Rami Burstein, PhD, director of pain research and vice-chairman for research affairs in the Department of Anaesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), has been named the inaugural incumbent of the John Hedley-Whyte Professorship in Anaesthesia. Burstein's work in migraine treatment has helped better predict which therapies will elicit responses in patients and explain phenomena, such as photophobia, in migraine sufferers.

The professorship was established through the generosity of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, its Anaesthesia Foundation, and friends and colleagues of the professorship's namesake, John Hedley-Whyte, MD, the David S. Sheridan Professor of Anaesthesia and Respiratory Therapy at BIDMC. A pioneer in modern respiratory physiology, Hedley-Whyte's relationship with Harvard Medical School began in 1961 and has spanned more than 50 years.