Elizabeth Whitlock, MD, MS
Associate Professor
Anesthesia
School of Medicine

My research centers on understanding cognitive change over time in older adults, particularly as it relates to surgery and anesthesia, using population-based data sources. I am also interested in potentially modifiable risk factors for adverse anesthesia-related outcomes, including myocardial and cerebral ischemia, perioperative mortality, and postoperative delirium.

Awards

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• Jeffrey H. Silverstein Memorial Award for Emerging Investigators in the Surgical and Related Medical Specialties, American Geriatrics Society, 2023
• Junior Faculty Research Award for Clinical Science, Association of University Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting, 2022
• Presidential Best Abstract Award, Epidemiology category, American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting, 2020
• Most Influential Manuscript by a Junior Researcher in 2019, Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center Annual Meeting, 2020
• Top 10% of peer reviewers for the Journal in 2018, Anesthesiology, 2019
• Margaret Wood Resident Research Award, Association of University Anesthesiologists, 2018
• John Severinghaus Assistant Professor In Residence, Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Care, UCSF, 2018
• Kosaka Best of Meeting Clinical Abstract Award, International Anesthesia Research Society Annual Meeting; Washington, DC, 2017
• Butler-Williams Scholar, National Institute on Aging; Bethesda, MD, 2017
• Dr. Mark A. Rosen Resident Scholarship Award, Department of Anesthesia & Perioperative Care, UCSF, 2015
• Resident Abstract Awards Finalist, International Anesthesia Research Society Annual Meeting; Honolulu, HI, 2015
• Best of Clinical Abstracts Finalist, American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting; New Orleans, LA, 2014
• Resident Abstract Awards Finalist, International Anesthesia Research Society Annual Meeting; Montreal, Canada, 2014
• Dr. Richard S. Brookings Medical School Prize, Washington University School of Medicine; St Louis, MO, 2011
• Best Basic Science Presentation, American Society for Peripheral Nerve Annual Meeting; Maui, HI, 2009

Education & Training

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• KL2 Scholar University of California, San Francisco Clinical and Translational Science Institute 2022
• KL2 Scholar University of California, San Francisco Clinical and Translational Science Institute 2022
• NIH T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine 2018
• NIH T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine 2018
• Resident, Research Scholars' Track, Anesthesiology University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine 2016
• Resident, Research Scholars' Track, Anesthesiology University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine 2016
• Intern, Anesthesiology University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine 2012
• Intern, Anesthesiology University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine 2012
• MSc Clinical Investigation Washington University NIH TL1 Predoctoral Research Training Scholar 2011
• MSc Clinical Investigation Washington University NIH TL1 Predoctoral Research Training Scholar 2011
• MD Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 2011
• MD Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 2011
• MA Biological/Biomedical Sciences Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Research Training Fellow 2008
• MA Biological/Biomedical Sciences Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Research Training Fellow 2008
• BA Biology Scripps College, Claremont, CA 2005
• BA Biology Scripps College, Claremont, CA 2005

Websites

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• Posts on X @LizWhitlockMD (X.com)

Grants and Projects

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• Usage of Novel Linked Databases to Improve the Perioperative Management of Patients With Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementias, NIH, 2024-2027
• Predicting long-term cognitive outcomes and Alzheimer?s disease and related dementias after major noncardiac surgery for older adults, NIH, 2022-2027
• Impact of Elective Total Joint Arthroplasty on Longitudinal Cognitive Change in Older Adults, NIH/NCATS, 2019-2022
• Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, NIH/NIA, 2019-2020
• Impact of Coronary Revascularization on Longitudinal Cognitive Change in the Elderly, NIH, 2018-2020

Publications (71)

Top publication keywords:
Coronary Artery BypassCoronary Artery Bypass, Off-PumpAnesthesiologistsDexmedetomidineDeliriumMemory DisordersHip FracturesAnesthesiaFrailtyPerioperative CareAnesthesiologyPercutaneous Coronary InterventionPostoperative ComplicationsAnestheticsEmergence Delirium

• Postoperative Delirium in a Randomized Trial of Intraoperative Norepinephrine versus Phenylephrine Infusion.
  Anesthesiology 2025 Phero A, Bokoch MP, Kothari R, Fong N, Chen D, Pirracchio R, Legrand M, Whitlock EL
• Delirium risk profiles in a population-based study of United States older adults undergoing common noncardiac surgeries.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2024 Joo H, Avelino-Silva TJ, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Lee SJ, Whitlock EL
• Depression and delirium: association, prediction, causation, and care.
  Anaesthesia 2024 Joo H, Whitlock EL
• Subjective Cognitive Complaints and Anecdotal Descriptions of Postoperative Cognitive Decline: Missing Pieces of the Postoperative Neurocognitive Disorder Puzzle.
  Advances in anesthesia 2024 Li LY, Staffaroni AM, Whitlock EL
• Perioperative Considerations in Older Kidney and Liver Transplant Recipients: A Review.
  Transplantation 2024 Chanan EL, Wagener G, Whitlock EL, Berger JC, McAdams-DeMarco MA, Yeh JS, Nunnally ME

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• REGAINing the Freedom to Choose Insensibility for Hip Fracture Surgery.
  Anesthesiology 2024 Whitlock EL, Smith AK
• Gaps in cognitive care among older patients undergoing spine surgery.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2024 Barreto Chang OL, Pawar N, Whitlock EL, Miller B, Possin KL
• Long-term cognitive outcome after elective hip or knee total joint arthroplasty: A population-based observational study.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2024 Tang AB, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Boscardin WJ, Smith AK, Ward D, Glymour MM, Whitlock EL
• Long-term cognitive outcomes after surgery and anesthesia: what we find depends on where we look.
  Current anesthesiology reports 2023 Joo H, Li LY, Whitlock EL
• Association of neurocognitive disorders with morbidity and mortality in older adults undergoing major surgery in the USA: a retrospective, population-based, cohort study.
  The lancet. Healthy longevity 2023 Abess AT, Deiner SG, Briggs A, Whitlock EL, Charette KE, Chow VW, Shaefi S, Martinez-Camblor P, O'Malley AJ, Boone MD
• 'It was a great brain, and I miss it': lay perspectives on postoperative cognitive dysfunction.
  British journal of anaesthesia 2023 Li L, Dohan D, Smith AK, Whitlock EL
• Preoperative Factors Predict Memory Decline After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting or Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in an Epidemiological Cohort of Older Adults.
  Journal of the American Heart Association 2022 Tang AB, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Smith AK, Lee SJ, Whitlock EL
• Intraoperative Use of Albumin in Major Noncardiac Surgery: Incidence, Variability, and Association With Outcomes.
  Annals of surgery 2022 Lazzareschi DV, Fong N, Mavrothalassitis O, Whitlock EL, Chen CL, Chiu C, Adelmann D, Bokoch MP, Chen LL, Liu KD, Pirracchio R, Mathis MR, Legrand M, MPOG Collaborators
• Contemporary anesthesia practice for cataract surgery: analysis of the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry.
  Journal of cataract and refractive surgery 2022 Phero A, Dutton RP, Chen CL, Whitlock EL
• Cardiac surgery, ICU sedation, and delirium: is dexmedetomidine the silver bullet?
  Current opinion in anaesthesiology 2022 Smith W, Whitlock EL
• Development and External Validation of a Mortality Prediction Model for Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Dementia.
  JAMA internal medicine 2022 Deardorff WJ, Barnes DE, Jeon SY, Boscardin WJ, Langa KM, Covinsky KE, Mitchell SL, Whitlock EL, Smith AK, Lee SJ
• A novel approach for the detection of cognitive impairment and delirium risk in older patients undergoing spine surgery.
  Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2022 Barreto Chang OL, Whitlock EL, Arias AD, Tsoy E, Allen IE, Hellman J, Bickler PE, Miller B, Possin KL
• Opportunities Beyond the Anesthesiology Department: Broader Impact Through Broader Thinking.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2022 Mathis MR, Schonberger RB, Whitlock EL, Vogt KM, Lagorio JE, Jones KA, Conroy JM, Kheterpal S
• General Anesthesia and Postoperative Neurocognitive Outcomes.
  JAMA 2022 Avidan MS, Whitlock EL, Mashour GA
• Postoperative delirium prediction using machine learning models and preoperative electronic health record data.
  BMC anesthesiology 2022 Bishara A, Chiu C, Whitlock EL, Douglas VC, Lee S, Butte AJ, Leung JM, Donovan AL
• Baseline Vulnerabilities May Play a Larger Role than Depth of Anesthesia or Sedation in Postoperative Delirium.
  Anesthesiology 2021 Pandharipande PP, Whitlock EL, Hughes CG
• Frailty: More Than the Sum of Its Parts?
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2021 Whitlock EL
• Association of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting vs Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Memory Decline in Older Adults-Reply.
  JAMA 2021 Whitlock EL, Glymour MM
• Anaesthetic depth and delirium: a challenging balancing act.
  British journal of anaesthesia 2021 Whitlock EL, Gross ER, King CR, Avidan MS
• Yes, no, maybe: Replication and the importance of methodology.
  European journal of pain (London, England) 2021 Whitlock EL
• Association of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting vs Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Memory Decline in Older Adults Undergoing Coronary Revascularization.
  JAMA 2021 Whitlock EL, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Smith AK, Boscardin WJ, Covinsky KE, Avidan MS, Glymour MM
• Pediatric Distraction on Induction of Anesthesia With Virtual Reality and Perioperative Anxiolysis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2021 Jung MJ, Libaw JS, Ma K, Whitlock EL, Feiner JR, Sinskey JL
• An Implementation-Effectiveness Study of a Perioperative Delirium Prevention Initiative for Older Adults.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2020 Donovan AL, Braehler MR, Robinowitz DL, Lazar AA, Finlayson E, Rogers S, Douglas VC, Whitlock EL, Anesthesia Resident Quality Improvement Committee
• Derivation, Validation, Sustained Performance, and Clinical Impact of an Electronic Medical Record-Based Perioperative Delirium Risk Stratification Tool.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2020 Whitlock EL, Braehler MR, Kaplan JA, Finlayson E, Rogers SE, Douglas V, Donovan AL
• Creation of the Anesthesia Research Council.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2020 Culley DJ, Kelz MB, Koch CG, Eisenach JC, Neuman MD, Whitlock EL, Robertson RM, Cooper T, Pomerantz P
• Postoperative delirium: why, what, and how to confront it at your institution.
  Current opinion in anaesthesiology 2020 Curtis MS, Forman NA, Donovan AL, Whitlock EL
• Use of Remifentanil for Open in utero Fetal Myelomeningocele Repair Maintains Uterine Relaxation with Reduced Volatile Anesthetic Concentration.
  Fetal diagnosis and therapy 2020 Marsh BJ, Sinskey J, Whitlock EL, Ferschl MB, Rollins MD
• Implications of postoperative cognitive decline for satisfaction with anaesthesia care.
  British journal of anaesthesia 2020 Whitlock EL, Liu X, Lin HM, Deiner S
• The Frailty Syndrome: Anesthesiologists Must Understand More and Fear Less.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2020 Whitlock EL, Whittington RA
• Surgery and persistent cognitive decline: a commentary and an independent discussion.
  British journal of anaesthesia 2019 Whitlock EL, Grisell Diaz-Ramirez L, Avidan MS
• Three blind mice: a tail of discordant trials.
  British journal of anaesthesia 2019 Whitlock EL, Avidan MS
• Aging Gracefully: The Evolution of Perioperative Care for Older Adults.
  Anesthesiology clinics 2019 Whitlock EL, Whittington RA
• Intraoperative dexmedetomidine to prevent postoperative delirium: in search of the magic bullet.
  Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie 2019 Donovan AL, Whitlock EL
• Are we overdosing older patients?
  British journal of anaesthesia 2019 Whitlock EL, Sleigh J
• Cognitive Change After Cardiac Surgery Versus Cardiac Catheterization: A Population-Based Study.
  The Annals of thoracic surgery 2018 Whitlock EL, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Smith AK, Boscardin WJ, Avidan MS, Glymour MM
• Depth of Propofol Sedation and Postoperative Delirium: The Jury Is Still Out.
  JAMA surgery 2018 Whitlock EL, Finlayson E
• We may be Homo sapiens, but anaesthetists are merely apes when evaluating risk.
  British journal of anaesthesia 2018 Aranake-Chrisinger A, Whitlock EL, Avidan MS
• Estimating pediatric general anesthesia exposure: Quantifying duration and risk.
  Paediatric anaesthesia 2018 Bartels DD, McCann ME, Davidson AJ, Polaner DM, Whitlock EL, Bateman BT
• Improved analgesia and reduced post-operative nausea and vomiting after implementation of an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathway for total mastectomy.
  BMC anesthesiology 2018 Chiu C, Aleshi P, Esserman LJ, Inglis-Arkell C, Yap E, Whitlock EL, Harbell MW
• Central venous pressure monitoring in living donor kidney recipients does not affect immediate graft function: A propensity score analysis.
  Clinical transplantation 2018 Adelmann D, Bicknell L, Niemann CU, Feiner J, Roll GR, Burdine L, Whitlock EL
• Do Not Resuscitate and the Surgical Patient: Not a Contradiction in Terms.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2017 Whitlock EL, Lane RK
• Association Between Persistent Pain and Memory Decline and Dementia in a Longitudinal Cohort of Elders.
  JAMA internal medicine 2017 Whitlock EL, Diaz-Ramirez LG, Glymour MM, Boscardin WJ, Covinsky KE, Smith AK
• In Reply.
  Anesthesiology 2016 Whitlock EL, Feiner JR, Chen LL
• Perioperative Mortality, 2010 to 2014: A Retrospective Cohort Study Using the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry.
  Anesthesiology 2015 Whitlock EL, Feiner JR, Chen LL
• Importance of "default" intraoperative ventilator settings.
  BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2015 Whitlock EL
• Harms associated with single unit perioperative transfusion: retrospective population based analysis.
  BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2015 Whitlock EL, Kim H, Auerbach AD
• Blood Transfusion and Postoperative Delirium.
  Current Anesthesiology Reports 2015 Elizabeth L. Whitlock, Matthias Behrends
• Psychological sequelae of surgery in a prospective cohort of patients from three intraoperative awareness prevention trials.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2015 Whitlock EL, Rodebaugh TL, Hassett AL, Shanks AM, Kolarik E, Houghtby J, West HM, Burnside BA, Shumaker E, Villafranca A, Edwards WA, Levinson CA, Langer JK, Fernandez KC, El-Gabalawy R, Zhou EY, …
• Blood Transfusion and Postoperative Delirium
  Current Anesthesiology Reports 2014 Whitlock EL, Behrends M
• Postoperative delirium in a substudy of cardiothoracic surgical patients in the BAG-RECALL clinical trial.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2014 Whitlock EL, Torres BA, Lin N, Helsten DL, Nadelson MR, Mashour GA, Avidan MS
• Delirium.
  Neurologic Outcomes of Surgery and Anesthesia 2013 Elizabeth L. Whitlock, Michael S. Avidan, Sharon K. Inouye
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Surgery, Intensive Care, and Intraoperative Awareness.
  Neurologic Outcomes of Surgery and Anesthesia 2013 Elliott Karren, Elizabeth L. Whitlock, Thomas L. Rodebaugh, Michael S. Avidan
• Brain monitoring with electroencephalography and the electroencephalogram-derived bispectral index during cardiac surgery.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2012 Kertai MD, Whitlock EL, Avidan MS
• Relationship between bispectral index values and volatile anesthetic concentrations during the maintenance phase of anesthesia in the B-Unaware trial.
  Anesthesiology 2011 Whitlock EL, Villafranca AJ, Lin N, Palanca BJ, Jacobsohn E, Finkel KJ, Zhang L, Burnside BA, Kaiser HA, Evers AS, Avidan MS
• Postoperative delirium.
  Minerva anestesiologica 2011 Whitlock EL, Vannucci A, Avidan MS
• Dynamic quantification of host Schwann cell migration into peripheral nerve allografts.
  Experimental neurology 2010 Whitlock EL, Myckatyn TM, Tong AY, Yee A, Yan Y, Magill CK, Johnson PJ, Mackinnon SE
• Ropivacaine-induced peripheral nerve injection injury in the rodent model.
  Anesthesia and analgesia 2010 Whitlock EL, Brenner MJ, Fox IK, Moradzadeh A, Hunter DA, Mackinnon SE
• Bipolar Electrocautery.
  JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery 2010 Arash Moradzadeh, Michael J. Brenner, Elizabeth L. Whitlock, Alice Y. Tong, Janina P. Luciano, Daniel A. Hunter, Terence M. Myckatyn, Susan E. Mackinnon
• Bipolar electrocautery: A rodent model of Sunderland third-degree nerve injury.
  Archives of facial plastic surgery 2010 Moradzadeh A, Brenner MJ, Whitlock EL, Tong AY, Luciano JP, Hunter DA, Myckatyn TM, Mackinnon SE
• Fibrin glue mitigates the learning curve of microneurosurgical repair.
  Microsurgery 2010 Whitlock EL, Kasukurthi R, Yan Y, Tung TH, Hunter DA, Mackinnon SE
• Processed allografts and type I collagen conduits for repair of peripheral nerve gaps.
  Muscle & nerve 2009 Whitlock EL, Tuffaha SH, Luciano JP, Yan Y, Hunter DA, Magill CK, Moore AM, Tong AY, Mackinnon SE, Borschel GH
• The impact of motor and sensory nerve architecture on nerve regeneration.
  Experimental neurology 2008 Moradzadeh A, Borschel GH, Luciano JP, Whitlock EL, Hayashi A, Hunter DA, Mackinnon SE
• Pregabalin does not impact peripheral nerve regeneration after crush injury.
  Journal of reconstructive microsurgery 2007 Whitlock EL, Moradzadeh A, Hunter DA, Mackinnon SE
• Binary imaging analysis for comprehensive quantitative histomorphometry of peripheral nerve.
  Journal of neuroscience methods 2007 Hunter DA, Moradzadeh A, Whitlock EL, Brenner MJ, Myckatyn TM, Wei CH, Tung TH, Mackinnon SE
• The green tea polyphenol, epigallocatechin-3-gallate inhibits telomerase and induces apoptosis in drug-resistant lung cancer cells.
  Biochemical and biophysical research communications 2007 Sadava D, Whitlock E, Kane SE
• Influence of needle tip position on injectate spread in 406 interlaminar lumbar epidural steroid injections.
  Radiology 2007 Whitlock EL, Bridwell KH, Gilula LA