Stephen O. Heard, M.D., an alumnus of our anesthesiology residency (1983) and critical care medicine fellowship (1984) programs, long had a vision to support the research and discovery efforts of junior faculty. The former chair of the Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine at the University of Massachusetts, Heard has been an active clinician educator for decades.
Now, thanks to his generosity, Cameron R. Smith, M.D., Ph.D., will continue the mission of scholarship as the inaugural Stephen O. Heard New Investigator.
Smith, an assistant professor of anesthesiology, was selected for the funded position based in part on his superb productivity in scholarship over the past year. He will hold this term position for two years.
“It is outstanding to see Dr. Smith’s hard work and I look forward to great discovery in the future,” said Timothy Morey, M.D., professor and chair. “The department is grateful to Dr. Heard and wholeheartedly agrees with his views that mentorship is essential to jump-start careers.”
Heard, a professor at the University of Massachusetts and former chief resident at UF, has extensive experience developing junior faculty and numerous peer-reviewed publications to his name. His research interests include strategies to prevent catheter-related bloodstream infections, sepsis and septic shock, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and monitoring. He has held leadership positions or served on committees in numerous national organizations that serve our specialty and has also lobbied for our specialty at the state and federal levels.
Heard credits the mentorship that he received at UF with driving his career in academic medicine.
“I had never considered an academic career until I went into anesthesiology and critical care at UF,” Heard said. “I had great mentors in Drs. Jerome Modell, Ed Munson, Richard Kaplan, Jim Gallagher, and Rick Davis. Dr. Gallagher put me in touch with a young infectious disease faculty member, Bob Sherertz, which helped jump-start my career. I wanted to give back and decided to provide funds for young faculty members who are aspiring to an academic career.”
Congratulations, Dr. Smith!