Skip to main content

Charles Natanson, MD

Charles Natanson, MD

Senior Investigator
Head Anesthesia Section

Senior Investigator; Head, Anesthesia Section, Critical Care Medicine
cnatanson@cc.nih.gov
301-496-9320

Dr. Charles Natanson's research interests include using large and small animal models of sepsis to study the pathogenesis of—and new therapeutic interventions for—septic shock.

BA, University of Wisconsin at Madison
MD, Columbia University

Dr. Natanson is a senior investigator and chief of the Anesthesia Section in the Clinical Center's Critical Care Medicine Department at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

He also is professor of anesthesia at University of Maryland and at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, clinical professor of medicine at George Washington University, and staff clinical anesthesiologist at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C.

He graduated from University of Wisconsin at Madison and earned a medical degree from Columbia University. He completed an internship and residency in medicine at New York Hospital's Cornell Medical Center, followed by an anesthesia residency at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco.

He joined the CC's Critical Care Medicine Department in 1981 and became chief of the Anesthesia Section a year later.

See his Intramural Research Program bio page.

  • NIH Director's Award, 2001
  • Society of Critical Care Medicine Specialty Award for finest internal medicine project, 1997
  • Society of Critical Care Medicine award for finest young investigator (won by Dr. Peter Q. Eichacker in a project collaboration), 1994
  • Society of Critical Care Medicine Award for finest poster presentation for an original basic science research project, 1993
  • NIH Director's Award, 1991
  • American Federation for Clinical Research Henry Christian Award for excellence in research, 1991
  • American Federation for Clinical Research Henry Christian Award for poster presentation, 1990
  • American Federation for Clinical Research Young Investigator Award for the eastern region, 1989
  • Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) Award for finest poster presentation for an original basic science research project, 1988
  • Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) Award for finest poster presentation for an original basic science research project, 1987

Books and Book Chapters

Solomon MA, and Natanson C. Treatment of sepsis and septic shock: Standard therapy and new concepts. In: Gaheb MA, and Carlson RW (eds). The Principles and Practice of Medical Intensive Care. W.B. Saunders: Philadelphia, PA, 1993; pp. 340-352

Freeman BD, and Natanson C. The heart in sepsis. In: Lorente JA, and Esteban A (eds). Cuidados Intensivos del Paciente Quemado. Springer-Verlag: Iberia, 1998; pp. 440-456

Freeman BD, Eichacker PQ, and Natanson C. The role of inflammation in sepsis and septic shock: a meta-analysis of both clinical and pre-clinical trials of anti-inflammatory therapies. In: Gallin, JI, and Synderan R (eds). Inflammation: Basic Principles and Clinical Correlates, 3rd edition. Lippincott-Raven Publishers: Philadelphia, 1999; pp. 965-976

Freeman BD, and Natanson C. Hypotension, shock, and multiple organ dysfunction. In: Wachter RM, Goldman L, and Hollander H (eds). Hospital Medicine. Williams & Wilkins: Baltimore, MD, 2000; pp. 123-132

Freeman BD, Parrillo JE, and Natanson C. Septic shock and multiple organ failure. In: Parrillo, JE, and Dellinger RP (eds). Critical Care Medicine, 2nd edition. Mosby Publishing Co.: St. Louis, 2001; pp. 437-453

Freeman BD, Gerstenberger EP, Banks S, and Natanson C. Using secondary data in statistical analysis in principles and practices. In: Gallin, J (ed). Principles and Practices in Clinical Research. Academic Press: San Diego, 2002; pp. 251-253

Deans K, Minneci P, Eichacker PQ, and Natanson C. Anti-inflammatory agents: a double-edged sword in our arsenal against septic shock. In: 2003. Shock and Multiorgan Failure. Springer-Verlag: Iberica, 2003

Minneci P, Deans K, Haley M, Cui X, Natanson C, and Eichacker PQ. Factors influencing the efficacy of mediator-specific anti-inflammatory, glucocorticoid and anticoagulant therapies for sepsis. In: Gad, SC (ed). Drug Discovery Handbook. Vol. 1. John Wiley and Sons: Hoboken; 2006; Chapter 20, pp 937-939

Deans KJ, Minneci P, Cui X, Banks SM, Natanson C, and Eichacker PQ. Interpreting clinical trials of mechanical ventilation: Importance of routine care. In: Tobin MJ (ed). Principles and Practice of Mechanical Ventilation, 2nd Edition. McGraw Hill: New York: 2006; pp. 1347-1354

Minneci PC, Deans KJ, Banks SM, Natanson C, and Eichacker PQ. A critical review of randomized controlled trials of tidal volume reduction during ARDS. In: Dreyfuss D, Hubmayr RD, and Saumon G (eds). Ventilator Induced Lung Injury. Marcel Dekker: New York; 2006; in press

Journal Articles

Natanson C, Hoffman WD, Suffredini AF, Eichacker PQ, and Danner RL. Selected treatment strategies for septic shock based on proposed mechanisms of pathogenesis. Ann. Intern. Med. 120:771-783, 1994.

Sevransky JE, Shaked G, Novogrodsky A, Levitzki A, Gazit A, Hoffman A, Elin RJ, Quezado ZMN, Freeman BD, Eichacker PQ, Danner RL, Banks SM, Bacher J, Thomas ML III, and Natanson C. Tyrphostin AG 556 improves survival and reduces multiorgan failure in canine Escherichia coli peritonitis. J. Clin. Invest., 99:1966-1973, 1997.

Zeni F, Freeman B, and Natanson C. Antiinflammatory therapies to treat sepsis and septic shock—a reassessment. Crit. Care Med. 25:1095-1100, 1997.

Freeman BD, Danner RL, Banks S, and Natanson C. Safeguarding patients in clinical trials with high mortality rates. Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. 164:190-192, 2001.

Eichacker PQ, Gerstenberger EP, Banks SM, Cui X, and Natanson C. A metaanalysis of ALI and ARDS trials testing low tidal volumes. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 166:1510-1514, 2002

Minneci PC, Deans KJ, Banks SM, Danner RL, Eichacker PQ, Natanson C, and Solomon SB. Differing effects of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and vasopressin on survival rates in a canine model of septic shock. Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 387: H2545-2554, 2004.

Deans K, Minneci PC, Banks SM, Natanson C, and Eichacker PQ. Mechanical ventilation in ARDS: One size does not fit all. Crit. Care Med. 33: 1141-1143, 2005

Minneci PC, Deans KJ, Zhi H, Yuen PST, Star RA, Banks SM, Schechter AN, Natanson C, Gladwin MT, and Solomon SB. Hemolysis-associated endothelial dysfunction mediated by accelerated NO inactivation by decompartmentalized oxyhemoglobin. J. Clin. Invest. 115: 3409-3417, 2005

Eichacker PQ, Natanson C, and Danner RL. Surviving sepsis – practice guidelines, marketing campaigns, and Eli Lilly. N. Engl. J. Med. 355: 1640-1642, 2006 .

Deans KJ, Minneci PC, Suffredini AF, Danner RL, Hoffman WD, Ciu X, Klein HG, Schechter AN, Banks SM, Eichacker PQ, Natanson C. Randomization in clinical trials of titrated therapies: unintended consequences of using fixed treatment protocols. Crit Care Med 2007; 35(6): 1509-1516.

Deans KJ, Minneci P, Eichacker PQ, Danner RL, Natanson C. Walk a mile in whose shoes? Anesth Analg 2010; 111: 576–577.

Deans KJ, Minneci PC, Klein HG, Natanson C. The relevance of practice misalignments to trials in transfusion medicine. Vox Sang 2010; 99(1): 16-23.

Wang D, Sun J, Solomon SB, Klein HG, Natanson C. Transfusion of older stored blood and risk of death: a meta-analysis. Transfusion 2012; 52(6): 1184-95.

Prasad P, Sun J, Danner RL, Natanson C. Excess deaths associated with tigecycline after approval based on non-inferiority trials. Clin Infect Dis 2012; 54(12): 1699-709.

Hicks CW, Sweeney DA, Danner RL, Eichacker PQ, Suffredini AF, Feng J, Sun J, Moriyama B, Wesley R, Behrend EN, Solomon SB, Natanson C. Stress-dose corticosteroids hinder bacterial clearance but improve survival after high-dose bacterial challenges in a canine model of septic shock. Crit Care Med 2012, in press.

Hicks CW, Sweeney DA, Danner RL, Eichacker PQ, Suffredini AF, Feng J, Sun J, Behrend EN, Solomon SB, Natanson C. Efficacy of selective mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid agonists in canine septic shock. Crit Care Med 2012; 40(1): 199-207.

Visit PubMed.gov for a full list of Dr. Natanson's publications.