Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine

Research Division

Welcome to the research home of the Brigham and Women’s Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine. The Department is involved in laboratory, translational, and clinical research at the forefront of academic medicine.

Residents and Fellows with interest in laboratory and clinical research are encouraged to pursue their own ideas within the context of our Department’s world-renowned research activities and contribute importantly to the success and dissemination of these innovative translational discoveries. To quote our former Chairman Professor Simon Gelman, “Researching, or looking for answers, is unbelievably fun. To make a discovery, no matter how small, is to stand on the top of a mountain, to have a feeling that nobody in the world ever had his or her feet on that mountain. To be a pioneer and a discoverer is an amazing reward in life.”


The mission of our research is to understand the mechanisms of diseases and processes that we actively manage and potentially prevent in our patients as they undergo surgeries and other operative procedures. Our aim is to apply this knowledge to the development of new and more effective treatments which can be applied to the clinical practice of anesthesia, intensive care, and pain management, but also to medicine more broadly.

Research in the Department is funded through grants from the National Institutes of Health, Foundations, and Industry and is conducted by both basic scientists and by clinical anesthesiologists. Areas of basic, translational, and clinical research include a broad array of topics, reflecting the diversity, complexity, and reach of the science of Anesthesiology. Departmental investigators frequently collaborate with researchers in other Departments catalyzing the rich scientific environment of Harvard Medical School and its associated hospitals and institutions, and benefit from the longstanding tradition and infrastructure of strong clinical research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Fruitful collaborations between industry and departmental investigators, both in the lab and in the operating room have facilitated a strong translational pathway for the development of new drugs and procedures.

Read the latest updates from our research team in our newsletters!

April 28, 2023

Ready, Set Research

November 23, 2022

Ready, Set Research

August 15, 2022

Ready, Set Research

What does the future of anesthesiology look like? We don’t know, but we want to be the iconoclasts who shape it. Everything within the clinical, educational, research and translational realms of anesthesia: the mechanisms, agents, training, delivery and philosophy.

Our goal is to raise $1 Million Dollars. We have a donor who is willing to match, dollar for dollar, your contributions up to $500,000. We have the opportunity to do something meaningful, to change the way that we do things.

Contribute today, when you visit bwhgiving.org/blue.