Rate My Professor Robert Craft

Dr. Robert M. Craft is a Professor and Dean Emeritus in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine, Knoxville. Specializing in Medicine and Anesthesiology, he earned his MD from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, completed his internship and Anesthesiology residency at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville from 1990 to 1993, and a Neuroanesthesiology fellowship at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, in 1994. A Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology since 1994 and an American Board of Anesthesia Oral Examiner, he joined the faculty in 1994, serving as Residency Program Director, Vice Chair, and Chair of Anesthesiology from 2015 to 2022. As Dean from 2022 to 2025, he oversaw a 25 percent expansion in graduate medical education positions, including a Pediatric Residency partnership with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, growth in clinical services across 78 sites with 40 faculty, 40 residents, and over 100 CRNAs, and the campus transition to UTHSC College of Medicine, Knoxville. He retired on December 31, 2025.

Dr. Craft's research focuses on perioperative optimization, blood coagulation efficiency including thromboelastography, and neuroanesthesiology. He led a $3.5 million basic science research collaboration with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, placing the department in the top quartile for NIH funding among anesthesiology programs from 2016 to 2019, and served as principal investigator and former board member of the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group. Key publications include chapters in Faust's Anesthesiology Review, 5th edition (2019), such as 'Anesthesia for the sitting position,' 'Evaluation of the coagulation system,' and 'Acute kidney failure'; 'Closed claims project overview' in Catastrophic Perioperative Complications and Management (2019); and 'Opiate action on sleep and breathing' in Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine, 6th edition (2016). He held national roles with the Association of Anesthesiology Core Program Directors, AAMC Organization of Program Directors Association, and as written examination editor for the American Board of Anesthesiology. Honors include the 2026 UTHSC Outstanding Alumnus Award, two University of Tennessee Excellence in Teaching Awards (2007, 2008), Excellence in Clinical Research Award, Phi Beta Kappa, Chancellor's Citation for Extraordinary Academic Achievement, and inaugural membership in the UTHSC COM-Knoxville Academy of Scholars and UT Medical Center Physician Leadership Academy.