Samuel Andrew Schechtman, MD

Samuel Schechtman MD, is currently a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Schechtman also serves as the Director of Head and Neck Anesthesiology and Airway Management at Michigan Medicine. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Schechtman moved to Ann Arbor and earned a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology - Zoology from the University of Michigan in December 2006. He then completed medical school at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 2011, and returned to Ann Arbor for anesthesiology residency training at the University of Michigan in 2015. He was then the first graduate of the University of Michigan - Department of Anesthesiology's Head and Neck - Advanced Airway Management Fellowship in 2016.

Dr. Schechtman developed sincere interest in head and neck anesthesiology and advanced airway management during his residency experience. Throughout his fellowship and time as faculty, he has taken interest in airway risk assessment and intraoperative airway management for patients with complex head and neck pathologies including head and neck cancer, subglottic stenosis, laryngeal disease, cervical spine disease, and laryngotracheal trauma. Dr. Schechtman spends significant time teaching advanced airway management skills and airway risk assessment approaches to other providers, faculty, fellows, residents, and medical students in training at the University of Michigan. Dr. Schechtman has helped to lead institutional and international airway workshops.

Dr. Schechtman is internationally recognized for his clinical expertise in airway management and the perioperative care of patients having head and neck surgery. He previously served as the President of the Society for Head and Neck Anesthesia (SHANA) from 2021 - 2023, an international society dedicated to the care of patients undergoing head and neck surgery. SHANA provided an expert consensus statement on the perioperative management of adult patients undergoing head and neck surgery and free tissue reconstruction in 2021. SHANA also cosponsored the 2022 American Society of Anesthesiologists Practice Guidelines for Management of the Difficult Airway. Dr. Schechtman is also an active member in the Society for Airway Management (SAM) and the Difficult Airway Society (DAS – United Kingdom).

Outside of anesthesiology, Dr. Schechtman enjoys traveling, art, archaeology, and is a devoted distance runner. He is a USA Track & Field (USATF) team member. Dr. Schechtman runs as a member of several teams including the Bandit Racing Team in Ann Arbor and the Diabetes Sports Project (DSP). He is dedicated to fundraising and advancing care for patients living with Type 1 Diabetes. Dr. Schechtman is actively involved with Breakthrough T1D.

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