Rate My Professor Michael Todd

Michael Todd, MD, is Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Twin Cities. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Chicago, completed an anesthesiology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston as chief resident, and advanced his training in clinical neuroanesthesiology and research at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine under Harvey M. Shapiro, MD.

Todd's distinguished career includes seven years on the faculty at UCSD, where he achieved tenure after four years. In 1986, he joined the University of Iowa Department of Anesthesia, establishing an NIH-funded neuroanesthesiology laboratory with David S. Warner, MD, serving as department chair, and conducting seminal research that revolutionized practices such as abandoning restrictive fluid management in brain-injured patients and questioning mild intraoperative hypothermia for cerebral aneurysm clipping. As principal investigator of the multicenter Induced Hypothermia for Aneurysm Surgery Trial (IHAST), published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2005, he demonstrated no neuroprotective benefit from mild hypothermia, shaping international guidelines. He served as editor of Anesthesiology from 1989 to 1996 and editor-in-chief from 1996 to 2006, authoring over 259 publications, including co-authoring the 2023 American Society of Anesthesiologists Practice Guidelines for Monitoring and Antagonism of Neuromuscular Blockade and recent works on neuromuscular block monitoring. Todd co-founded the Neuroanesthesia Research Group, enhancing investigator collaborations, and received the 2016 American Society of Anesthesiologists Excellence in Research Award for advancements in neuroanesthesiology and neuroscience. His contributions include studies on anesthetic effects on cerebral blood flow-metabolism coupling, tracheal intubation in cervical spine instability, and safe use of propofol and remifentanil in craniotomy patients.