Dr. Zapol is Emeritus Anesthetist-in-Chief at MGH, Reginald Jenney Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, and was Chief Anesthesiologist at MGH form 1994 – 2008.
An exceptional scientist and engineer, Dr. Zapol is noted for saving thousands of hypoxic infants each year due to his innovative treatment using inhaled nitric oxide.
As part of his research, he led nine Antarctic expeditions to study how mammals avoid the bends and hypoxia. He has received 13 U.S. patents related to his research, In 2008, he was appointed by President George W. Bush and reappointed in 2012 by President Barack Obama as an academic representative to the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. In 2006, he had an actual Antarctic glacier named in his honor.
He was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science in 2002, presented the John W. Severinghaus Lecture at the American Society of Anesthesiologists in 2010, and was designated as a Distinguished Scientist by the American Heart Association in 2012.