Two Physician Assistant Faculty Make Notable Medical Strides

One led her team in a COVID vaccine study; the second created a tracheostomy simulator

Two adjunct professors in Sacred Heart University’s physician assistant (PA) program—Susann Varano and Peter Sandor—have noteworthy accomplishments in their fields.

Varano teaches geriatric medicine while also working in the field. She has written various articles and will share her research at the International Urogynecological Association’s annual meeting in December.

Most recently, Varano was the principal investigator for Vibegron, a medication for overactive bladders that recently received approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration.

“During my internal medicine residency at Yale University, I noticed the medical staff put a tremendous effort in curing disease, but lost sight of the person as a whole. I decided to specialize in geriatric medicine so I could treat the patient as a whole and improve quality of all aspects of life,” said Varano. “I prefer to add vibrant life to years, not years to life.”

Varano and her clinical research consulting team in Milford, CT, participated in a COVID-19 vaccine study that began in August 2020—one of two state facilities to do so. They distributed Pfizer’s then-experimental dose to 227 participants. The trial is on-going as Varano and her team continue to monitor participants. 

“Based on my expertise, Pfizer reached out to me as principal investigator. Our site was one of 154 in the world to run its COVID-19 vaccine trial and cumulatively enroll 46,000 participants. We did such an excellent job in conducting the trial and maintaining patient retention that I was asked to be principal investigator on several follow-up booster trials,” said Varano.

Sandor is a senior PA in the surgical intensive care unit at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. He began his teaching career at Sacred Heart in 2016 in the pulmonary module and is also a guest lecturer. Outside SHU, Sandor is co-CEO at ClearView Simulation, which he founded with his life- long best friend and coworker. The company designed and manufactures a tracheostomy simulator used to teach proper technique for tracheostomy management.

“As a respiratory therapy student, I realized how difficult it was to comprehend the various functions and interactions between the tracheostomy and patient. This is vital to understand as there is little room for error when it comes to dealing with someone's airway. To better understand these interactions, I created rudimentary airway models from parts found at a hardware store and used it to teach myself and others how a tracheostomy works,” Sandor said.

Sandor said this model can be connected to a ventilator, it can simulate spontaneous breathing and one of its more interesting features are the “functional vocal cords,” which can show how a speaking valve works. 

“Around the world we are realizing significant, even life threatening, complications as a result of tracheostomy mismanagement,” he said. “Basically, people are dying primarily due to a lack of understanding.” He knew his simulator would help increase knowledge, understanding and reduce errors. 

Throughout his years of teaching, Sandor received positive feedback from students encouraging him to patent the device. 

“In 2018, I reached out to a medical simulation company to see how we could make this rudimentary model into a formal airway model. To help fund the project, they encouraged us to apply to a health-care pitch competition. This is where ClearView Simulation started,” Sandor said.

Though they did not win the competition, the positive feedback they received through the process helped fueled their drive to get them to where they are today. As a full-time critical care PA, COVID-19 has put a damper on ClearView’s recent growth, but they recently received orders from a large tracheostomy manufacturer. “This is exciting news, but our ultimate goal is to improve tracheostomy understanding and reduce complications related to tracheostomy mismanagement,” Sandor said.

“We are pleased to have Dr. Varano and Mr. Sandor, two highly-trained, experienced medical experts, on our PA faculty,” said Adam Olsen, director of the PA program. “Our students are lucky to learn from them.” 

To learn more, visit the PA program webpage.