experience, but it’s also super embarrassing to watch (so I won’t reveal the name of the show)!

Transplant Critical Care (SATA) Workgroup

Chair: Ranjit Deshpande, MD, MBA, FCCM
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology Vice Chair, Finance & Strategy, Department of Anesthesiology Director, Transplant Anesthesiology
Yale University
Yale New Haven Hospital

What is a Critical Area Facing Our Specialty?
One of the most pressing challenges in anesthesiology critical care is how we define and assert our leadership in perioperative and critical care medicine within an evolving healthcare system. Our role should not be confined to traditional ICU settings; rather, we must champion anesthesiology-led perioperative care as a seamlessly integrated, patient-centered continuum—spanning preoperative optimization, intraoperative management, and postoperative critical care.

Who better than us—experts in resuscitation, physiology, hemodynamic management, and perioperative medicine— to lead this transformation? Anesthesiologists and anesthesiology intensivists bring unparalleled expertise in managing high-acuity patients, optimizing surgical readiness, preventing complications, and ensuring smooth transitions across the perioperative pathway. Our ability to enhance surgical outcomes, reduce complications, and drive efficiency makes us indispensable to modern healthcare.

However, to solidify our position as leaders in perioperative care, we must move beyond clinical excellence alone. We need to:

• Proactively shape institutional policies to align perioperative pathways with evidence-based best practices.
• Advocate for the recognition of anesthesiologists as essential decision-makers in perioperative and critical care management.
• Leverage data-driven strategies to optimize resource utilization, enhance surgical workflows, and improve patient safety.

If we do not step forward and define this role ourselves, others will—and in doing so, may limit our ability to influence the very areas in which we excel.

Through stronger collaboration with surgical teams, research-driven innovation, and national society leadership, we must drive the future of anesthesiology-led perioperative care. Our ability to lead not just inside the operating room but across the entire perioperative and critical care spectrum will determine the sustainability, visibility, and long-term success of our specialty. The healthcare landscape is shifting toward value-based care models, interdisciplinary collaboration, and efficiency- driven systems—and anesthesiology must position itself at the forefront of these changes to demonstrate its full value and secure its future role in healthcare leadership.

Who/What Inspires You?
I am deeply inspired by my family—starting with my parents, who have instilled in me the values of grit, perseverance, and lifelong learning. Their unwavering support and belief in me have shaped my journey, pushing me to grow both personally and professionally.

My wife is a huge inspiration, and along with my parents, she is my strongest supporter, always encouraging me to take on new challenges while keeping me grounded. She inspires me with her resilience, determination, and ability to navigate life with both strength and grace. Her unwavering belief in my potential fuels my drive to continuously evolve and contribute meaningfully to my field.

Beyond my family, I am guided by a commitment to continuous evolution and discovery—the belief that learning never stops, innovation is essential, and every challenge presents an opportunity for advancement. I find inspiration in mentors, colleagues, and trainees who challenge conventional thinking and push the boundaries of what’s possible in anesthesiology. Seeing how collaboration and strategic innovation can improve patient outcomes, optimize workflows, and advance our specialty keeps me motivated every day.


Vice Chair: Megan Rashid, MD
Assistant Professor, Medical Director of Transplant
ICU Virginia Commonwealth University

What do you love about Anesthesiology Critical Care? What excites you the most right now? 
My favorite thing about Anesthesiology Critical Care is how adaptable the training makes us. We learn how to interface with surgeons, consultants, and other intensivists, and have an almost daily opportunity to learn about other aspects of medicine. I feel like my critical care training has made me a better anesthesiologist, improving not only my knowledge base but also my relationship with our surgical colleagues. I think one of the next frontiers that we’ll be exploring as a group will include addressing the significant physical, emotional, and psychological toll that a stay in the ICU has on patients and their families.

What specific areas of critical care medicine are you most passionate about?
I’ve spent a lot of time on resident education and point-of- care ultrasound. Our residents are vital to our ICUs, and investing in their education is paramount to our ongoing success as a specialty. We developed a longitudinal POCUS program for our residents so they can develop their skills and build up a log of ultrasound studies throughout their four years here, with the goal of leaving residency with the ability to easily obtain the ASA Diagnostic POCUS Certificate. Teaching them these skills allows us to have high-level discussions about decompensating patients and facilitates early intervention with serial follow-up.

Quality & Safety Workgroup


Chair: Somnath Bose, MD, MPH, MBBS
Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Harvard Medical School
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

What do you love about Anesthesiology Critical Care? What excites you the most right now?
Being an anesthesiologist and intensivist allows me the unique opportunity to be at the patient’s side through their entire recovery process. The presence of critical care anesthesiologists is ubiquitous across hospital systems and their impact on elevating the quality of care is well acknowledged at all levels. With the average acuity of illness presenting to hospitals on the rise there has never been a better time to be an intensivist. Wearing the dual hats allows us to bring a unique value proposition to health systems and make meaningful impact in the lives of our patients. So for trainees considering critical care this is the time to dive in.

What specific areas of critical care medicine are you most passionate about?
I am most passionate about recovery from critical illness. With ICU care becoming better, more and more people survive critical illness. While this is extremely encouraging, health systems remain ill equipped to support the survivors. This is an area that I am most interested in: how we can improve survivorship. I am happy to discuss ideas with those who share similar interests.

Vice Chair: Joy Chen, MD
Associate Professor UT Southwestern Medical Center Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management Medical Director, Dallas VA Surgical ICU Co-Medical Director, Dallas VA Thoracic ICU

What inspired you to join and lead the Quality and Patient Safety workgroup of the CPC?
I was inspired to join and lead the Quality and Patient Safety Workgroup of the CPC when a colleague recommended that I get more involved in SOCCA. I serve as the medical director of the Dallas Veterans Affairs Hospital Surgical ICU, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn what others are doing in terms of QI at their institutions and bring new ideas to the space as well.

What are you hoping to achieve this year in the CPC?
I am hoping to set up a QI project repository on our SOCCA website that members can access to bring QI projects to their institutions. Why re-invent the wheel, you know? Also Somnath and I would love for our committee to compile quality metrics that ICUs throughout the country measure as well as metrics that our members recommend measuring and create QI reporting recommendations based on this data.

Neuro Critical Care (SNACC) Workgroup
Chair: Ozan Akca, MD, FCCM
Vice Chair: Elizabeth Mahanna, MD

OB-CCM (SOAP) Workgroup


Chair: Ioannis Angelidis, MD, MSPH
Assistant Professor of Cardiac and Obstetric Anestesia and Critical Care Medicine
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

What inspired you to join and lead the OB-CCM workgroup of the CPC?
Obstetric Critical Care fascinates me! Cardiac disease in pregnancy is rare but it is the number one cause of death in patrurients in the United States. I feel that OB-Critical Care issues have been underrepresented in annual meetings and my vision consists of building an educational curriculum through panels, lectures from experienced OB intensivists and problem-based learning discussions. Although they are not common, when they are encountered, rapid, multidisciplinary involvement is crucial. This year we have created a combined SOCCA-SOAP panel for SOAP 2025. Our next step is to create a combined SOCCA-SOAP panel for SOCCA 2026 and work on educational webinars for OB Critical Care issues. OB Critical Care is growing, and I hope we will have the opportunity as a group to promote its growth and inspire new health care professionals to follow that avenue of OB Critical Care.

How do you define success?
Success for me is when you follow your passion; When you do not let adversities and toxic working environments blur the big picture of how your life should be. When you work hard, and set your boundaries so people know there are limitations to their actions. Sometimes people are hesitant to understand you and your vision, but that is OK. You must know why you are pursuing something and the outcome you want to achieve. Be honest, own your mistakes, learn from your failures, treat everyone with respect, and move forward. Your personal and professional growth is more like a marathon than a sprint and should have a cadence to its development. Most importantly, do not get absorbed in your career, and always keep a balance between your personal and professional life. Do not take anything for granted, and don’t forget to show appreciation to your colleagues, team members, staff, friends, and beloved ones.

Vice Chair: Emily Naoum, MD
Associate Program Director of the Obstetric Anesthesia Fellowship Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA

Who/What Inspires you?
Engaging and connecting with patients inspires me to be the best clinician that I can to provide the highest level of care. I also am incredibly inspired by the trainees at my institution who challenge our faculty to provide evidence for our medical decision making and ask very challenging questions that keep me on my toes to continue my own self-education.

What inspired you to join and lead the OB-CCM workgroup of the CPC?
Nearly watching my laboring patient die from a fetal demise complicated by hemorrhage and profound coagulopathy inspired me to seek out ways to prevent maternal morbidity in whatever way that I can. My incredible colleagues in the OB ICU world inspire me regularly to advocate for improved awareness and delivery of maternal critical care.

Global Critical Care Medicine Workgroup
Chair: Vanessa Moll, MD, PhD
Vice Chair: Ana Crawfordd, MD

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