As Director of Education for the Adult Anesthesia Rotation at Columbia University Medical Center, Risa Wolk has an active academic career. Not only does she provide daily perioperative education and supervision for residents and medical students. She is also responsible for organizing and coordinating the department’s weekly and monthly morning lecture series.
Dr. Wolk graduated with Honors from Cornell University, attended Rush Medical College, and trained as an Anesthesiology resident at Columbia University Medical Center. She is published in a diverse array of anesthesia-related topics including PONV, pediatric NPO Guidelines, assessment of depth of anesthesia, and anesthesia-related neurotoxicity of the developing brain. Currently, her emphasis is resident education, a task she describes as a labor of love and one which makes her ideally suited to help candidates preparing for their oral board exams.
Dr. Wolk is also is the founder of “Healthifying the Refugee Transition,” a nonprofit volunteer organization that helps refugee families in their transition to the United States, guiding them towards making healthy lifestyle choices. Her goals here are not too dissimilar to those in her life as academician: helping others acquire the knowledge and skills to achieve independence/autonomy.
