Pre-Conference Event

Keith J Ruskin, MD
Professor of Anesthesia and Critical Care
University of Chicago

Keith J Ruskin, MD is a Professor of Anesthesia and Critical Care at the University of Chicago. His major academic interests include neurosurgical anesthesia, human performance, and aerospace medicine, and he enjoys teaching these disciplines to practicing physicians. Keith has worked as part of a team to develop guidelines for screening morbidly obese pilots for obstructive sleep apnea and for the management of in-flight cardiac arrest. He has developed a fatigue risk management program for physicians who must work overnight shifts and participated in a NASA workshop on space torpor. Keith is also interested in the terrestrial applications for this work, writing articles on the role of automation in the operating room and how personal protective equipment affects human performance. His funded research involves the role of alarms, alerts, and warnings in Air Traffic Control.

Keith’s publications include topics such as safety, automation and human performance, willingness to fly during the COVID-19 pandemic, management of critical events, and other topics related to patient safety. He serves on the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Patient Safety Editorial Board and Committee on Patient Safety Education and is Chair of the Aerospace Medical Association’s Aerospace Human Performance Committee. He holds the titles of Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and Fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. He is also a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Keith has had a lifelong interest in aviation and currently holds a Commercial Pilot certificate with Airplane Single-Engine Land and Sea, Multi-Engine Land, and Instrument Airplane ratings. He holds a Second in Command type rating for the DC-3.