Lisa R. Leffert, MD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at Yale School of Medicine and chief of Anesthesiology at Yale New Haven Hospital and Bridgeport Hospital, effective August 16, 2021.
Leffert is now associate professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Obstetric Anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). After obtaining her medical degree at Harvard Medical School, she completed her residency and was chief resident in Anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, joining the faculty at Harvard in 1996. She is the immediate past president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia & Perinatology (SOAP).
Her leadership experience also includes serving as chair of the MGH Physicians Organization Managed Care and Contracting Committee and vice chair of faculty development in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Medicine. By building relationships nationally and locally, she led the faculty development team to develop a systematic approach to academic promotions and career development. Her work led to a substantial increase in hiring of women faculty and those from groups that are underrepresented in medicine.
Leffert is engaged in collaborative research with a focus on the management of obstetric patients with neurologic comorbidities or complications. This has included research on pregnancy and stroke, and leading interdisciplinary, national expert task forces to conduct systematic reviews and to produce consensus recommendations for high-risk obstetric patients. She is principal investigator on a 17-institution registry on pregnant COVID-19 patients investigating obstetric, neonatal, and anesthetic impact. She is an associate editor of Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine (BMJ), the Obstetric Anesthesia Section Editor of the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, and an editorial advisory board reviewer for the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia. She has been recognized with multiple teaching and mentorship awards and, under her direction, the Obstetric Anesthesia service has won multiple awards within MGH.
At Yale, Leffert is committed to developing all members of the department to reach their full potential and to carry out the clinical and academic missions of this exceptional group of individuals. This will include a renewed emphasis on career development, building bridges between Anesthesia, key collaborating departments, and hospital and medical school leadership, and embracing innovation and inclusion in the delivery of pre-, peri- and post-operative care of the patient.
As chair of anesthesiology, Leffert will succeed Roberta Hines, MD, Nicholas M. Greene Professor of Anesthesiology, who has led the department for 27 years.