Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Medicine
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Professor and Chair, Department of Anesthesiology
School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Associate Research Professor of Experimental Pathology
Roswell Park Graduate Division
University at Buffalo
State University of New York

Dr. Mark J. Lema is Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY (1987-present), and is Professor and Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, University at Buffalo (UB), State University of New York, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (1999-present). He is also Medical Director of RPCI Surgical Services. Dr. Lema is currently serving as President of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (2007).

Dr. Lema is the past editor of The New York State Society of Anesthesiologists, SPHERE and the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ASA NEWSLETTER.   He is also the past General Chair of the Post Graduate Assembly (PGA) for the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists. He has served on the New York State Public Health Council’s Subcommittee on Pain Management Practice and the Health Commissioner’s Pre-Operative Protocol Panel. He was also a member of the American Medical Association’s National Palliative Care Faculty. Dr. Lema had also served on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Pain an End-of-Life Care Panels, the American Pain Society’s Clinical Practice Panel, and the NYS Partnership to Improve End-of-Life Care task force. Dr. Lema received his medical training at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center followed by an internship at Staten Island Hospital, and residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. In addition, Dr. Lema holds a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University at Buffalo.   He is also an Associate Research Professor of Experimental Pathology in the UB School of Graduate Studies. Dr. Lema had served as Medical Chief of Cancer Pain Service for Roswell Park from 1988-1999.

He is a Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Anesthesiology including added qualifications in Pain Management. Dr. Lema's honors and awards include Clinical Cancer Education Grant, Werthamer Fellowship, Parker B. Francis Research Fellowship, and UB Anesthesia Residents' Award for Excellence in the Art of Academic and Clinical Anesthesia, the Canisius College Distinguished Alumni Award, the Meritorious Service Award of the NYS Department of Health Office for Professional Medical Conduct, and recipient of the Eliasberg Medal for Anesthesiology Accomplishments by Mt. Sinai Medical School. He is a member of a number of professional organizations including the American Medical Association, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), International Anesthesia Research Society, American Pain Society, American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA), the Medical Society of the State of New York, the Medical Society of the County of Erie (MSCE), and the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists (NYSSA).    Dr. Lema has served as President of ASRA (2004), Alternate Director from New York to the ASA Board of Directors and as President of NYSSA (2001). Dr. Lema is currently MSCE Chair of Legislative Affairs and on their Board of Directors. 

Dr. Lema has lectured at more than 200 academic institutions and hospitals throughout North and South America, Africa, Australia and Europe. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 papers in major international scientific journals. He has served on ten editorial boards in the past.  His monographs include Seminars in Anesthesia: Anesthetic Considerations for Cancer Surgery (1993), Anesthetic Considerations for Malignancies in Problems in Anesthesia (1993), Journal of Pain and Symptom Management: Perspectives in Pain Management; the Role of Coxibs (2003) and Current Opinions in Anaesthesiology (2005,2006). He is a Section Editor of the 7^th Edition of Wiley and Churchill-Davidson’s A Practice of Anesthesia (2003). Dr. Lema is also co-editor of The American Society of Anesthesiologists: A Century of Challenges and Progress (2005) [David O. Little Book Award winner].

Dr. Lema is also a guest blogger for Dr. Mike Magee, a respected and well known health care commentator on the national Website http://healthcommentary.org/.