Longtime Anesthesiology Department Chair and Academic Leader Peter Rock, MD, MBA Announces Retirement; Endowed Professorship to be Established in His Name

Dr. Rock was appointed as the Dr. Martin Helrich Professor and Chair of Anesthesiology at UMSOM in December 2006. Under the nearly 17 years of his leadership, the department was transformed, growing significantly in size and scope, and became a leader in anesthesiology. The department embraced the use of certified registered nurse anesthetists. It increased the size of its residency by about 25 percent, allowing it to care for the rapidly growing number of surgeries and procedures. The department now provides clinical services at five different locations. When Dr. Rock stepped down as Chair, the department was ranked 10^th in the U.S. for National Institutes of Health funding, cementing its status as an elite, top 10-ranked program.

Dr. Rock's contributions to the School of Medicine, FPI, UMMC, and the UMB campus have been numerous. He recruited talented faculty members, expanded the department's research initiatives, increased the number of departmental endowed professorships to seven, and implemented new educational programs.

Over the many years of his leadership, the size of the overall anesthesiology faculty grew by 44 percent, and research-intensive faculty has nearly tripled. He has also been a strong advocate for patient safety and has worked tirelessly to ensure that the department maintains the highest standards of care. During his time as Chair, Dr. Rock trained hundreds of residents, fellows, and students, and personally conducted weekly teaching conferences for his residents and medical students. Dr. Rock also focused on faculty development, implementing a formal mentoring and evaluation system, promoting and granting tenure to many departmental faculty. Five anesthesiology faculty members, who have served under Dr. Rock's leadership, have become chairs of academic anesthesiology departments. He also created a more diverse faculty and residency, strengthened the department's inclusiveness, and appointed division chiefs, vice chairs, and other departmental leaders from various backgrounds. 

He has been funded by the NIH, DOD, and industry, and his research on acute lung injury, septic shock, pulmonary circulation, and outcomes after anesthesia and surgery has been internationally recognized. He has authored or co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and book chapters. He is the principal investigator of the University of Maryland Perioperative Data Warehouse, which houses more than 450,000 records of patients who have undergone anesthesia and surgery. He has previously been honored by Baltimore Magazine as a “Top Doctor" and a "Super Doctor" by the Washington Post Magazine.

Endowed Professorship is to be established in his name. Thank you, Dr. Rock, for all you have contributed to the Department of Anesthesiology.