History of the Chair:

Kevin K. Tremper, Ph.D., M.D.
Chairman from 1990 to the Present

Post-graduate Years:

While completing his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Tremper became interested in the applications of engineering to physiology and medicine. He conducted a short project, which involved a mathematical model of tissue perfusion and gas transport. At this point, he decided to go to medical school to gain formal training in physiology and medicine. During medical school he worked on modeling of the oxygen transport to the heated skin surface. Dr. Tremper was granted an early three-year graduation from medical school and took a flexible internship at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center. During his internship he began experimental studies on oxygen and carbon dioxide measured noninvasively at the skin surface.

To complete the clinical aspect of this work Dr. Tremper remained at Harbor/UCLA Medical School for a year and a half after an internship as a research fellow in the surgical intensive care unit. During this time, he also became involved in perfluorochemical emulsions for oxygen transport and conducted the first clinical study in the United States with this "artificial blood" product in 1981.

In January of 1981 Dr. Tremper began his anesthesiology residency at UCLA. Upon completion of his residency he became a member of the faculty in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of California at Irvine. Dr. Tremper received tenure in 1984 and was appointed Acting Chairman of the Department later in 1984. He accepted the appointment of permanent Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology in April 1985, and remained Associate Professor and Chairman until December 1990.

In January of 1991, Dr. Tremper accepted the position of Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Michigan. Since that time he has become increasingly involved in medical school and hospital affairs, including appointments to Co-Chair the Task Force on Charge Capture and subsequently the Task Force on Charge Capture Implementation for the Faculty Group Practice. He has also been elected to the Hospital Executive Board and maintains Chairmanship of the Operating Room Policy Committee.

Dr. Tremper’s main areas of research continue to be invasive and noninvasive monitoring of hemodynamics and oxygen transport. Clinically, he has subspecialty interests in intensive care and cardiac anesthesia. Dr. Tremper is a reviewer for 15 journals, a member of the editorial board for six, and involved in the following national societies: Chairman of the Subcommittee on Equipment, Monitoring and Engineering Technology for the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Associate Examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology, Adjunct Member of the Committee on Scientific Papers for the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Secretary-Treasurer of the Association of Anesthesiology Program Directors/Society of Academic Anesthesiology Chairs, Member of the Educational Advisory Board for the Association of University Anesthesiologists, and District Director for the Michigan Society of Anesthesiologists.

Dept. of Anesthesiology, Univ. of Michigan Medical School

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