Faculty

Dr. Ahmad is a consultant anaesthetist at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK with a specialist interest is difficult airway management. He is the clinical lead for airway management and is a committee member of the Difficult Airway Society (DAS). Dr. Ahmad is the education lead for the airway fellowship at Guy's Hospital and they regularly publish and produce work which is presented at national and international meetings. He has gained a lot of experience in advanced airway techniques, including awake fibreoptic intubation, videolaryngoscopy, apnoeic oxygenation techniques and surgical airways. He has also developed an interest in improving airway assessment and have pioneered the use of Virtual Endoscopy in assessment of the difficult airway. Dr. Ahmad is regularly invited to talk at meetings both nationally and internationally. He has also contributed to many anaesthesia textbooks, including a BMA award winning difficult airway book and have over 20 airway related peer reviewed publications, including the 2015 DAS intubation guidelines, of which he is a co-author. He is chairing a group commissioned by DAS to develop guidelines on awake tracheal intubations which aim to launch and publish in early 2019.

Dr. Ruben Ayala has over 22 years of experience with Operation Smile and was first introduced to the organization in his hometown of David, where he volunteered as a student translator. Shortly after completing his undergraduate degree in Oregon, he was an Operation Smile Mission Coordinator and continued serving as Senior Program Coordinator and Senior Manager of International Programs. As SVP of Medical Affairs, Dr. Ayala is highly focused on the innovation and expansion of safe surgical care to some of the most under-served communities around the world.

Laura L. Ardizzone is the director of Nurse Anesthesia Services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. She also serves as adjunct clinical faculty at Columbia University School of Nursing. Her previous roles include Assistant Clinical Professor of Nursing and Director of Clinical Education at Columbia University School of Nursing. Laura is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania for her BSN and received her Master’s and Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees from Columbia University. She also completed a post-doctoral clinical fellowship at Columbia University School of Nursing. Laura’s research interests and publications include patient safety, patient hand hygiene and global health. She is currently overseeing a multi-site expansion project for delivering clinical anesthesia services. Laura is also a senior member of the advisory board of the Hillman Alumni Association, the President of the Columbia University School of Nursing Alumni Board and member of the advisory board for Advanced Practice Provider Executives. She was recently selected for a second two year term as a member of the Patient Safety Steering Committee for the National Quality Forum (NQF) and is a new fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Laura serves on the editorial board for the International Student Journal of Nurse Anesthesia and has lectured nationally and internationally on a variety of patient safety and clinical anesthesia topics.

Dr Bakó is Hungarian anesthetist, working in Vác as a senior clinician. Graduated from the Semmelweiss University of Medicine Budapest, underwent anesthesia specialist training in Hungary, mainly in Vác. Nowadays labour as an intensive care consultant of several hungarian Hospitals. His special interest is haemodynamic monitoring , ultrasound guided haemodynamical support and interventions . Member of the Hungarian Society of Anaesthesia, European Society of Anaesthesia, the Hungarian Resuscitation Council.

Karin Björkman Björkelund, Doctor of Medical Science (PhD), Assist. Professor.
Director of studies, Advanced level, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University (2006 – 2017), Senior Lecturer Nurse Anesthesia Program, Lund University, 2017 on going.
Chair, IFNA Education Committee, 2014 on going.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: Doctor of Medical Science PhD, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund Sweden, 2008. Intensive Care Nurse (RNIC) 1987, Registered Nurse Teacher (RNT) 1980, Nurse Anesthetist, (RNAN) 1974, Registered Nurse (RN), 1972. Assist.lecturer/course leader/program director Nurse Anesthesia program, Lund university, Sweden (1982--2001/2008-2011). Nurse Anesthetist/Intensive Care, Lund University Hospital (1974--1985).

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS: Chief Editor and Publisher of the Journal "AN-IVA Ventilen", Journal for Swedish Nurse Anesthetists and Intensive Care Nurses (The Swedish Association of Nurse Anesthetists and Intensive Care ). Assignment 1991—2001. The Swedish Association of Nurse Anesthetists and Intensive Care: County representative 1985-1990. Poster Session Co-Chair/ Reviewer, Nordic Congress for Intensive and Anesthesia Care NOKIAS 2013. Copenhagen, Denmark.

Quality Assurance in Higher Education. The Swedish Higher Education Authority Evaluation of all first and second-cycle programs. Responsible for the QA process for Lund University, Specialist Nursing programs, Midwifery program and Master one year program 2013-2015.

INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS: Chair, International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists (IFNA) Education Committee 2014. Vice Chair, IFNA Education Committee 2013.

Member of International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists (IFNA) Education Committee´, (2001-continuing). IFNA Accreditation Board: International Accreditation Program for Nurse Anesthesia programs since 2006, taking part in the development of IFNA International Accreditation Process (APAP) for Nurse Anesthesia programs including the Accreditation process and as an on-site visitor. Continuously responsible for the Student and Faculty Evaluation forms.

Teachers/Education Sessions, World Congresses, International Federation for Nurse Anesthetists (IFNA) (Paris 1994, Wien 1998, Chicago 2000, Helsingfors 2002, Lausanne 2006, The Haag 2010, Ljubljana 2012, planning for Tunisia 2014 (inhibited), on-going planning for Glasgow 2016). Poster Session Chair/ Reviewer/Judge. IFNA World Congress for Nurse Anesthetists, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2016 and Budapest 2018.

International representative for Nursing programs, Board of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, 2013 on-going.

Member of Universitas 21 (U21) Health Science Group http://www.u21health.org/ U 21 Health Science Group; reviewer at the U21 HS Doctoral, Student Forum at U21 HSG Meeting in Shanghai Sept 2014, giving presentations at the U21 meeting in Birmingham GB 2016, U21 meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa 2017.

International Nordic Network for Nurse Anesthetist Education, NORDANNET, Faculty Student Exchange Program. A Nordic Network Collaboration established in Lund 1997, including Nurse Anesthetist Education programs in Lund and Stockholm, Sweden, Copenhagen and Arhus in Denmark, Oslo and Bergen in Norway, Helsinki in Finland and Reykjavik in Island. New members 2014: Gothenburg, Sweden and Faroe Islands. The network is ongoing including Faculty and Student exchanges, Network meetings, and Joint intensive courses.

Breda Doyle works as an Organ Donor Nurse Manager in Ireland in the South/South West Hospital Group. She was appointed to this role in July 2015. Breda trained as a general nurse at Cork University Hospital, graduating in 1999. She has extensive experience working in Intensive Care both as a nurse and clinical facilitator. Breda has worked in Australia and on returning to Ireland completed a HDip in Intensive Care in UCD and an MSc in Clinical Nursing in UCC. Her current role as Organ Donor Nurse Manager is to champion educational strategies to promote organ donation to healthcare professionals particularly within the Intensive Care Units and provide clinical support to both families and staff with potential and actual organ donors.

Sigrunn Drageset Ph.D., RN, Associate professor and Program director in Master in Clinical Nursing – Nurse Anesthetist specialization in Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Campus Bergen. She finished her nurse education in 1979 and became nurse anesthetist in 1983. She earned her philosophiae doctoral degrees in 2012 at Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen. Sigrunn has several years of experiences as a program director and several years of clinical experience as a nurse anesthetist at Haukeland University Hospital. In her doctoral thesis she focused on psychological distress, coping and social support in the diagnostic and preoperative phase, using mixed method, quantitative and qualitative approaches. She has done follow-up studies with the same participants one and ten years post-surgery. Her main research focus is concerning psychological distress, coping and social support. Sigrunn has been member of NORDANNET collaboration since 1997.

Bitten Dybdal MD, is a senior consultant anaesthesiologist at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark. With a specific interest in pain of several years, she heads a pain unit; developing and implementing specific pain regimens across the hospital as well as giving lectures about acute pain management and pain consults. With a backgrund in traumacare, orthopedic anaesthesia and military engagement and deployments to areas of conflict, she has a diverse background for and understanding of the concept of pain.

Lars Egger is a registered nurse anesthetist, paramedic, educator and scientific assistant from in Berne, Switzerland. He is mainly working at medi, Centre for Medical Education | College of Higher VET for Paramedics, Switzerland and part time at the "Ambulance Service Aarau West" in the middle of Switzerland. He mastered a master's degree in Medical Education at the University of Bern. His actual educational and clinical activities are mainly focusing on emergency medicine, anesthesia care and critical care. Over the last years continuous professional development and faculty development have built a core issue. He has been serving in various national and international organizations such as the Swiss Association for Nurse Anesthetists, the Swiss Resuscitation Council, Swiss Association for Nursing and International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists.

Thorunn S. Eliasdottir is a program director for the Nurse Anesthesia Postgraduate Diploma and an adjunct lecturer in the Faculty of Nursing within the School of Health Science at the University of Iceland. She also serves as an anesthesia provider and in a research track at the National University Hospital in Iceland. Dr. Eliasdottir graduated from the University of Iceland with a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and Nurse Anesthesia postgraduate diploma. She received her Master´s degree in Nurse Anesthesia from Columbia University School of Nursing in New York and PhD from the University of Iceland. After the national certification examination in the United States, she became a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Since 2008, until her current position, she was a supervisory teacher and assistant teacher for the postgraduate diploma program in Nurse Anesthesia at the University of Iceland. Dr. Eliasdottir research interests and publications are in the field of retinal oximetry and systemic oxygen levels. She became a member of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetist (IFNA), Education Committee in 2016.

Ass. Prof. Dr. János Fazakas is currently the head of anesthesiology and intensive care unit of the Department of Transplantation and Surgery, Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Fazakas graduated at the Hateganu Medical University of Cluj, Romania in 1989 and started his training in 1990 at the Bajcsy Zsilinszky Hospital’s Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and from 1993-1994 he had worked as a trainee in anaesthesia and intensive care at the National Institute of Traumatology. He received his Diploma in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care in 1994 in Hungary. He was appointed from 1994-1998 as registrar in anesthesiology and intensive care at the Bajcsy Zsilinszky Hospital, Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. He started to work at the Department of Transplantation and Surgery, Semmelweis University from 1998 as assistant professor, from 2008 as senior lecturer. He was awarded with a PhD degree in 2008 from the Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. He was appointed the current position at the Semmelweis University of Budapest in 2011.Dr. Fazakas has published extensively in the area of transplantation anesthesiology and critical care medicine. His main research interests are: transplantation related haemodynamic changes, markers of inflammation, and perioperative bleeding management. Ha has been a regular invited speaker on international, regional and national conferences all over Europe, with almost 300 lectures over the last 5 years. His total impact factor is 27.5, with a citation index of 173 at present. Dr. Fazakas has been involved in pre-, and post-graduate teaching ever since he started to work at the Semmelweis University, Budapest. He is the member of Hungarian Transplantation Society board from 2005. He is a member of several international societies, including the Liver Intensive Care Group of Europe and the International Liver Transplant Society Hungarian representative in both of them.

Adriano Friganovic works at University Hospital Centre Zagreb as a head nurse of Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Medicine since 2016. Has worked in the Division of Anaesthesiology and Intensive care of cardiac surgery patients since 1997., and from 2005 has worked as a head nurse. He graduated bachelor and master degree in nursing at University of Applied Health Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia and now is a PhD candidate at Medical Faculty University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Works as lecture at University of Applied Health Sciences in the Department of Nursing. Adriano is an acting president of Croatian Nurses Society of Anaesthesia, Reanimation, Intensive Care and Transfusion, general secretary of Croatian National Nurses Federation, vice president of World Federation of Critical Care Nurses and Executive board member of International Federation of Nurse Anaesthetics. He established a national online journal Shock and was a inaugural editor in chief. He is also an editorial board member for several other journals. He has published widely, and spoken at many national and international congresses all over the world.

Robert Hawkins is a nurse anesthesia educator and has served in various roles including clinical instructor, assistant program director and program director. He is a graduate of the Medical University of South Carolina (BSN), Webster University (MBA), Georgetown University (MS), and Rush University (DNP and PhD).

Dr. Herion is medical educator and clinical teacher in anesthesia at the Cantonal Hospital Aarau, Switzerland. He is responsible for the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of Nurse Anesthetists, as well for the in-hospital Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support Simulation Training curriculum. His research activities include educational strategies, assessment and competency-based medical education. In his PhD dissertation he validated the CanMEDS-based IFNA Standards of Practice and graduate competencies according to the scope of Swiss Nurse Anesthetists’ scope of practice.

Jakob Ibsen Vedtofte CRNA, Med (b.1950) is a Headnurse at Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark. He finished his nurse education in 1976 and became nurse anesthetist in 1980. He earned his Master of Education degree in 2001. Jakob is a member of the NORDANNET collaboration and of the National Board of Nurse education from 1997; and he serves as a member of the IFNA Practice Committee since 2012.

Hanna Illman MD, PhD is one of the first anaesthetists worldwide to introduce sugammadex in her daily clinical practice. Based at Turku University Hospital, Finland, Dr Illman is the leading consultant anaesthetist at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery. Since the initial launch of sugammadex in September 2008 Dr Illman has gained an unparalleled clinical experience of this unique reversal agent. Her Doctoral Thesis ”Studies on neuromuscular blocking drugs and their antagonists during anaesthesia” was published in 2011. She has given numerous presentations on the management of the neuromuscular block and its reversal both in her home country and abroad. Dr Illman is an expert member of the MSD Finland Anaesthesia Expert Input Forum.

Gabriella Iohom is a Cork-based Anesthesiologist and Senior Lecturer with special interest and training in regional anesthesia. A native of Transylvania (Romania), she graduated from the ‘Iuliu Hatieganu’ University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, underwent anesthesia specialist training in Hungary and Ireland, and regional anesthesia fellowship training in France. A founding member of the Irish Society of Regional Anaesthesia, and more recently of the Special Interest Group on Education in Regional Anesthesia of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia, Gabriella chaired the European Society of Anaesthesiologists’ Focus Meeting on Regional Anaesthesia in 2017 as Immediate Past Chair of the Subcommittee on Regional Anaesthesia. She is currently co-director of the Cork Regional Anaesthesia Fellowship Programme, co-author of many peer-reviewed articles, co-editor of textbooks and reviewer for medical journals.

Gunilla Islander MD, PhD, Associate prof is a recently retired specialist in anesthesia and intensive care from Skane University Hospital in Lund Sweden. She made her first steps in anaesthesia and intensive care in the “pre-electronic age” in 1973. Her research interest has been malignant hyperthermia susceptibility and rare inherited neuromuscular diseases. Drug interactions are another interest. She has also worked with the education both of medical students and residents.
Privately she is a mother of three and the eldest daughter is also an anesthesiologist. Outside work one interest is all types of textile handicraft from doing pictures with help of a computer and an embroidery robot to knitting, crochet and make clothes.

Adjunct Professor Jan Jakobsson is consultant anaesthetist and chief-medial officer of patient safety and quality at Karolinska Institutet Danderyds University Hospital, Sweden. Prof. Jakobsson has served as chairman of the European Society of Anaesthesiology subcommittee for ambulatory anaesthesia and Swedish Association of Day Surgery for several years. As director of doctoral education in his hospital, he is tutor of many students, referee of several international reasearh applications and also works are external opponent. Besides his educational and consultant role, he is the authors of numerous publications, reviews and case reports; as well as important textbook chapters on day surgery and patient safety.

M. Moncef JENDOUBI graduated in Anesthesia of the Tunis Faculty of Medicine 1979; winner of the award of the Tunisian Republic President. He achieves a career of anesthesia specialist in gynecology and obstetrics in public and private hospitals. In parallel, he teaches anesthesia and reanimation techniques and tutorials at the Tunisian “Université Centrale (Honoris United Univ)”. Founder of Anesthesia continuous education program in Tunisia and of the Tunisian anesthesia specialists (High Technicians) Association ATTAR, he’s actually ATTAR honorary president. M. Jendoubi is also author of numerous articles and books related to patients’ safety, obstetrical anesthesia, responsibility and ethics. Furthermore, Moncef is IFNA world congresses invited speaker since 1994, CPC chairman 2012-2016, and Tunisia country representative within the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists since 2004.

Eva Joelsson-Alm is a critical care nurse, researcher and senior lecturer at the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Södersjukhuset and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Her research about bladder damage following urinary retention have led to national guidelines in Sweden and an increasing interest in this common, healthcare-related injury.

Dr. Jordan is the AANA Foundation’s CEO and AANA Chief Research, Quality and Policy Officer. Lorraine works for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists and earned her doctoral degrees from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. She is active in several organizations such as being a surveyor for the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, Chair of the Interagency Collaborative on Nursing Statistics, Co-Chair of the Academy of Nursing’s Perioperative Surgical Interest Group and Chair of the Nursing Foundation’s organization. Dr. Jordan’s passion and research interests include: examining poor anesthesia outcomes, healthcare economics, cost effectiveness, health policy and quality initiatives.

After the studies of Latin and philosophy Dr. Ulrike Knipprath studied and worked as junior and later on senior anesthetist in two german university hospitals, Heinrich Heine university Düsseldorf and the Charite´ Campus Virchow Clinic Berlin. Ulrike was also leading several seminars at the Berliner Anästhesie-Repetitorium, specializing in revision courses. One of her favorite tasks during university career was teaching and examining students. She specialized in medical quality management, emergency medicine and what she likes most, is children anesthesia. At present she works in the Praxisklinik Charlottenburg, in the center of Berlin.

Attila Lőrincz is a nurse and teacher who has more than ten years experience in human patient simulation with high-fidelity simulators. Attila graduated from Semmelweis University with a bachelor degree of nursing and a with a master of sciense degree as a helath care specialist teacher. He has other specialities like adult and intensive care nursing specialist. Besides teaching Attila has more than fifteen years experience in intensive and emergency care at the bed-side as well. His main research field is simulation teaching methodology.

Dr. John Maye is a Professor and Pain Management Education Coordinator for the University of South Florida, College of Nursing. He retired from the United States Navy in 2015 at the rank of Captain after serving for 27 years. A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist in the United States Navy for 24 years he was assigned multiple leadership positions to include: Director of Research for the Nurse Anesthesia Program at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Executive Director for the Tri-Service Nursing Research Program, and Research Director for the Orofacial Pain Clinic, National Naval Dental Center Washington D.C. He is a 1992 graduate of the University of Kansas Nurse Anesthesia Program and earned his PhD in nursing from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 2000. Dr. Maye has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and is presently serving in his tenth consecutive year on the editorial review board for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists Journal. He has received numerous awards for his academic achievements to include: Outstanding Uniformed Faculty Award and Junior Investigator of the Year at the Uniformed Services University Graduate School of Nursing as well as the prestigious John F. Garde Researcher of the Year award from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Dr. Maye remains clinically active as a CRNA and is committed to research and education for all health care providers.

Vera Meeusen is a Nurse Unit Manager in a private hospital in Brisbane, Australia. She started as Nurse Anaesthetist in The Netherlands and after obtaining her degree as Master of Arts at the University of Amsterdam she continued her career as a manager in the Perioperative settings and as an overall hospital project officer. She performed several studies about workload, job satisfaction, history of nurse anesthetists and personality profiles of nurse anesthetists. This resulted in her PhD doctor’s degree at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
After emigrating to Australia, she obtained her fellowship of the Australian College of PeriAnaesthesia Nurses (ACPAN) and the Associated Fellowship of the Australasian College Of Health Service Management and continued working in the perioperative environment.
In 2010, Vera became a member of IFNA’s Practice Committee and now she is also the chair of the Curriculum & Credentialing Council of ACPAN and a member of the Global Advisory Council of International Collaboration of PeriAnaesthesia Nurses (ICPAN).

Jonathan Pabalate, DNP, CRNA, ARNP is the Chief Information Officer for Sunbelt Anesthesia, Sunbelt Visiting Primary Care, and Chief Data Science Officer for SC4D (Self Care for Depression) He has over a decade of experience providing clinical anesthesia services in a variety of healthcare settings and has led big data research and quality initiatives for UF Health Jacksonville’s Level 1 trauma center. Additionally he leads strategic data driven initiatives in Sunbelt Primary Care, and leads Artificial Intelligence development for SC4D.
He received his masters degree in Anesthesiology Nursing at Florida International University, and his Doctor of Nursing Practice at the University of North Florida. For the past 10 years he has consulted for a variety of health care organizations in North America and Europe, assisting them in participating in health care outcomes research registries, implementation of data collection and interpretation, and designed custom software to help clinicians better understand the quality of care they deliver in meaningful ways.
Dr. Pabalate's area of research interests include the optimal use of technology in the healthcare setting, to help the clinicians of today make better decisions in patient care, thus improving health care outcomes. In addition, he teaches a variety of courses at the University of North Florida in the graduate school anesthesiology nursing program. In his free time he enjoys sailing, photography, crossfit, and spending time with his friends and family.

László Papp is an associate professor in the Department of Nursing of Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Studies, University of Szeged. Currently he is the deputy head of the nursing department, responsible for education and nursing masters programmes. He is a qualified nurse, and got his master and PhD degree in the field of nursing. His main interest is critical care, currently he also works in the Emergency Department of the University of Szeged. He is the author of the only hungarian nursing textbook of neurology, and also published articles about critical care and nurse-patient relationship both in Hungarian and English.

Pernille is a consultant anesthesiologist working in an ambulatory surgey department. She has had a speciel interest in acute pain management throughout her career and a phd in the field of postoperative pain management. Another interest is working with quality improvement projects to optimize workflow and patient flow with the aid of the improvement model.

Marianne is a retired Nurse Anaesthetist and Nurse Anaesthesia program director. She is still active in professional politics of the Swiss Association of Nurse Anaesthetists (SIGA – FSIA) and the International Federation of Nurse Anaesthetists (IFNA). In Switzerland Marianne was involved in the development of a national CPD platform for nurse anaesthetists and she is still a member of the national practice committee. For IFNA she was a member of the Education Committee form 2000 – 2017 and a member of the liaison committee of the European Society of Anaesthesiologists ESA / IFNA from 2013 – 2017. She presented several times at the ESA conferences on issues of professional standards. Marianne was very involved in the development of the 2012 and 2016 IFNA standards as well as in the development of model curricula (Master and certificate) für nurse anaesthesia education. Together with the members of the IFNA education committee all documents for the Anesthesia Program Approval Process (APAP) were developed. Marianne carried out the first IFNA accreditation in 2013 in Paris followed by many others. Since 2017 she is IFNA’s APAP manager.

Mr. Pascal Rod is a French Registered Nurse since 1978 and a Registered Nurse Anaesthetist since 1985. He is one of the founder of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists (IFNA) in 1989 and has been serving as President of the IFNA for 8 years and as current Executive Director since 2004. He has been involved in the preparation of the International Standards of Education and Practice for nurse anesthetists. He is representing the nurse anaesthetist’s interests at the European level and is an active Board Member of the European Specialists Nurses Organizations (ESNO). He has chaired the steering group for developing a European framework for nurse specialist education in collaboration with the European Federation of Nurses (EFN). He is representing the Nurse Anaesthesia advanced practice nursing specialty to the ICN, the WHO and different International Organizations.

Jackie Rowles is an Associate Professor in the Leighton School of Nursing, a Clinical Instructor for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the Nurse Anesthesia Program Director at Marian University. Dr. Rowles earned a bachelors degree in nursing from Ball State University, a masters degree in business administration from the University of Memphis, a certificate in nurse anesthesia from the Truman Medical Center School of Nurse Anesthesia coupled with a masters of arts in Biology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Further, she earned a post-masters certificate as an Adult Nurse Practitioner from Ball State University and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Barry University. Dr. Rowles is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and Board Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner with nationally and internationally recognized leadership and practice expertise in nurse anesthesia practice. Her clinical specialty of pain management includes medication management, diagnostic and therapeutic injections, pharmacologic therapies, and multi-modal approaches in the treatment of pain. Dr. Rowles was instrumental in the development of specialty pain education and certification or nurse anesthetists, including the first CRNA interventional pain management cadaver course (in 2005), AANA Advanced Pain Management Seminars, and a University-based post master’s certificate in Advanced Pain Management that, in 2014, became the first fellowship program for nurse anesthetists. Dr. Rowles served as an item writer for the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetist’s Non-Surgical Pain Management certification examination. A highlight of her career was serving on the 2013-2014 National Institute of Health/Health and Human Services Interagency National Pain Strategy team’s Care and Prevention workgroup. Dr. Rowles is a sought after speaker for local, state, national, and international continuing education meetings, recently serving as a lecturer for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s 2016 Opioid Education webinar series, the 2017 American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Midyear Assembly meeting, the 2017 Consortium for Universities in Global Health (CUGH) Annual Meeting, and the 2017 Nurse Anesthesia Annual Congress. Dr. Rowles is an Adjunct faculty for the Texas Christian University School of Nurse Anesthesia Fellowship in Advanced Pain Management. Currently serving her second term as the President of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists, Dr. Rowles is a past president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), the Indiana Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and served on the American Academy of Pain Management’s Board of Directors for eight years with four years as Treasurer. She is a member of the World Health Organization’s Global Initiative for Essential and Emergency Surgical Care and is the Treasurer for the Board of Directors member for the G4 Alliance (a global organization for safe Trauma, Obstetrics, Surgical and Anesthesia Care). Dr. Rowles is a Diplomate in the American Academy of Pain Management, serving as a board member and officer for the AAPM for eight years. She was selected as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2013.

Mari Saanisto (RN, MHSc) is a nurse lecturer in Turku University of Applied Sciences since 2015. She worked as a nurse anesthetist in operating department of Turku University Hospital in 2006-2016. Her special interests are: professional ethics, patient’s rights and patient’s privacy.

Vesna Svilenković is a nurse employed at University Medical Centre Ljubljana at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Surgical Intensive Therapy. She works as a nurse in postoperative pain management. She initiated the indicator of postoperative pain managment outcome at the end of continious patent alagesia. This indicator significantly contributed to the effectiveness of the acute pain management. She participates in the professional section for anesthesiology as chair of the pain management team, where national guidelines for pain management are being prepared. At the University Medical Centre Ljubljana she guided team, which prepared standard of postoperative pain management and standard of postoperative pain management at children and all age periods.
She takes part at the parent clinical department, together with colleagues at organization and administration of regular systematic educations of pain management. Within the UMCL she also take part of education nursing students. As the co-author of poster took part in the Haag at the 9th World congress of nurse anesthetists in 2010. She took part in Ljubljana actively at the 10th World congress of nurse anesthetists in 2012. She cooperated several times as a lecturer at congresses of Nurses and Midwives Association of Slovenia and at seminares of professional section. She is also a member in Croatian association of pain management and she is taking part in their congresses. She also cooperated with contributions at UINARS in Serbia.

Bart Torensma (MSc) has experience in epidemiology and anaesthesiology. As CRNA he developed, in the last 10 years, the Fast track bariatric surgery for the Dutch Obesity Clinics in the Netherlands. As PhD candidate at the University of Leiden (LUMC) he is doing research in the subjects with obesity combining this with the research in the operation theatre during surgery. Deep neuromuscular blockage and the finding of reducing pain post operative with lower opiate consumption is one of the research projects of Bart. Furthermore he developed his own Masterclass in epidemiology, anaesthesiology and physiological effects of stress in the brain and the effect on the human behaviour.

Szabolcs Péter Tóth is currently working as a Quality Manager in Berlin at the Praxisklinik Charlottenburg, a private one day surgery clinic with inpatient treatment. Szabolcs is additionally giving lectures at the Semmelweis University in Budapest, Faculty of Dentistry in German language on ‚Health Economics’ and at it’s Faculty of Health Sciences on ‚Public Health‘ in Hungarian language. Hungarian native, Szabolcs moved to Germany to become state-certified nurse and anesthetic/intensive care nurse. He graduated in Budapest from Semmelweis University with a bachelor of Nursing and Patient Care and graduated with a master of Nursing. As an art movie admirer, when time admits, Szabolcs works on movies as a medical advisor.

Cees van der Vleuten, PhD, has been at the University of Maastricht in The Netherlands since 1982. In1996 he was appointed Professor of Education and chair (until 2014) of the Department of Educational Development and Research in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. Since 2005 he has been the Scientific Director of the School of Health Professions Education. This graduate school offers master and PhD degrees in health sciences education to a wide variety of international students. He mentors many researchers in medical education and has supervised more than 80 doctoral graduate students. His primary expertise lies in evaluation and assessment. He has published widely in this domain, holds numerous academic awards, including several career awards. In 2005 he received John P. Hubbard Award for significant contribution to research and development of assessment of medical competence from the National Board of Medical Examiners in the US. In 2010 he received a Dutch royal decoration for the societal impact of his work and in 2012 the Karolinska Prize for Research in Medical Education. He serves frequently as a consultant internationally. He holds honorary academic appointments in the Department of Surgery and Internal Medicine, University of Copenhagen in Denmark, Department of General Practice, Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide in Australia, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in South-Africa and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in the US. He is also the Director of the European Board of Medical Assessors (EBMA). A full CV can be found at: www.ceesvandervleuten.com

Dr. van Pelt’s research interest is the aftermath of perioperative catastrophes and the impact on patient safety and provider wellness. She has been lecturing extensively and has been recognized nationally for her work within this research domain for the past decade. She is a 2012 American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Foundation Doctoral Fellow and a 2014 American Hospital Association / National Patient Safety Foundation Patient Safety/Leadership Fellow who co-developed and implemented the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Anesthesia Clinician Peer Support Program. Dr. van Pelt is a member of the AANA Practice Committee. She is the Massachusetts State Peer Advisor and AANA Foundation Advocate for Massachusetts. Dr. Van Pelt serves on the APSF Executive Committee and APSF Board of Directors and is the Chair for the APSF Committee for Education and Training.

Van Zundert has had a prolific clinical and academic career spanning 30 years and has a strong international profile, collaborating with other universities where he still holds a professorship (Ghent, Belgium; Maastricht, Netherlands, Toronto, Canada, Yale & Harvard, USA). He enjoyed receiving some 13 international awards, 2 Royal Distinctions (from HRH the King of Belgium and HRH the Queen of the Netherlands), and received many Honorary Membership Awards of International Anaesthesia Societies. In 2013, Professor van Zundert took up the position of Chair of the Discipline of Anaesthesia at the University of Queensland and is full-time employed by MNHHS as a senior anaesthetist at the RBWH, where he initiated several research projects in collaboration with other staff within the hospital (ICU) and with colleagues from other hospitals in Australia and overseas. In 2014, van Zundert was awarded the ‘Most Novel Innovation Award’ at the annual University of Queensland Teaching and Learning Congress, for his role in establishing the ‘Centre for Excellence & Innovation in Anaesthesia’, an ‘Australian first’ teaching, training (simulation), testing (anaesthesia equipment), quality care and research centre for anaesthetists to bring anaesthesia to the next level. This centre aims to further increase safety care to patients undergoing anaesthesia. He recently published on the five core pillars that intuitively underpin the specialty of academic anaesthesia.
Throughout his career, Van Zundert focused on: improving patient care in anaesthesia; visualizing techniques used in anaesthesia; research in anaesthesia; teaching and simulation. His research focuses on obstetric anaesthesia, regional anaesthesia techniques and airway management and resulted in several groundbreaking techniques.

Dr Tamas I Veto is a consultant anaesthetist at Medical Centre, Hungarian Defence Forces, Budapest.
He is passionate about difficult airway management and runs a national Difficult Airway Management Course in Budapest. He is the secretary of the Faculty of Difficult Airway Management of the Hungarian Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy.

Dr. Jim Walker is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Allied Health Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas where he directs the Doctor of Nursing Practice in Nurse Anesthesia program. He has been actively involved in a multitude of professional activities and committees at the local, state, and national levels. He is a distinguished practitioner fellow in the National Academies of Practice and a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. He has served on numerous boards, and is a Past-President of the Texas Association of Nurse Anesthetists and the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. He is now serving as the President of the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs. He chairs the Texas Board of Nursing Advanced Practice Advisory Committee and is a member of the International Federation of Nurse Anesthetists Practice Committee. He has published numerous articles and book chapters, and is frequently an invited speaker at state and national nurse anesthesia venues. He has been richly involved in public policy at the state and national levels for over two decades.

Terry Wicks is currently a staff nurse anesthetist at Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, NC. In addition, Terry is currently enrolled in the Masters to DNP Program at the University of Iowa. Prior to leaving the military in 1992, Terry served as Assistant Program Director at the clinical site for US Army’s Course for Nurse Anesthetists at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado. After graduating from the US Army Anesthesia Course for Nurse Corps Officers in 1986, Terry served as a staff anesthetist at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Terry has also served as President of the Hawaii Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and for the North Carolina Associations of Nurse Anesthetists, as well as president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists 2006-07.

Henrik Widegren is a Swedish otorhinolaryngologist and phoniatrician. He defended his PhD-thesis, ”Innate defense mechanisms of the nasal airway” in 2010 at Lund University. Clinically, he focuses on patients with laryngeal and vocal cord disorders, and performs endoscopic surgery on the larynx, vocal cords and the upper airway. He teaches difficult airway management at Lund University Hospital.