In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in 2022, the ISA pays tribute to our physicians who have made outstanding contributions to the field of anesthesiology.
Chanannait Paisansathan, MD, MHA
Chanannait Paisansathan, MD, MHA, is a tenured Professor at the Department of Anesthesiology, University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine. She serves as the Chief of the Division of Neuroanesthesia and the Associate Head for Faculty Affairs. Her research interest is in the area of Neuroanesthesia and Critical Care. She has published extensively in original clinical and basic science research articles and book chapters throughout her academic career. In addition, she has served on the editorial board of, as a reviewer for, and as an editor of several peer-review journals.
Dr. Paisansathan is a nationally recognized expert in Neuroanesthesia. She was elected to the Executive Board of the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (SNACC) in 2017, and served as President of the Society in 2020-2021.
Saadia S. Sherwani, MD, MS
Saadia Sherwani, MD, MS, is a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist practicing at Northwestern Medicine’s academic medical center since 2000.
Dr. Sherwani graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine and completed her graduate medical education in anesthesiology at the McGaw Medical Center. She served as program director for the Adult Cardiothoracic Fellowship and then served as chief of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology from 2009 until 2022. She was the inaugural medical director of Feinberg 7 Operative Services and served in that role from 2006 until 2019. In that role she led many quality and efficiency projects that laid the foundation for the current top decile performance in efficiency throughout Northwestern Medical Hospital’s surgical pavilions.
In 2011 she received a Master of Science in Healthcare Management from Harvard University. She was promoted to Anesthesia Director of Surgical Services in 2014, followed by Vice Chair Clinical Affairs in the department of Anesthesiology in 2015. She led a team that developed the productivity-based compensation model for anesthesiology and then served as Executive Vice Chair of the department of Anesthesiology from 2017 to present. In 2018, Dr. Sherwani was named Vice President Operations, responsible for Surgical Services, adding Anesthesiology to her VP portfolio in 2019.
Over the past 2 years Dr. Sherwani has led the COVID response and reactivation in Surgical Services, and in her role as Operations Chief in NMH’s Incident Command has led the hospital’s inpatient capacity management efforts throughout the pandemic. On April 1, 2022, Dr. Sherwani was appointed to Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
To view the anesthesiologists profiled in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in 2021, click here.