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Viji Kurup, MD

Professor of Anesthesiology
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Additional Titles

Vice Chair for Medical Education, Anesthesiology

About

Titles

Professor of Anesthesiology

Vice Chair for Medical Education, Anesthesiology

Biography

Viji Kurup MD is Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at Yale. Viji completed her Residency in Anesthesiology and Fellowship in Cardiothoracic Anesthesia at Yale. She has been on faculty in the department since 2005 where she has developed a career as a medical educator. She has completed her fellowship in Medical Education and is currently Vice Chair for Medical Education as well as Director of the Yale Anesthesia Media Lab and the Course Director for the Anesthesia Resident Simulations. She has led the integration of the Flipped Classroom model for Anesthesia Resident Training at Yale.

Viji's academic interests include participating in Global Health projects and exploring innovative ways of integrating technology in medical education. She is also the Co-Chair for the Global health and outreach committee in the Society for Education in Anesthesia (SEA). She has volunteered with the Health Volunteer Overseas Program (www.hvousa.org) in Vietnam. She enjoys teaching and was awarded the Faculty Award for Excellence in Education and Leadership for the Department of Anesthesiology. She is a firm believer in the importance of physician wellness and has introduced a comprehensive wellness curriculum within her department. She is the Past President of the CT State Society of Anesthesiologists and is actively involved in advocacy efforts both at the State and Federal level. She also volunteers in the community and is a regular speaker at career day for inner city schools in New Haven.

She lives in Trumbull CT with her husband and two kids, and because that was clearly not keeping her busy enough, a high-maintenance cat!! In her free time, she enjoys cooking, painting (acrylic on canvas), reading and meditating..

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

Medical Education Fellowship
Yale (2013)
Fellow
Yale University School of Medicine (2005)
Resident
Yale-New Haven Hospital (2004)
Intern
Griffin Hospital (2001)
Resident
Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (1997)
MD
Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (1994)

Research

Overview

Current projects:

International: I am the Chair Designee for the Committee on Outreach and Developing world for society for education in anesthesia (SEA)- (www.seahq.net). My objectives for this year are

  1. Developing crisis resource management tools like algorithms and making them handy for use in remote locations
  2. Developing a document with tips for teaching for residents going overseas
  3. Cofounder of Sim Worldwide (sww.etsu.edu). This is a website dedicated to increasing collabaration among medical schools in the US and abroad. Currently we transmit selected teaching sessions to the developing world. We have schools in India, Thailand, ElSalvador, China and Switzerland who log on to the sessions. We have one way video transmission and two way chat. This enables the session to be interactive for the audience abroad.

National:

  1. Director of a monthly e-learning module for the PGY1 students who are coming into our program in anesthesia called the START (Successful transition to Anesthesia Residency Training) program- This is a collaboration with Stanford Anesthesia (Dr Larry Chu) who initiated the very successful program there. In this project we shoot short videos of pertinent topics which follow a trigger video to reinforce basic concepts in anesthesia to residents.

Yale

  1. Yale Media Lab: We are currently involved in making videos for teaching. Garrett Sendlewski is the Associate at the media lab.
  2. Flipped classroom evaluation of course model.
  3. Simulation- We use simulation to reinforce important concepts for our residents. Currently we are designing scenarios and testing them before applying to practice.
  4. Co-founder of an anesthesia multimedia website (www.anesthesiaillustrated.com). This is a collaboration with Stanford Aim Lab, again under the direction of Dr Larry Chu. The goal is to create a library of education media that can be used by faculty and students in the specialty for learning and teaching.
  5. Building a patient education website for anesthesia with information we got from the survey of our pre-operative patients.
  6. Using flashcard app to create flashcards for anesthesia residents to prep for their board exams.
  7. Creating a curriculum for teaching residents how to teach. This will be focused on residents who want to learn more on teaching and learning theories.
  8. Studying the effects of a wellness curriculum on stress and burnout markers in anesthesia residents.

Medical Research Interests

Educational Technology; Library Science; Medical Informatics; Medical Laboratory Science

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    Society for Education in Anesthesia

    Professional OrganizationsMember
  • activity

    Society for Head and Neck Anesthesia

    Professional OrganizationsMember
  • activity

    Society for education in anesthesia

    Professional OrganizationsExecutive Board Member

Clinical Care

Overview

Viji Kurup, MD, is an anesthesiologist who says taking care of patients when they are at their most vulnerable is an honor.

“It is an awesome responsibility to take the patient through their surgery in the safest possible way. I believe that good anesthetic care addresses the beliefs, fears, and anxieties of the patient and is tailored to them as individuals,” Dr. Kurup says. “I love taking care of patients while they are going through surgery, which is a very stressful part of their journey towards a healthy life. As an anesthesiologist, my goal is to get the patient through their surgery safely and comfortably.”

Dr. Kurup focuses on thoracic and vascular anesthesia. She takes care of adult patients before surgery, including trauma patients.

“I get to meet patients who are strong and have amazing life stories,” she says. “I tell them that during their surgery I will be there watching over them and do what needs to be done to make sure they get through the surgery safely.”

Clinical Specialties

Anesthesiology

Board Certifications

  • Anesthesiology

    Certification Organization
    AB of Anesthesiology
    Original Certification Date
    2005

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View this doctor's clinical profile on the Yale Medicine website for information about the services we offer and making an appointment.

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