C. Michael Crowder, MD, PhD

Alan j. Treuer Endowed Professor and Chair, Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine

Professor of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, Tenured

Adjunct Professor of Genome Sciences

Mitochondria and Metabolism Center

Contact

Email: cmc53@uw.edu

Phone: 206-913-8336

Fax: 206-616-4819

Research

Hypoxia, whether neuronal or myocardial, is the most severe anesthetic complication and one for which anesthesiologists have little treatment when it occurs. My long term goal is to develop a better understanding of the biology of hypoxic cellular injury. My hope is that this improved understanding will contribute to the development of effective therapies to rescue neurons and cardiac myocytes injured by hypoxia and ischemia. We have taken a deliberate unbiased genetic screening approach to this problem because of the difficulty thus far of developing effective therapies from our existing knowledge. My lab combines techniques in genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry using C. elegans as our primary model system. I have a broad expertise gained from my graduate training in medicine and molecular neurobiology and my postdoctoral training in C. elegans genetics. Current projects in my laboratory revolve around defining the role of protein homeostasis in cytoplasmic and mitochondrial compartments in hypoxic cellular injury. Protein homeostasis is a burgeoning field that has in my view been under-studied for its role in hypoxic injury. C. elegans has an incomparable set of genetic and cell biological tools to bring to bear on this question. Besides C. elegans methods, we have published expertise in modulating hypoxic injury of primary mouse neurons and of immortalized cell lines using gene knockdown and drugs.

Education

Undergraduate (1978 – 82)

B.A. with honors, Chemistry
Hendrix College
Conway, Arkansas 72032-3080

Graduate (1982 – 89)

M.D., May,1989
Medical Scientist Training Program
Washington University School of Medicine
Saint Louis, Missouri

Ph.D., May, 1989, Neurosciences and Pharmacology,

Medical Scientist Training Program
Washington University School of Medicine
Washington University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences
Saint Louis, Missouri

Internship (1989 – 90),

Internal Medicine Jewish Hospital of St. Louis
Saint Louis, Missouri

Residency (1990 – 93), Anesthesiology

University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals
Seattle, Washington

Postdoctoral Fellowship (1993 – 1995), Molecular Genetics

Laboratory of Timothy Schedl, Ph.D.
Department of Genetics
Washington University School of Medicine
Saint Louis, Missouri

Honors & Awards

1978 – 1982

Hendrix Merit Scholarship

1979

The Outstanding Freshman Chemistry Student Award, Hendrix College

1980 – 1981

Petroleum Research Foundation Undergraduate Research Fellowship

1982

McHenry Award for the Outstanding Graduating Chemistry Major, Hendrix College,

1982

Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference Cliff Shaw Scholar Athlete Award

1979, 1981 – 1982

Varsity letterman golf, Hendrix College

1982

The Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Chemical Society Award for the Outstanding Undergraduate Chemistry Student

1982 – 1986

Public Health Service National Research Service Award, Washington University School of Medicine

1986 – 1989

Public Health Service National Research Service Award, Cardiovascular System: Function, Regulation, Pharmacology

1989

Philip Needleman Pharmacology Prize – Washington University School of Medicine

2004 – 2008

American Heart Association Established Investigator Award

2006 – 2009

McKnight Foundation Brain Disorders Award

2009

Hendrix College Distinguished Alumnus Odyssey Award

2009 – 2012

International Anesthesia Research Society, Frontiers in Anesthesia Research Award

2012

Election to Academy of Research Mentors Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research

Professional Memberships

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)

Association of University Anesthesiologists

Genetics Society of America

International Anesthesia Research Society

Society for Neurosurgical Anesthesia and Critical Care

Foundation for Anesthethesia Education and Research

Society of Academic Associations of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine

Selected Presentations

Association of Academic Anesthesiology Chairs, Plenary Speaker, Fall 2017, “Delegation Skills: How to Delegate and Still Sleep Soundly at Night”

University of Kansas School of Medicine, Visiting Professor for the Department of Biochemistry, “Hypoxic Injury is a Protein Synthesis and Folding Problem”, Fall 2018

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Visiting Professor for the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, “The Translation Machinery Determines Hypoxic Sensitivity”, Spring 2019

University of Pittsburgh, Department of Pediatrics, John G. Rangos Seminar, “Forward Genetic Screens for Survival from Hypoxic Cellular Injury: Found in Translation”, Winter 2021

University of Texas San Antonio, The Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, Barshop Seminar Series, “Forward Genetic Screens for Survival from Hypoxic Cellular Injury: Found in Translation”, Spring 2021

View C. Michael Crowder's Full Publication List