Dr. Zhongcong Xie has been a physician-scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School since 2000, and has made significant impact to the anesthesia and anesthesia neurotoxicity research. Dr. Xie graduated from Xuzhou Medical University in China and received a Ph.D. degree from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in 1994.  He was a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard Medical School before joining the anesthesia residency program at MGH in 1997. Research in Dr. Xie’s laboratory focuses on determining the neuropathogenesis of AD, as well as POCD and POD, a deficit of learning, memory and attention following anesthesia and surgery. He assesses the potential neurotoxicity of anesthesia, surgery, and other perioperative factors in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, Dr. Xie investigates the effects of anesthetics, surgery, pain and sleep deficiency on apoptosis, mitochondrial function, beta-amyloid protein metabolism, Tau protein phosphorylation and neuroinflammation in cultured cells, animals and humans, employing cellular, molecular, and behavioral approaches. Dr. Xie is the fellow of American Society of Anesthesiologist and elected member of Association of University Anesthesiologists.