Arora Appointed as the Next Chair of Anesthesiology
Dr. Harendra Arora, currently the Edward A. Norfleet, MD ’70 Distinguished Professor in Anesthesiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, will assume the role of UMMC’s chair of anesthesiology effective Feb. 1, 2023.
Dr. Anand Prem, associate professor of anesthesiology, will continue as interim chair until Dr. Arora’s arrival. We are all grateful for Dr. Prem’s leadership and his willingness to serve UMMC and the Department of Anesthesiology in this role.
Dr. Arora, who is professor and vice chair of education in the Department of Anesthesiology at UNC, received his medical degree in 1990 from the Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India, before completing a residency in general surgery at Lady Hardinge Medical College at the University of Delhi.
Dr. Arora completed a residency in anesthesiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, where he was also a fellow in cardiothoracic anesthesiology. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan Business School.
His previous faculty positions and leadership roles include assistant chief in the Department of Anesthesiology at Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System in Little Rock; associate professor of anesthesiology at UAMS; associate professor of anesthesiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Lerner College of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio and section head of vascular and transplant anesthesia at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Arora also served as the residency program director of anesthesiology at UNC from 2012 through 2020.
A fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Dr. Arora is board-certified in anesthesiology and in advanced perioperative transesophageal echocardiography.
He was named the Clinical Researcher of the Year, 2018-2019, for the Department of Anesthesiology at UNC, where he was honored multiple times as a member of the Outstanding Clinical Research Faculty. Dr. Arora is the recipient of numerous other honors, including the Cleveland Clinic Innovator Award and the Gladys Sessler Outcomes Research Consortium Annual Prize for Extraordinary Contributions to Collaborative Research during the 2012 annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
Dr. Arora’s areas of expertise include liver transplant and vascular anesthesia, cardiothoracic anesthesia, regional anesthesia and more.
Dr. Arora has been involved with several grant-funded research projects as well as quality improvement initiatives that have resulted in a substantial contribution to new and evolving knowledge in the field of anesthesiology. He is the author of a variety of book chapters and has a vast list of publications in several peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Arora has been an invited speaker at several major anesthesiology conferences, both nationally and internationally.
His current professional services include leadership and/or other capacities in the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, American Society of Anesthesiologists, editorial board of the Journal of Perioperative Echocardiography, American Board of Anesthesiology, Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, Anesthesiology Toolbox Project, Society of Education in Anesthesia, Association of Anesthesiology Core Program Directors and Anesthesia and Analgesia. Dr. Arora has served as an oral board examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology since 2014. He has also served on ABA’s Objective Structured Clinical Examination committee from its inception.