Skip to Content
SBMI Horizontal Logo
image of Peter Killoran, MS, MD

Peter Killoran, MS, MD

Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Anesthesiology
Joint appointment with the McGovern Medical School

Department of Clinical and Health Informatics

Contact

[email protected] | 713-486-0119

Peter Killoran, MS, MD, holds a dual faculty appointment at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), serving as an associate professor of biomedical informatics at UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics and an assistant professor of anesthesiology at McGovern Medical School. Killoran also serves as the Director of Medical Informatics for the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (TMC) Campus. At SBMI, Killoran works to improve health care quality and safety through Health IT and biomedical informatics with the goal of achieving a positive impact on clinical decision making and ultimately, patient outcomes.

With his joint appointment, Killoran utilizes his skills as a clinician-informatician. He has implemented several protocols at other institutions that merge these two roles. As an active member of the Memorial Hermann Hospital Medical Informatics Committee, he championed the adoption of an electronic anesthesia information management system across the entire Memorial Hermann Hospital System. Additionally, he is on the eDocumentation Editorial Committee, which has been charged with the task of transitioning all clinical documentation from paper to an electronic format. Killoran believes that there is a tremendous need and opportunity for informatics expertise and data-driven techniques to improve the quality and safety of patient care. 

“In general, my research interests revolve around the impact of HIT on clinical decision making and ultimately on patient outcome,” said Killoran. “I have a long standing interest in visualization—going back to my work as a graduate student in Geography—and I think integration of visualization techniques into EMRs is critical to improve the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of these systems.  I plan to continue my current work on development and evaluation of innovative ways to present clinical information and measure their impact on decision making.”

Education

  • MD, 2007, Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School
  • MS, 2000, Geography, University of Oregon
  • BS, 1993, Geology and Biology, Brown University

Areas of Expertise

  • Impact of Health IT on clinical decision making
  • Integrating visualization techniques into EMRs
  • Gathering and analyzing anesthesia EMR data

Staff Support

Blanca Torres | 713-486-0114



Publications

Abstracts

  1. Killoran, P.V. and Mock, C.J. Synoptic climatic controls and spatial climatic variability in arctic and subarctic Asia. 29th Annual Arctic Workshop, Seattle, Washington, 1999.
  2. Killoran, P.V. Circulation controls of warm season precipitation for the Asian continent: implications for paleoclimatic reconstructions. Abstracts of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers 62nd Annual Meeting, 1999.
  3. Killoran, P.V., Shinker, J.J., Bartlein P.J. North American mid-continental aridity: atmospheric circulation, moisture flux, and surface water-and energy-balance controls. Abstracts of the American Geophysical Union, 1999.
  4. Killoran, P.V., Bartlein, P.J., Mock, C.J.  Circulation controls of temperature and precipitation patterns for the Asian continent.  Abstracts of the AAG 96th Annual Meeting, 2000.
  5. Killoran, P.V. and Mock, C.J. Analysis of modern climatic extremes in Asia:  implications for paleoclimatic reconstructions.  Program and Abstracts of the 16th Biennial Meeting of the American Quaternary Association, 2000.
  6. Shinker, J.J., Bartlein, P.J., Killoran, P.V. Intra-annual variability of North American climate. Proceedings of the 18th Annual Pacific Climate (PACLIM) Workshop, 2001.
  7. Killoran, P.V., Zhang, Z., Iyengar, S.  Designing a human-centered visualization platform for anesthesia preoperative assessment.  Proceedings of the 16th Annual Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics Symposium, 2011.
  8. Killoran, P.V. and Zhang, J.  A SMART application for anesthesia preoperative assessment.  21st Annual Keck Research Conference, 2011.
  9. Killoran, P.V., Maddukuri, V., Altamirano, A., Srikanth, S., Hagberg, C., Cattano, D.: Use of a comprehensive airway assessment form to predict difficult mask ventilation.  Anesthesiology 2011, A442.
  10. Killoran, P.V., Maddukuri, V., Altamirano, A., Srikanth, S., Hagberg, C., Cattano, D.  Impact of a comprehensive airway assessment form on prediction of the difficult airway.  Anesthesiology 2011, A1526.
  11. Killoran, P.V., Maddukuri, V., Altamirano, A., Srikanth, S., Hagberg, C., Cattano, D. Impact of a comprehensive airway assessment form on resident education. Anesthesiology 2011, A1345.
  12. Killoran, P.V., Opdahl, G.J., Matuszczak, M.  What comes after fiberoptic intubation:  Combining advanced airway techniques in a pediatric difficult airway.  Anesthesiology 2011, Difficult Case Presentation.
  13. Boddu, K., Sharma, T., Yu, B., Bogomolny, Y., Killoran, P. V., Hussain, M. N.  “A Novel Approach” Removal of a Lumbar Plexus Block in the Setting of Bleeding Diathesis”.  Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.  March 2012.
  14. Killoran, P.V., Zhang, J.  Impact of Electronic Medical Record Interface on Physician Task Completion.  Proceedings of the 16th Annual Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics Symposium, 2011.
  15. Cattano, D., Killoran, P. V., Aijazi, H., Seitan, C., Altamirano, A., Hagberg, C. A. Usage rates of alternative airway devices in adult patients presenting for elective surgery in American teaching hospitals: Clinical experience from a teaching hospital. Anesthesiology A783, 2012.
  16. Cattano, D., Killoran, P. V., Aijazi, H., Seitan, C., Altamirano, A., Hagberg, C. A.  Airway management in patients with oropharyngeal carcinoma or a history of neck irradiation: Clinical experience at Memorial Hermann Hospital-TMC. Anesthesiology 2012, A315.
  17. Killoran, P. V., Meese, M., Altamirano, A., Seitan, C., Carin A. Hagberg, C. A., Cattano, D.  Use of a Comprehensive Assessment Form by Non-Clinicians to Predict Airway Difficulties. Anesthesiology 2012, A313.
  18. Killoran, P. V. and Zhang, J.  Droogle: Using Free Text to Support Structured Medication Entry.  AMIA 2012 Annual Meeting.


Refereed Original Articles in Journals

  1. Newby P., Killoran, P., Waldorf, M.R., Webb III, T., and Webb, R.S.  11,500 years of sediment, vegetation, and water level changes at Makepeace Cedar Swamp, Southeastern Massachusetts.  Quaternary Research 53:352-368, 2000.
  2. Cattano, D, Killoran, P., Iannucci, D., Maddukuri, V., Altamirano, A., Srikanth, S., Seitan, C., Chen, Z., Hagberg, C. Anticipation of the difficult airway: Preoperative airway assessment, an educational and quality improvement tool.  British Journal of Anaesthesia. (Accepted - in press).

Invited Articles

  1. Killoran, P., Cattano, D. From bedside to bench and back: Perfecting lipid emulsion therapy for local anesthetic toxicity. Anesthesiology 115:1151-1152, 2011.

Book Chapters

  1. Killoran, P.V., Normand, K.  Protamine.  In A. Gupta & N. Singh (Eds), Pharmacology in Anesthesia Practice.  New York:  Oxford University Press.  (In press).
  2. Killoran, P.V., Normand, K.  Aminocaproic Acid.  In A. Gupta & N. Singh (Eds), Pharmacology in Anesthesia Practice.  New York:  Oxford University Press.  (In press).
  3. Killoran, P.V., Normand, K.  Transhexamic Acid.  In A. Gupta & N. Singh (Eds), Pharmacology in Anesthesia Practice.  New York:  Oxford University Press.  (In press)
  4. Killoran, P.V., Normand, K.  Aprotinin.  In A. Gupta & N. Singh (Eds), Pharmacology in Anesthesia Practice.  New York:  Oxford University Press.  (In press).