Meet Dr. Odom

Anesthesiologist: Howard Odom, MD

Dr. Howard Odom is a Georgia native who received a B.S. in Physics at West Georgia College in Carrollton.  Shortly after receiving his degree, he joined the Allied Health arm of the Emory University Anesthesia department working for Dr. Wesley Frazier.

His experience as an undergraduate teaching & lab assistant prepared him well for his role as an  instructor of basic sciences in the Anesthesiologist Assistant education program.  He was a non-tenure track faculty member for the six years prior to entering medical school and maintained a regular teaching schedule during the first two years of medical school.

Using skills gained as a draftsman, machinist, and weldor while working to support his college education, Dr. Odom also worked with Emory anesthesiologists and the Emory Hospital Biomedical Engineering department to design, then build, the first integrated monitoring & anesthesia machine consoles used in the operating rooms at Emory Hospital.

During eight years of working in the Anesthesia Department at Emory, Dr. Odom developed an interest in medicine as a career.  This interest was fueled by observation and involvement in the care of surgical patients as the programmer and operator of computerized monitoring during major spine surgery at Emory Hospital.

Dr. Odom entered medical school at Emory in 1986.  Following graduation in 1990, he completed an internship in General Surgery at Emory.  The remainder of his anesthesia training was in Boston at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Appointed as a Clinical Fellow in the Harvard Department of Anesthesiology, Dr. Odom’s training also included rotations through Boston Children’s, New England Deaconess, Beth Israel, and Massachusetts General Hospitals.  During his last year of residency in 1994, Dr. Odom served as Anesthesiology Chief Resident at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. 

Returning to Atlanta, Dr. Odom was a member of the faculty of Emory Medical School.  As an Assistant Professor at Emory University Hospital, he trained anesthesiology residents and expanded his pre-med school role as Course Director of classes in the Anesthesiologist Assistant education program.

Dr. Odom’s administrative and committee duties included serving as Medical Director of the Same-Day Surgery Center of Emory Hospital and membership on the Safety & Health committees of Emory Hospital and Emory Clinic.

Dr. Odom is married to Karen and is the father of an accountant, an artist, and a welder. He recently discovered that Paris could be a great second hometown.