About

Dr. Sladen graduated from the University of Cape Town Medical School in 1970 with the University Gold Medal for best graduate. He trained in internal medicine in South Africa and England, anesthesiology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and critical care medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Sladen is boarded in anesthesiology and critical care medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM).

Dr. Sladen practiced cardiac anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Stanford University (1978-86) and Duke University (1986-97) before joining Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) in 1997 as Executive Vice-Chair of Anesthesiology. At Columbia, Dr. Sladen established a new Division of Critical Care Medicine and became Medical Director of the Cardiothoracic and Surgical Intensive Care Units. During his tenure, these units grew from 28 to 47 beds, providing care for nearly 3000 patients per year, including heart, lung, liver and kidney-pancreas transplantation; acute care surgery; cardiothoracic surgery and an advanced heart failure program with emphasis on mechanical circulatory support. During his 18-year service Dr. Sladen developed a multidisciplinary critical care team that thrives to this day. It includes anesthesiology and surgery faculty and fellows, anesthesiology and surgical residents, physician assistants and acute care nurse practitioners. Through 24/7 coverage and order entry the ICU team provides tactical management based on close daily strategic collaboration with the surgical and medical teams. Dr. Sladen built a nationally recognized CCM Fellowship and trained more than 100 Fellows, including trainees specializing in anesthesiology, cardiac surgery, acute care surgery and materno-fetal medicine. He fostered a fully functioning multidisciplinary quality improvement program, brought together all CUIMC critical care practitioners through a weekly Critical Care Grand Rounds, and provided medical direction for respiratory therapy at CUIMC.

Dr. Sladen received multiple teaching awards at Stanford, Duke and Columbia; is a member of the Virginia Apgar Teaching Academy at Columbia; and is a recipient of the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Shubin-Weil Master Clinician Award. He has served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Anesthesia Research Society and President of the Association of Anesthesiology Subspecialty Program Directors. Dr. Sladen is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists and the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists. In 2015 Dr. Sladen was elected Physician of the Year at Columbia University Medical Center and became the first incumbent of the Allen Hyman Professorship of Critical Care Anesthesiology. Dr. Sladen retired from clinical practice at the end of 2015 but continues to be active in teaching, clinical research and academic work. In 2019 he was elected an Emeritus Member of the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons Academy of Clinical Excellence.

Through Robert Sladen Consulting, LLC, Dr. Sladen provides high-level consultation to enhance intensive care organization and practice, perioperative throughput, quality of care and outcomes for hospitals caring for patients undergoing surgical procedures and organ transplantation. Since 2016 he has participated in multidisciplinary external reviews for major academic medical centers in the areas of cardiothoracic surgical throughput, heart transplantation, lung transplantation and organization of cardiovascular intensive care, and has provided in-depth consultation and mid-level career mentorship in critical care to departments of anesthesiology. Since 2019, Dr. Sladen has served on the Senior Advisory Board of Scope Anesthesia of North Carolina.