ISMP suffered a profound loss on April 21, 2021, when our remarkable colleague and ISMP Medical Director, Ronald S. Litman, DO, ML, passed away after a long struggle with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 62 years old.

 

Ronald Litman, D.O. was Medical Director at ISMP, a pediatric anesthesiologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

He was the Chair of the hospital’s Sedation Committee, the Vice-Chair of the Conflict of Interest Committee, and a member of the Therapeutics & Standards Committee.

From 1991 to 2001 he was Director of Pediatric Anesthesia at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY, and returned to Philadelphia in 2001.

He became a crusader for safer medication practices after investigating a fatal medication error in a child during anesthesia. Dr. Litman attended medical school at the NY College of Osteopathic Medicine, completed a residency in pediatrics at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, OH, anesthesiology residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, and fellowship in pediatric anesthesia and critical care at CHOP.