Principal Investigator

Dr. Beverley A. Orser

Position(s):

Chair, Department of Anesthesia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Co-Director of Research, Department of Anesthesia, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Director, Anesthesia Research Laboratory, Department of Physiology
Professor of Physiology and Anesthesia, University of Toronto
Former Canada Research Chair in Anesthesia
Staff Anesthesiologist, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Degrees: MD, PhD, FRCPC, FCAHS

Dr. Orser is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesia at the University of Toronto. She is a practising anesthesiologist and co-Director of Research, Department of Anesthesia at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada. Her research has offered fundamental insights about how general anesthetic drugs depress brain function, how these drug cause side-effects, and how these side effects can be mitigated. Her studies that first demonstrated the unique properties of extrasynaptic GABAA receptors in health and disease have led to patented new treatments. She founded or co-founded organizations that aim to improve patient care including ISMP-Canada (www.ismp-canada.org), the Perioperative Brain Health Centre (www.perioperativebrainhealth.com). Her contributions have been recognized by the Award for Excellence in Research from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (2018), the Gold Medal from the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society (2017), the Peter Dresel Award in Pharmacology from Dalhousie University (2017), the first Canada Research Chair awarded to an anesthesiologist (2003), the first Frontiers in Anesthesia Research Award from the International Anesthesia Research Society (1995), and recognition awards from the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland. In 2013, she was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Dr. Orser received a Medical Doctorate from Queen’s University (1981), a Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (1987), and a PhD in medical science from the University of Toronto (1995). Her postgraduate clinical training was completed at the Royal Columbian Hospital in British Columbia, McMaster University in Hamilton, Oxford University, and the University of Toronto.