Mark Newman, MD

Mark Newman, MD, has been chair of the Duke University Medical Center Department of Anesthesiology since 2001. He is known for his research to better understand and improve cognitive decline after cardiac surgery.

A Kentucky native, Newman received his undergraduate degree from Western Kentucky University-Bowling Green in 1981 and his MD degree from the University of Louisville in 1985. After completing four years of residency training in anesthesiology at Wilford Hall U.S. Air Force Medical Center in San Antonio, he completed a fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology at Duke in 1989.

Newman joined the Duke faculty in 1992 as an assistant professor. He rose steadily through the department, becoming a full professor and vice chair in 1999. He also was named chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia in 1994.

In February 2001 Newman led a Duke research team that published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that documented that 40 percent of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery suffer from measurable cognitive declines five years after surgery. One of the main goals of his research team is to identify and develop strategies to protect the brain from the adverse effects of surgery.

Additionally, Newman directs the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) Academic Resource Organization, an international joint effort of the IARS and Duke’s Clinical Research Institute to improve the outcomes of surgery.