Robert J. Canelli, MD

About

Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. In July 2026, he assumed the role of Program Director for the BU-affiliated Anesthesiology Residency Program at BMC Brighton. Dr. Canelli completed his Anesthesiology residency at the University of Massachusetts, where he served as Chief Resident, before completing a fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He joined the faculty at Boston Medical Center in 2014.

Throughout his tenure within the health system, Dr. Canelli has held several key administrative and educational leadership roles. Early in his career at BMC, he served as Director of Simulation for Anesthesia at the Alan D. Solomont & Susan Lewis Solomont Clinical Simulation & Nursing Education Center, where he developed a comprehensive simulation-based anesthesia curriculum, including biannual Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). He also collaborated with surgical and nursing leadership to establish interprofessional simulation initiatives, such as the Perioperative Team Training and Emergency Airway Response Team Training curricula. His excellence in medical education and patient care has earned him two resident-selected “Teacher of the Year” awards, a Patient Safety Award, and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award.

Dr. Canelli’s leadership extends into critical care operations and fellowship training. He served as Director of Critical Care for Anesthesiology and Associate Director of the Surgical and Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit at BMC, where he led multidisciplinary teams and managed complex clinical projects. Additionally, he spent four years as Deputy Director for the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship, during which he created and delivered the point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum for critical care fellows. Clinically, his primary interests center on critical care medicine and the integration of POCUS into daily practice.