Dr. Enrico Camporesi was recently named the new chair of the Department of Anesthesiology. He will start his new position May 1.

Camporesi takes over a department that is currently on probation. In April of 2004, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education cited the department for five violations. They ranged from having an insufficient number of doctors for each of the anesthesiology residents, to not turning in documents in a timely manner, to residents not going to education conferences because they were with patients.

The ACGME was originally scheduled to check on the department of anesthesiology in March for re-evaluation, when a decision would be made whether to take the department off probation. The department of anesthesiology petitioned for and received a six-month postponement on the visit. According to Peter Shea, the Coordinator for Information and Publication Services for the Department of Anesthesiology, this is a standard procedure when a new chair has just been appointed. The extension is meant to give Camporesi time to get settled in and deal with the issues at the department.

If the ACGME decides the department has not addressed their concerns, they could either lose accreditation or be kept on probation and checked on again at a later date.”(I plan to) address each citation exactly, repair the fault, describe the remedy and submit the change to the appropriate review bodies,” Camporesi said.

Camporesi is coming from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, where he has been professor and chair of anesthesiology since 1989.

“Enrico Camporesi is one of the most respected anesthesiologists in America,” vice president of Health sciences Stephen Klasko said in a news release. “He brings talent, experience and cutting-edge research to our community.”

“Because of Dr. Camporesi’s extensive experience in clinical practice development, I’ve also asked him to take an associate dean role in clinical practice operations,” Klasko said in the same release.

Camporesi was born in Milan, Italy, and received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Milan. He moved to the United States in 1972. He completed his residency at Duke University in Durham, N. C., and became a professor of anesthesiology there in 1984.

He is regarded as an expert in the field of hyperbaric (relating to above normal pressures) medicine and is considered a pioneer in the field of hyperbaric research for diving accidents.

He said he does not plan to immediately make a hyperbaric research program at USF, but does plan to see how USF can work with local hyperbaric facilities already set up in the Tampa area.

Camporesi will be replacing Dr. Rafael Miguel, the current Interim Chair. Miguel will be the director for the Pain Medicine Program in the Department of Anesthesiology.