Richard Joel Traystman

Traystman, vice chancellor for research at the University of Colorado Denver and a director of the anesthesiology and critical care research laboratories at Johns Hopkins, was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Long Island University in 1963, a master’s degree in physiology from Long Island University in 1966, and a Ph.D. in cardiopulmonary physiology from Johns Hopkins in 1971.

Following a postdoctoral fellowship in cardio-cerebrovascular physiology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine in North Carolina, Traystman returned to Johns Hopkins in 1972 and remained until 2003, holding the title of University Distinguished Research Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and serving as his department’s senior vice chairman for research and director of research laboratories. Traystman also headed the animal care committee reviewing animal research studies and had a joint appointment in the School of Hygiene and Public Health’s division of environmental physiology.

He was one of the first researchers to describe the effects of cardiopulmonary resuscitation on cerebral blood flow and brain metabolism. Traystman’s research has focused on the mechanisms of cerebrovascular regulation in the fetus, newborn, and adult during a variety of pathophysiologic conditions; neuroprotection during stroke and cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and the mechanisms of brain injury following focal and global cerebral ischemia.

In 2003, Traystman was appointed associate vice president for research planning and development and associate dean for research at Oregon Health & Science University. He was also a professor of anesthesiology and peri-operative medicine, and of physiology and pharmacology. In 2007, he became vice chancellor for research at the University of Colorado Denver.

Traystman received the American Society for Anesthesiologists’ Excellence in Research Award in 1997, the Laerdal Prize of the Society of Critical Care Medicine in 1991, and the Berne Award from the American Physiological Society in 1996. Johns Hopkins’ endowed chair in pediatric anesthesia was renamed the Richard J. Traystman Professorship in Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine in 2003.  He has served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, and on the editorial boards and reviews manuscripts for several other journals. He also served as associate editor for the heart and circulatory section of the American Journal of Physiology and was deputy editor for Critical Care Medicine.