3^rdWorld Congress on
Anesthesia and Pain Medicine

Vivianne Tawfik, MD, PhD is a board certified Anesthesiologist and Pain Medicine physician who specializes in the treatment of complex chronic pain disorders including chronic post-operative pain, complex regional pain syndrome and peripheral nerve injury. She obtained her MD and PhD in Neuroscience, with a focus on basic pain mechanisms, at Dartmouth Medical School before joining the Stanford Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine as an anesthesiology resident in the Fellowship in Anesthesia Research and Medicine (FARM) program, of which she now serves as the Director. After completion of her subspecialty fellowship training in Pain Medicine, Dr. Tawfik joined the faculty at Stanford and continues to research the immune contribution to persistent pain while treating patients suffering from chronic pain. She enjoys science, sushi and snowboarding in her free time.

My overall research interest is to understand how the immune system interacts with the nervous system after injury to promote the transition from acute to chronic pain. In my clinical practice I care for patients with persistent pain that often occurs after minor trauma such as fracture or surgery. Using basic science approaches including whole system immune phenotyping with mass cytometry and genetic manipulation of peripheral and central immune cells, we seek to dissect the temporal and tissue-specific contribution of these cells to either promotion or inhibition of healing.

Dr. Ajai Khanna is a distinguished Professor with extensive education and training in the medical field. He earned his MD and MS in General Surgery from the University of Allahabad Medical School in India. Furthering his expertise, Dr. Khanna completed a PhD at the University of Manchester, UK, and obtained fellowships from prestigious institutions including the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (FRCPS). Additionally, he is a Fellow of the European Board of Transplant Surgery (FEBS) and the American College of Surgeons (FACS). Dr. Khanna also holds an MBA from the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego. His prolific research contributions are accessible through PubMed and Google Scholar.

Multivisceral Transplantation Live Donor Liver Transplantation Pediatric Transplantation Intestinal Rehabilitation Surgery Domino Liver Transplantation

Born and raised in Japan, Dr. Ando received an MD-PhD degree from the Aichi Medical University. After anesthesia training, Dr. Ando came to Stanford to pursue clinical and basic research experience. During his postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Gaudilliere's laboratory, Dr. Ando worked on publication of “A next-generation single-cell technology (mass cytometry) to study the feto-maternal immune system,” a project designed to evaluate the immune response associated with preterm birth. In addition, Dr. Ando performs research in Obstetric Anesthesia, such as respiratory monitoring after cesarean sections and labor satisfaction, to obtain clinical research experience and to understand the key differences in medicine between the United States and Japan.

After his postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Ando has maintained his status as a researcher in Dr. Gaudilliere's laboratory, continuing work relating to pregnancy and preterm birth. Dr. Ando divides his efforts between laboratory research and the clinic.