Bilal Ansari

Research Synopsis

Dr. Ansari is a graduate of the School of Medicine, NUI, Galway in the west of Ireland. He completed his basic and specialist training in Anesthesia in Ireland, during which time he passed the Fellowship of the College of Anaesthetists exam. He has completed three years of laboratory research training in Galway investigating the role of nuclear factor kappa-B in mediating the effects of hypercapnic acidosis and mesenchymal stem cells in ventilation induced lung injury. This research has generated a number of original papers, research awards, and a Masters thesis.

Following completion of specialist training, Dr. Ansari relocated to Papworth Hospital, the largest cardiothoracic surgical centre in the UK, where he underwent fellowship training in Cardiothoracic Critical Care, Cardiothoracic anesthesia and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation. He regularly lead retrieval teams to provide ECMO to critically ill patients across east England and safe transfer for supportive care back to Papworth Hospital. Dr Ansari spent an extra 6 months there as a Research Fellow, during which time he participated in 3 research projects, one of which explored the role of high-flow nasal oxygen therapy as part of an enhanced recovery strategy in thoracic surgical patients. This study was published in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery. His efforts at Papworth generated 3 publications and a chapter in the forthcoming textbook, Core Topics in Cardiac Surgery.

From Papworth Dr Ansari moved to Toronto General Hospital as a Cardiac anesthesia fellow to gain further experience in anesthesia and echocardiography. He has achieved European certification in perioperative tranesophageal echocardiography and testamur status with the National Board of Echocardiography (USA). His research and clinical interests include echocardiography, fluid responsiveness (he has written a review article on this and lectured on this topic at an international conference), and cardiovascular anesthesia.

Recent Publications

Horie, S., Ansari, B., Masterson, C., Devaney, J., Scully, M., O’Toole, D., & Laffey, J. G. (2016). Hypercapnic acidosis attenuates pulmonary epithelial stretch-induced injury via inhibition of the canonical NF-κB pathway. Intensive care medicine experimental, 4(1), 1.

Ansari, B. M., Hogan, M. P., Collier, T. J., Baddeley, R. A., Scarci, M., Coonar, A. S., ... & Klein, A. A. (2016). A randomized controlled trial of high-flow nasal oxygen (optiflow) as part of an enhanced recovery program after lung resection surgery. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 101(2), 459-464.

Ansari, B. M., Zochios, V., Falter, F. and Klein, A. A. (2016), Physiological controversies and methods used to determine fluid responsiveness: a qualitative systematic review. Anaesthesia, 71: 94–105.

Hayes, M., Curley, G. F., Masterson, C., Contreras, M., Ansari, B., Devaney, J., ... & Laffey, J. G. (2014). Pulmonary overexpression of inhibitor κBα decreases the severity of ventilator-induced lung injury in a rat model. British journal of anaesthesia, 113(6), 1046-1054.

Zochios, V., Ansari, B., & Jones, N. (2014). Is central venous pressure a reliable indicator of fluid responsiveness in the critically ill?. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 75(10), 598-598.

Curley, G. F., Ansari, B., Hayes, M., Devaney, J., Masterson, C., Ryan, A., ... & Laffey, J. G. (2013). Effects of intratracheal mesenchymal stromal cell therapy during recovery and resolution after ventilator-induced lung injury.The Journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, 118(4), 924-932.

Devaney, J., Curley, G. F., Hayes, M., Masterson, C., Ansari, B., O'Brien, T., ... & Laffey, J. G. (2013). Inhibition of pulmonary nuclear factor kappa-B decreases the severity of acute Escherichia coli pneumonia but worsens prolonged pneumonia. Critical Care, 17(2), 1.

Contreras, M., Ansari, B., Curley, G., Higgins, B. D., Hassett, P., O’Toole, D., & Laffey, J. G. (2012). Hypercapnic acidosis attenuates ventilation-induced lung injury by a nuclear factor-κB–dependent mechanism. Critical care medicine, 40(9), 2622-2630.

Ansari, B., & Laffey, J. G. (2012). Ischemia–reperfusion-induced lung injury: Could hypercapnia have a therapeutic role?. Critical care medicine, 40(2), 688-690.

Curley, G. F., Hayes, M., Ansari, B., Shaw, G., Ryan, A., Barry, F., & Laffey, J. G. (2011). Mesenchymal stem cells enhance recovery and repair following ventilator-induced lung injury in the rat. Thorax, thoraxjnl-2011.

Honours and Awards

O’ Beirne-Costello Medal Oral Presentation Winner. Awarded at Western Anaesthesia Symposium, Ashford Castle, Ireland, April 2007

College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Doctoral Fellowship, NUI, Galway. Awarded July 2009.

American Thoracic Society Travel Award. Awarded at ATS International Conference, May 2012, San Francisco