Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth name Sheila Ryan Barnett, MD, anesthesiology department chair

Sheila Ryan Barnett

Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth have named Sheila Ryan Barnett, MD, as the chair of the department of anesthesiology. Barnett most recently served as director of quality for community anesthesia for Harvard Faculty Medical Physicians at Beth Israel Lahey Health.

Barnett is an associate professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and has been on staff at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) for more than 20 years.

Barnett received her medical degree from Charing Cross Hospital Medical School at the University of London. She completed an internal medicine residency at Washington Hospital Center followed by a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Harvard Medical School, where she was also a Brookdale geriatric research fellow. She then completed a residency in anesthesiology at BIDMC.

Prior to her current position, she was the chief medical officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital—Milton. She is triple board certified in anesthesiology, internal medicine and geriatric medicine. Nationally, she has served on multiple committees for geriatrics and quality within the American Society of Anesthesiology and is a board member for the Anesthesia Quality Institute. 

In addition to expertise in geriatric anesthesia, Barnett has extensive multidisciplinary leadership experience across the Beth Israel Lahey Health system and Harvard Medical School, including director of graduate medical education for BIDMC, healthcare director for quality improvement at BIDMC, medical director for the Beth Israel Transfer Center, vice chair of perioperative medicine within the department of anesthesiology, and clinical site chief at BID Milton.

Barnett’s tenure at DHMC began on August 19.

About Dartmouth Health

Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.