On Thursday, September 14, 2017, at the Michigan League, nearly 100 guests joined the Department of Anesthesiology to celebrate a generous gift from Sujit Pandit, M.D., and the reappointed of Paul Reynolds, M.D., as holder of the Sujit K. and Uma A. Pandit Professorship in Pediatric Anesthesiology.
Sujit K. Pandit and Uma A. Pandit, M.D., achieved national and international recognition for their innovations in clinical technique and patient care. Uma Pandit was recognized for her expertise in pediatric anesthesiology, and her contributions to the literature in this subspecialty area were extensive and clinically significant.
She was recognized as an outstanding teacher by generations of trainees in pediatric anesthesiology and was a role model and much-beloved mentor to numerous trainees and junior faculty.
Uma Pandit died in 2002.
Sujit Pandit joined the U-M faculty in 1976 as an associate professor with tenure. He was promoted to professor of anesthesiology in 1978. In addition to serving on 18 professional committees and societies, he co-founded the Society of Ambulatory Anesthesiology (SAMBA) and eventually served as its president; his wife was also involved with this organization. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and many book chapters.
Sujit Pandit was instrumental in the development of revised fasting guidelines before surgery that continue to be used throughout the United States. He, like his wife, was a treasured member of the Department of Anesthesiology faculty, a compassionate physician to his many patients, and a dedicated mentor to students and trainees.
Sujit Pandit retired from active faculty service in 2000 but continued to work part-time for another six years.
“Both Uma and I were immigrants to this great country and undoubtedly, our American dream came true,” says Sujit Pandit. “But to be honored with an endowed professorship at our adoptive institution, the University of Michigan, is truly beyond our dreams.”
Paul I. Reynolds, M.D., was born in Akron, Ohio; his family moved throughout the United States during his childhood, settling finally in Michigan. After undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, he earned his medical degree from Wayne State University in 1981, then returned to Ann Arbor for internship and residency in pediatrics, followed by residency and fellowship in anesthesiology. He joined the U-M faculty in 1987 and today is an associate professor of anesthesiology, service chief of pediatric anesthesiology, and the Sujit K. and Uma A. Pandit Professor of Pediatric Anesthesiology in the U-M Medical School.
Dr. Reynolds also serves as medical director of the U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital operating rooms and helped design the operating rooms and the cardiac catheterization and MRI suites in the new Mott building, which opened in 2011.
Dr. Reynolds’ connection to Sujit and Uma Pandit can be traced back to his early years at Michigan. “Uma Pandit served as a role model and mentor to me and to many others within our section. She was a great educator and an outstanding clinician. Her husband, Dr. Sujit Pandit, mentored many young faculty members, was one of the pioneers of outpatient surgery, and is a professor emeritus within our department today. The Sujit K. and Uma A. Pandit Professorship in Pediatric Anesthesiology was created to honor the Pandits’ combined 50 years of outstanding service to our department. I am humbled to have this honor bestowed on me.”
About the Professorship
The Sujit K. and Uma A. Pandit Professorship in Pediatric Anesthesiology was established in 2007 by the University of Michigan Department of Anesthesiology and further supported by a generous gift from Sujit K. Pandit, M.D., Ph.D., in 2015. The endowment honors two prominent and dedicated academic physicians for their many contributions to
Michigan Medicine.
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