Talmage Egan

In 1978, Egan graduated from Olympus High School in Salt Lake City. Subsequently, he enrolled at Brigham Young University and completed his undergraduate studies in the humanities. He attended medical school at the University of Utah School of Medicine, graduating in 1986. After completing a preliminary residency in general surgery at the University of Utah in 1988, he pursued postgraduate training in anesthesiology, which he began at the University of Utah and completed at Stanford University in 1991. Following residency, he also completed a fellowship in clinical pharmacology at Stanford. Egan took sabbatical as a visiting scientist at the Imperial College in London, UK in 2000, studying the effects of dexmedetomidine using functional magnetic resonance techniques.^[1]

Egan started his academic career as a clinical instructor and assistant professor for the department of anesthesiology at Stanford University. He relocated to the University of Utah as an assistant professor in 1993, eventually becoming professor. Since 2004, he has been a professor of anesthesiology, with adjunct positions in the departments of pharmaceutics, bioengineering, and neurosurgery. Egan served as president of the medical staff and chair of the medical board at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center from 2006 to 2008.^[6]

Egan became chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center in 2015.^[7] During his tenure, he oversaw significant growth of the department, expanded clinical training programs, and strengthened its research portfolio. He was succeeded by Grace Lim in 2026.^[8]

Egan has been the chair of the department of anesthesiology since 2015, and is the holder of the K.C. Wong Presidential Endowed Chair in the department of anesthesiology at the University of Utah since 2004.^[9]

His clinical practice is focused primarily on neuroanesthesia; he served as the chief of neuroanesthesia at the University of Utah for over 10 years.^[6]

Egan is the principal creator of Safe Sedation Training (SST), a virtual preceptorship for training non-anesthesia professionals in procedural sedation.^[10] He is a founding owner of a medical education and consulting company called Medvis.^[11]Egan has trademarks and patents in connection with this work.^[12]

Egan served as an associate editor of the scientific journal Anesthesiology from 1999 to 2005 and has served as associate editor of the British Journal of Anaesthesia since 2013.^[13]

Egan has lectured on intravenous anesthesia techniques and concepts in the US and internationally, including honorary and keynote lectures (see Awards and Honors).^[1]  For example, he has participated in academic events such as serving as a guest judge and lecturer at Duke University’s annual academic evening^[14], and also numerous visiting professorships at institutions such as Harvard, Cornell, the Karolinska Institute, and Washington University.^[15]

Egan has authored over 150 publications.^[3][16] A significant part of Egan's work has been focused on drug interactions and computer controlled drug delivery systems. He has worked on developing various methods of total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA),^[17] has demonstrated the clinical use of the short acting opioid remifentanil,^[18] and defined interactions between intravenous anesthetics i.e., propofol and opioids.^[19] Much of his research focuses on the pharmacological and therapeutic principles of sedatives and analgesic drugs.^[20]

Egan’s research has focused extensively on the development and optimization of total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) and the pharmacokinetic pharmacodynamic interactions of anesthetic agents. ^[17]

He has been recognized internationally for his work on the development and clinical application of the short acting opioid remifentanil and its interaction with intravenous hypnotics such as propofol, contributing to improved drug delivery regimens and patient safety practices in anesthesia.^[18]

Egan’s investigations have developed remifentanil propofol interaction models to predict responsiveness and reaction to surgical stimuli during anesthesia, helping to refine anesthesia dosing models and improve clinical outcomes.^[19] These studies include assessments of remifentanil propofol response surface models in patients undergoing elective surgery, demonstrating the predictive value and limitations of propofol-opioid interaction models.^[21]

Egan’s scholarly output includes editorials and reviews that articulate conceptual advances in anesthetic drug delivery, such as discussions on multimodal general anesthesia and the central role of opioid based strategies within balanced anesthesia paradigms. His prize winning textbook on anesthetic pharmacology and physiology, Pharmacology and Physiology for Anesthesia: Foundations and Clinical Application, has been recognized by professional bodies and has contributed to education in the field.^[22]

Later in his career, working with Stanford trained colleagues Drs. Thomas Schnider (Switzerland) and Charles Minto (Australia), Egan contributed to the development of a novel concept in anesthesia clinical pharmacology known as the “drug titration paradox,” a concept that has important implications for anesthesia pharmacology research.^[23]

Collectively, Egan’s research has influenced both theoretical understanding and practical management of anesthetic drug administration, particularly in TIVA techniques involving remifentanil, pharmacokinetic modeling of anesthetic interactions, and the optimization of sedation and analgesia in perioperative care.^[24]

Talmage married Julie Cook in 1984. They have five children. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and served as a volunteer missionary in Sendai, Japan, from 1979 to 1981.^[25] He later served as a lay pastor (bishop) of a University of Utah LDS student congregation from 2011 to 2014.^[26]He has published numerous essays relating to his faith in various LDS forums.^[27]