About
Two halves of one practice.
A professional record built across two disciplines and two continents — and, alongside it, the person behind that record.
A career built between the operating room and the clinic.
Harsha Shanthanna, MBBS, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCPC, is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesia at McMaster University. His clinical practice is split between the operating room, where he works as a staff anesthesiologist, and the chronic pain clinic at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, where he serves as Medical Director. He also holds the role of Associate Chair, Research within the Department of Anesthesia.
Harsha Shanthanna — Professor, Department of Anesthesia, McMaster University
His work sits deliberately at the intersection of acute perioperative care and long-term chronic pain management — a vantage point that shapes the questions his research asks.
Education & training
Foundational medical training, India.
Shivaji University, India.
McMaster University, under the supervision of Dr. Lehana Thabane — the beginning of a research career grounded in rigorous methodology.
McMaster University, focused on perioperative and chronic pain research methods.
Academic appointments
Professor, Department of Anesthesia · Associate Chair, Research · Associate Member, Health Research Methods, Evidence & Impact · Associate Member, Surgery · Associate Member, Biomedical Engineering · Associate Member, Kinesiology
Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care · McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) · Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research
The part of the story that doesn't show up in a citation.
"I left Bangalore for a fellowship that was only ever supposed to last a year. Fifteen years later, Hamilton is where I do my most meaningful work — and it's still the questions from home that shape how I think about care."
— Placeholder reflection, to be replaced with Dr. Shanthanna's own words
Outside the clinic and the lab, this is where a short, warm personal narrative belongs — how he thinks about mentorship and family, what a life split between India and Canada has taught him, and the everyday things that keep him grounded between long days in the OR and long nights writing grant applications.
This section is intentionally written as a placeholder in his voice. Swap in his own reflections — on teaching, travel, family, or whatever he'd like a visitor to know about the person behind the research — whenever he's ready to share them.