2022 Board of Directors Candidates

Officer Candidates

PRESIDENT
James Fehr, MD
Stanford University School of Medicine
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Palo Alto, CA

Candidate Video

Until June 2019, I was a Professor of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics at Washington University where I cared for children at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in the cardiac OR and in the pediatric Cardiac ICU. Working with these patients required interdisciplinary discussions and diplomatic communication skills to help resolve conflict in difficult situations. It also required mastery of end of life counseling for families of dying children. I was the medical director of the Pediatric Simulation Center at St Louis Children’s Hospital and in 2016 I was appointed Assistant Ombuds for the Washington University School of Medicine.

In August 2019, I became the Anesthesiologist-in-Chief at Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. I lead 65 faculty in Pediatric Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine and work clinically in the Cardiac and General ORs as well as the CVICU. In 2014, I was elected to the SPA Board of Directors and in 2019 was appointed as SPA Secretary-Treasurer. I currently run the SPA Education Committee and formerly the Quality & Safety Committee. I am a WELI mentor and a member of the Wellness committee. In October 2020, I became Vice-President of the SPA with the support of the SPA membership will later this year begin a 2-year term as SPA President. I have said publicly and with heartfelt emotion that for me the SPA is like a family with all the love, dreams, chaos, discordance, and harmony that implies. I love being a pediatric anesthesiologist-intensivist and can think of nothing better to do with my days than hanging out with my SPA friend and colleagues. Besides hang with my three sons.

VICE PRESIDENT
Peggy P. McNaull, MD
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA

Candidate Video

Dr. Peggy McNaull currently serves as the John Rowlingson Professor and Chair at the University of Virginia – a position she just assumed on December 1^st 2020. Prior to that role, Dr. McNaull was the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Quality and Safety for UNC Medical Center, the Director for Quality for UNC Faculty Practice, and the Vice Chair of Patient Safety and Quality Improvement for the Department of Anesthesiology. She attended medical school at Louisiana State University School of Medicine, completed her residency in Anesthesiology and fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesiology at UNC, and then completed her fellowship in Pediatric Cardiovascular Anesthesia at Texas Children’s Hospital. Dr. McNaull is committed to advancing high quality, high value care to patients in the perioperative environment. The quality efforts that have brought her the most joy include Opioid Stewardship and Enhanced Recovery After Surgery.

Dr. McNaull is also very involved in advancing the field of Anesthesiology, specifically the specialty of Pediatric Anesthesiology. She is the Secretary and Treasurer for the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia and is an applied examiner and advanced exam editor for the American Board of Anesthesiology.

Secretary-Treasurer

John Fiadjoe, MD
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston, MA

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Senior Associate
Executive Vice Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Medicine

Name and City/State of College attended; degree and year obtained
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Dual Degree B.S. Biomedical & Electrical Engineering 1995

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 1999

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL. General Surgery 1999-2000

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training
Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, 2001-2004

Name and City/State of Hospital where Fellowship training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of Fellowship
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA, Pediatric Anesthesia 2005-2006

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities
I have served as a member of the SPA Board of Directors, Meeting Program Chair, Workshop Chair, Women’s Empowerment and Leadership initiative Board, and the Difficult Airway SIG Chair.

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills/Leadership Experience
As a trainee, I realized that even though anesthesiology was regarded as a high patient safety specialty, airway management was fraught with complications and patient harm. This recognition led me to dedicate my career to studying and improving outcomes in airway management.

I recognized that an effective way to change practice was to disseminate knowledge that addressed clinical questions. To this end, I started highlighting the problem by publishing several case reports and case series, which got the attention of other like-minded researchers nationally. I leveraged this attention and collaborated with them to form a special interest group within the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia. This group evolved into the pediatric difficult intubation [PeDI] collaborative, a multicenter international group studying outcomes in children with challenging airways. We started with three institutions, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Dallas Children’s Hospital, growing to over 40 sites worldwide. We designed, piloted, and implemented an online registry to track outcomes in our population of interest and published several papers highlighting outcomes in these patients. As the founding chair of the PeDI collaborative, we focused on the pillars of academic medicine. We conducted extensive outcomes-based studies, hosted educational workshops, and implemented quality improvement initiatives at our sites. We used the results from retrospective studies to understand the scope and epidemiology of the problem and design prospective randomized trials to address specific questions. Accomplishing the goals of the PeDI collaborative required leadership. I have grown as a leader over the years and understand what it takes to inspire and empower a successful team. At the start, many did not believe an international cooperative multicenter registry was possible. I continuously challenge the status quo to get to best out of the team. I have been fortunate to have had several leadership roles, such as serving on the University of Pennsylvania Faculty Senate Executive committee, serving on the board of directors for the SPA, Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Initiative, and the American Board of Anesthesiology, serving as program chair of the SPA’s annual meeting and serving as the Executive Vice Chairman for the Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital.

I have sought to build long-term relationships with my collaborators throughout my career. I focus on building trust and helping others achieve their goals. This focus has enabled me to establish strong ties with researchers, educators, and leaders worldwide. As we look to the future of our society, I see many opportunities. Opportunities to develop novel learning platforms using AI and augmented reality, opportunities to enhance patient safety by building a national near-miss anonymous reporting system akin to aviation’s system (https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/index.html), opportunities to improve education by creating an app for anesthesia protocols for various types of surgery. Opportunities to improve our society’s wellness and encourage and develop more researchers within our field. The future is limited only by our imaginations; It would be an honor to serve the SPA in the capacity of Secretary-Treasurer. I appreciate your support and look forward to our journey ahead.

Director Candidates

Aditee Ambardekar, MD
UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health, Dallas
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management
Dallas, TX

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Associate Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor, Residency Program Director

Name and City/State of College attended; degree and year obtained
University of Maryland, College Park; College Park, Maryland; BS Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
University of Maryland School of Medicine; Baltimore, Maryland; MD degree

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
George Washington University, Department of Internal Medicine; Washington, D.C. July 2004-June 2005

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; July 2005-June 2008

Name and City/State of Hospital where Fellowship training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of Fellowship
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; July 2008-June 2009

Name and City/State of Hospital/University where additional training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of training
Master’s in Education, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; August 2012-October 2014.

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities.
Most recently, I am a Program Shadow for the 2022 Fall Annual Meeting in New Orleans supporting Jennifer Hernandez and Joe Sisk in their planning endeavors. It’s been a fun and collaborative experience learning what goes into assembling a high-quality meeting.

I have been actively engaged in the Task Force on Pediatric Anesthesiology Graduate Medical Education, assembled in 2018 by Randy Flick and led by Drs. McNaull and Greeley. This group of approximately 15 leaders in various aspects of training of pediatric anesthesiology worked together to develop recommendations to the SPA Board on the current state of and suggested future directions for pediatric anesthesiology fellowship to produce a competent and relevant pediatric anesthesiologist. I anticipate continued involvement in this work as the next steps of implementation of recommendations begin.

I have had the privilege of participating in the Annual meetings recently in a variety of roles: Panel speaker on simulation and education, moderator, and MOCA Sim at SPA workshop faculty. I’ve enjoyed collaborating with others in our community assembling these activities for presentation/dissemination to SPA members.

Previously, I was very engaged in the Simulation Special Interest Group led by David Young. The group continues to consider ways we can use simulation-based education and research to advance pediatric anesthesia. As part of this group’s work, I led a small team to understand how simulation-based medical education is being used by our pediatric anesthesiology fellowship programs and ways in which our programs can collaborate through survey-based work. This work was published in Pediatric Anesthesia.

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Pediatric Anesthesiology Milestones Writing Committee (2021-present). Alongside a small group of educators/leaders/program directors in our community, we revised Pediatric Anesthesiology Milestones that will serve as a formative assessment tool for pediatric anesthesiology fellows effective July 2022.
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology Program Requirement Writing Committee and Milestones Writing Committee (2021-present): Alongside a small group of educators/leaders/program directors and with the leadership of Vivian Nasr, we wrote the Program Requirements for the newly accredited subspecialty fellowship in pediatric cardiac anesthesiology. We also wrote the first iteration of the Milestones in this subspecialty, which will serve as a formative assessment tool for pediatric cardiac anesthesiology fellows effective July 2022.
OpenAnesthesia, Section on Pediatric Anesthesia, Associate Editor (2017-present): Plan and curate pediatric anesthesia-related content on the OpenAnesthesia.org website alongside Debnath Chatterjee and Jina Sinskey. As a team, we have monthly podcasts and interviews with experts in our field.
Educational Track Subcommittee on Pediatric Anesthesia, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Committee member (2021-present): This committee helps to inform pediatric anesthesia content for the annual meetings of the ASA.
Committee on Pediatric Anesthesia, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Committee member (2018-2023). This committee at the ASA helps inform guidelines, initiatives, and collaborations within pediatric anesthesia at the ASA.

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills
To be a successful educator, education leader, and clinical leader requires the development and honing of collaborative and interpersonal skills. The work with the Task Force for Pediatric Anesthesiology Graduate Medical Education is an excellent example of how a group of leaders and experts across the country can come together to make meaningful impact for future learners. Similarly, my work at the ACGME requires facilitation of discussion between chairman, program directors, other education leaders, resident members, and public members to develop and execute program requirements that impact all stakeholders differently. I am very proud of the work our committee has done to achieve additional protected time for our education leaders while considering the needs of the chairman and institutional leaders in our community. Similarly, as a Residency Program Director, I negotiate the educational requirements in residency with the clinical needs and service requirements in our large institution. More natively, as a simulation educator and expert, we develop collaboration and interpersonal skills in all of our learners. These two competencies are necessary for effective team function, a learning objective for almost all simulation-based exercises we develop and facilitate. Finally, most of my research endeavors include teams of folks within and outside of my institution. Engaging a team makes these projects (burn-related, simulation-related, GME-related) more enjoyable, higher quality, and more translatable to our communities.

Leadership experience

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Anesthesiology Review Committee Chair (2020-2023): As the accreditation body for residency and fellowship training programs, I lead a committee of 10 anesthesiologists across the country to execute the ACGME core requirements and develop subspecialty requirements for the core residency program and all fellowships in our specialty. I have been on the Review Committee since 2016, elected Vice Chair in 2018, and was elected Chair in 2020 for a three-year term. I represent our specialty at the ACGME.
Residency Program Director, Anesthesiology Residency Program, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management (2018-present): With the support of three associate program directors and administrative team, I run an 80-resident program in anesthesiology.
Director of Burn Anesthesiology, Parkland Hospital: I serve as the liaison and team leader for our burn anesthesiologists and coordinate, in particular, pediatric anesthesia care for the Burn Center.
Simulation Curriculum Development: I am currently tasked by our GME leadership (DIO, Dean for GME, and Simulation Center Director) to develop and facilitate a Core Simulation-Based GME curriculum for all resident learners in our institution. This will serve as a mechanism for program directors across all specialties to teach and assess learners in a standardized way in our institution. We have done an institution-wide needs assessment and will begin piloting curricular in 2022. I am building on similar experiences developing simulation-based curricula at the medical school (UTSW), residency (UTSW, UPENN), and fellowship (CHOP) in the last 10 years. I have led teams of content experts and simulation educators in all of these endeavors.

Priti Dalal, MBBS, DA, MD, FRCA, D.ABA
Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, Penn State Health
Hershey, Pennsylvania

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Division Chief of Pediatric Anesthesia, Medical Director Children’s Anesthesia, Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Public Affairs

Name and City/State of College attended; degree and year obtained
Parle College, Mumbai, India 1982-1984, Higher Secondary School Certificate

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai University, Mumbai, India, 1984-1988

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
One-year rotating internship, KEM Hospital, Mumbai, India, 01/1989-01/1990

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training
1990-1993 Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai University, India
01/1997 – 08/1999 Senior House Officer, Havering, Warrington, Wirral Hospitals, UK
08/1999-08/2004 Specialist Registrar, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Trust, London, UK

Name and City/State of Hospital where Fellowship training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of Fellowship
Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Hospital (Evelina Children’s Hospital), London, UK, 02/2003 – 08/2004

Name and City/State of Hospital/University where additional training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of training
1999 – Awarded Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FRCA)
08/1999-08/2004 – Specialist Registrar, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK
08/2004 – Completed Specialist training, Royal College of Anaesthetists, London, UK
08/2004-08/2006 Clinical Instructor, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, WashU, St Louis, MO

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities.

Quality and Safety Committee – member since 2016
Chair of Quality & Safety Committee – 2020 to present: >130 Committee members, established the task force for postoperative apnea in children, established and coordinated multiple QS projects
Checklist subcommittee – review, edit, and update the critical event checklists, checklist simulation scenario
Research Committee, member 2016-present – review and score scientific abstract submissions for meetings, survey subcommittee reviews, poster moderator (6 meetings)
Education Committee, member 2016 – present – PBLD reviewer (5 meetings)
Roles at SPA meetings: Session moderator (2 meetings), meeting shadow, workshop instructor (5 meetings), PBLD presenter (11meetings)
Special interest group for Simulation in Pediatric Anesthesia, 2009 – present
Special interest group for Pediatric Pain Management, 2012 – 2014

Involvement with other national/international (pediatric) anesthesia organizations (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of organization. Please include past, present, and anticipated future leadership roles, with effective dates.
Participation in the Pediatric Anesthesia Leadership Council (PALC member), Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Initiative (WELI advisor) and Wake up Safe organization (institutional representative). I am dedicated to the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia.

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills

Institutional level – Initiated and led multiple collaborative quality and safety projects with inter-disciplinary teams e.g. transfer of care between Anesthesia and NICU/PICU teams, NICU hypothermia project, NPO in NICU babies, Pediatric Difficult airway task force, Pediatric Anesthesia Emergence Delirium project, unplanned extubations
National level –reviewing guidelines, consensus statement, established /participated in post-operative apnea task force, QS poll question, noise in operating room
Life experiences with work life balance as a working mom!

Leadership experience

Society for Pediatric Anesthesia – Quality and Safety Chair – 2020 to present
Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Penn State Children’s Hospital
- Director for Pediatric MRI and Alternate Site Anesthesia (2009-2016)
- Associate Director Pediatric Anesthesia (2015-16), Pediatric Anesthesia QS liaison (2016-present)
- Division Chief Pediatric Anesthesia (2016 to present)
- Medical Director Children’s Anesthesia (2017 to date)
- Vice Chair for Faculty Development & Public Affairs (2019 to present) – established the Mentor-Mentee program, Individualized Development Plan, website content
Penn State Leadership academy for Excellence in Academic Medicine, Penn State University
Penn State College of Medicine Emerging Leaders Program Fellow
Departmental Committees – Chair – Pediatric Anesthesia Quality & Safety, Faculty Development Advisory committee, Website and Media Committee
Course Director/Lead Instructor – Departmental PALS courses, Pediatric Simulation courses at Penn State

Nathalia Jimenez, MD
University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Seattle, WA

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Associate Professor Anesthesiology and Vice-Chair for Equity Diversity and Inclusion University of Washington Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, School of Medicine, Bogotá, Colombia
MD 1994

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
Hospital San Ignacio, Universidad Javeriana
Bogotá, Colombia 1995

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training.
Hospital San Ignacio, Universidad Javeriana – Anesthesiology
Bogotá, Colombia 1996-1999

Name and City/State of Hospital where Fellowship training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of Fellowship
8/2002-7/2003
Seattle Children’s Hospital, University of Washington Fellowship Pediatric Anesthesia
Seattle, WA

Name and City/State of Hospital/University where additional training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of training
8/2003-7/2004
Seattle Children’s Hospital, University of Washington
Fellowship Clinical Research
Seattle, WA

2004-2005
School of Public Health, Epidemiology major – M.P.H
University of Washington

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities.
2008 – Member Research Committee, Society for Pediatric Anesthesia. Participate reviewing abstracts and moderating poster sessions.

2018- 2022 – Inaugural Chair Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee-Society for Pediatric Anesthesia

As inaugural Chair,

I supported the growth of our committee from 12 initial members to 65 members.
With some committee members we created and implemented the DEI survey with support of the Board. This survey assessed the diversity of our society, and its leadership.
I presented the results of the survey to the SPA leadership and membership. The survey results also helped us prioritize SPA DEI work.
I developed an organizational structure that includes a vice chair (elected by the committee), and subcommittee leads for research, communications, education, and quality improvement.
I have supported the development and growth of each of these subcommittees. Activities include.
Education: DEI curriculum for toolbox, one workshop for trainees, 2 DEI workshops fall 2021 and spring 2022 meetings.
Research: development of guidelines to assess gender in an inclusive manner for SPA surveys.
QI: multicenter QI effort to evaluate risk factors for NPO violations in vulnerable populations, recruitment will end Fall of 2022.
Communications: strong presence in platforms like twitter and SPA website.
In collaboration with the Vice Chair and EDI committee leadership we developed the Mission Driven Mentorship Program (MDMP). The Board approved funds for 2 small pilot grants. We launched this effort January of 2022, received 8 applications, and awarded 2 grants. One for a study evaluating at the role of the affordable care act expansion on outcomes after surgery for Congenital Heart Disease (CHD); and a second grant to support the development of an outreach program to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
Also, with the VC and DEI leadership we developed a 5-year strategic plan to be implemented January 2022. The first step of this 5-year plan is the MDMP.

Involvement with other national/international (pediatric) anesthesia organizations (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of organization. Please include past, present, and anticipated future leadership roles, with effective dates.
I have ties to the Colombian, Mexican and Guatemalan anesthesia Societies. I collaborated with SAFE Peds in the adaptation of their course for Latin America. I am currently working with Drs. Rodrigo Barreda (Chile) and Juan Ibla (Boston Children’s) to support the evaluation of perioperative resources to address the needs of children with CHD in Latin America.

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills

I work well in teams. I have the ability to highlight the expertise and talents of members of the team and create collaborate ideas. I think an example of this is the growth of our DEI committee. My role as chair was to guide the group by providing a mission statement around which all of us worked together. I supported each member of the group and advocated at the Board level for support for our work.
I am organized and methodical. I worked in the DEI committee as I work in my research; following data to support decisions and using a systematic approach.
I also think that my background of being trained and worked in Latin America before coming to the US allows me to understand contextual factors and relate to others easily.

Leadership experience

Chair DEI Committee SPA 2018-2022
Director for Research University of Washington Latino Center for Health 06/2020-12/2021
Vice Chair Equity Diversity and Inclusion University of Washington Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine 08/2020- currently

Matthew Muffly, MD
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University
Palo Alto, CA

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Clinical Associate Professor

Name and City/State of College attended; degree and year obtained
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; B.A. Biology, B.A. Philosophy 2002

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA; M.D. 2006

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
Lankenau Hospital, Wynnewood, PA; Preliminary year in Internal Medicine; 2007

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH; 7/2007 – 6/2010

Name and City/State of Hospital where Fellowship training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of Fellowship
Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Pediatric Anesthesiology
7/2010 – 6/2011

Name and City/State of Hospital/University where additional training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of training.
Quality Improvement/Patient Safety Fellowship, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA; 1/2015 – 12/2015

Master of Science in Health Policy; Stanford University, Stanford, CA; 2017 – 2019

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc.) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities
Participated in the SPA Task Force on Pediatric Anesthesiology Graduate Medical Education chaired by Peggy McNaull and Bill Greeley. Presented research findings on the pediatric anesthesiology workforce; 2019

Involvement with other national/international (pediatric) anesthesia organizations (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of organization. Please include past, present, and anticipated future leadership roles, with effective dates.
Member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Ad Hoc Committee on Anesthesia Workforce; 2018
Member of ASA Committee on Pediatric Anesthesia (COPA); 2019 – 2021
Member of ASA Abstract Review Committee; 2019 – 2021

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills
I enjoy collaborating on institutional Quality Improvement projects and on research projects. Working on projects with others has expanded my ideas of what is possible with the participation and perspectives of many participants.

Leadership experience

Chair, Pediatric Morbidity and Mortality Conference; Lucile-Packard Children’s Hospital
Stanford, California 2021 – present
Co-Chair, Pediatric Morbidity and Mortality Conference; Lucile-Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford, California; 2015 – 2020
Physician Chair of the Perioperative Quality Improvement Team; 2020 – present
Director of Stanford research group to characterize the pediatric anesthesiology workforce and related topics; 2015 – present

Jamie McElrath Schwartz, MD
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Division Chief, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
Co-Director, Blalock-Taussig-Thomas Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine

Name and City/State of College attended; degree and year obtained
University of Delaware
Newark, DE
Bachelor of Arts in Biology, 1986

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
Jefferson Medical College
Philadelphia, PA
Medical Doctorate, 1990

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, PA
Internship in Pediatrics, 1994-5
Residency in Pediatrics, 1995-7
Pediatrics Chief Residency 1997-8

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Residency in Anesthesiology 2001-3

Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, 2003-5

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities.
I have been a member of SPA since 2003. From 2010-2022 I was a member of the Quality and Safety Committee. My work there involved creating of an intraoperative handoff tool and working on the Pedi-Crisis checklists. https://pedsanesthesia.org/pedi-crisis-app/

In 2019 I co-founded and currently co-lead the Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Initiative (WELI). WELI is a nationwide program of over 200 members that promotes women anesthesiologists’ career advancement through coaching, curriculum, and networking. http://weli.pedsanesthesia.org/

I am also a current member of the SPA Education committee. As chair of the 2024 Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS) meeting and co-chair of the 2022 and 2023 meetings, I work with the SPA meeting chair and education committee to develop and execute the SPA and CCAS meeting collaboratively.

Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society

I have been a member of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS) since 2005. I am a member of the Hemostasis Interest Group and was part of a national collaborative examining preoperative testing practices prior to cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. This work was published in Anesthesia and Analgesia.
I am the program chair for the CCAS annual meeting in 2024 and co-chair for 2022 and 2023. As co-chair, I support the program chair in planning and executing the meeting. As chair, I will plan and lead the meeting.
I am a senior mentor in the CCAS advisor/mentee program that pairs senior and junior cardiac anesthesia attendings to support junior faculty career growth.

Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society
I am a member of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society since 2010 and regularly attend annual meetings. I have been an invited moderator and speaker at this meeting.

Pediatric Critical Care Colloquium
I serve on the board of the Pediatric Critical Care Colloquium (PCCC), the only annual meeting dedicated to pediatric critical care. I chaired the meeting in 2017. I am the current Chair Elect and will be the Chair of the PCCC Board in 2023.

I am also a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Society of Anesthesiologists and Society for Critical Care Medicine.

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills
I am well-known as a collaborative and connected leader with high emotional intelligence. I strive to be transparent and my genuine self when I work with others; I find that leading with connection and vulnerability is most effective for me.

As co-director of the pediatric heart center at Johns Hopkins, I leverage my interpersonal skills to bring together the multiple silos of pediatric cardiac care (anesthesiology, cardiology, cardiac surgery, critical care) to align around a shared mission of excellence in cardiac care. Our heart center is thriving with increasing volume, complexity, and excellent outcomes.

Leadership experience
I have had both informal and formal leadership positions throughout my career. My current leadership roles, Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Co-Director of the Pediatric Heart Center, are the largest and most far reaching to date. In these roles, I have been fortunate to lead and support a 27-person faculty division, divide a pediatric critical care unit into two distinct units (pediatric intensive care unit and pediatric cardiac intensive care unit), and shepherd the growth of a pediatric heart center that crosses three departments and service lines. These positions have challenged me to use and grow my collaboration, leadership, negotiation, and change management skills.

Over the last five years, I have utilized the opportunities for faculty development and business education at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School to intentionally build on my natural leadership skills with formal education. I am particularly interested in women in leadership; this interest resulted in my co-founding and currently co-leading SPA’s Women Empowerment and Leadership Initiative, an organization dedicated to the empowerment and advancement of women anesthesiologists.

Jina Sinskey, MD
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Well-Being, Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care

Name and City/State of College attended; degree and year obtained
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge, MA. BS, 2005

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
Tufts University School of Medicine. Boston, MA. MD, 2011

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
University of California, San Francisco. San Francisco, CA. Categorical anesthesia internship
6/2011-6/2012

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training
University of California, San Francisco. San Francisco, CA. 7/2012-6/2015

Name and City/State of Hospital where Fellowship training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of Fellowship
Boston Children’s Hospital. Boston, MA. Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship. 8/2015-7/2016

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities.

SPA Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Initiative (WELI): I was selected to be a mentee for the WELI program in 2018 and have been actively involved. I have been a member of the WELI social medial committee since 2020 and led the IT team for the WELI Grow and Advance through Intentional Networking (GAIN) sessions, which were created during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have also been on the WELI Well-Being Committee since 2020. I was selected as a SPA WELI Advisory Board member in 2022.
SPA Education Committee member: I was a program shadow for the SPA-AAP 2021 Spring meeting. I will be part of the meeting planning committee for the SPA-AAP 2023 Spring meeting and will be chairing the SPA-AAP 2025 Spring meeting.
SPA Well-Being Committee: I have been a member of the SPA Well-Being SIG since 2020, which recently became the SPA Well-Being Committee in 2022.
SPA social media ambassador: I have served as a social media ambassador for the SPA- AAP 2021 Spring meeting, the SPA 2021 Fall Meeting, and the SPA-AAP 2022 Spring meeting.

OpenAnesthesia: I have served as a pediatric anesthesia section editor since 2020 for OpenAnesthesia, which is an online education resource for anesthesiology residents and physicians. OpenAnesthesia is sponsored by the International Anesthesia Research Society.
American Society of Anesthesiologists Educational Track Subcommittee on Pediatric Anesthesia: I have been a member of this committee since 2017. I have been Vice Chair of the subcommittee since 2021.
American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Physician Well-Being: I have been a member of the ASA Advisory Group on Physician Health and Well-Being since 2018, which became the ASA Committee on Physician Well-Being in 2019. I have chaired the committee’s ASA Outreach working group since 2019. I have been Vice Chair of this committee since 2020.
Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation: The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation works to improve the safety of patients during anesthesia care. I have been a member of its Clinician Safety Advisory Group since 2021. I also serve as social media ambassador since 2021.

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills

As co-chair of the Perioperative Patient Improvement and Patient Safety Committee for my hospital from 2019-2021, I worked with a multidisciplinary group of faculty and staff from multiple specialties including surgery, critical care, neonatology, emergency medicine, and radiology to improve pediatric patient care. Our efforts resulted in UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco being verified as a Level 1 Children’s Surgical Center by the American College of Surgeons.
As Associate Chair of Well-Being of my department at UCSF, I work closely with physician well-being champions from multiple specialties on our hospital’s Physician Experience Council. I am currently working on initiatives with my surgical and nursing colleagues to improve the perioperative culture and work environment to improve patient safety and enhance clinician well-being.
I have successfully published several research projects with colleagues outside of my institution and specialty, ranging from topics in fetal anesthesia and pediatric anesthesia to clinician well-being.

Leadership experience

I have served as the Associate Chair of Well-Being of my department at UCSF since 2020. In this role, I lead our department’s well-being committee and work collaboratively with departmental and medical center leadership to develop and implement well-being initiatives for our faculty, staff, and learners.
I have served as Vice Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Physician Well-Being since 2020. In this capacity, I lead national efforts to improve physician well-being through advocacy and outreach. I chair the ASA outreach working group and manage the ASA well-being webpage (https://www.asahq.org/wellbeing), which underwent an extensive overhaul in 2021.
I have served as Vice Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Educational Track Subcommittee on Pediatric Anesthesia since 2021. The subcommittee provides recommendations for content in the pediatric anesthesia track for the ASA annual meetings.

Brad Matthew Taicher, DO, MBA
Duke University
Durham, NC

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Pediatrics and Global Health (Affiliate)

Name and City/State of College attended; degree and year obtained
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA – BA 1999

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, PA – DO 2006

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
Delaware County Memorial Hospital, Drexel Hill, PA – 2007

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA – 2007-2010

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities.

SPA Pediatric Craniofacial Collaborative Group
Member – 2012-present
Executive Committee, Member at Large – 2017-present
SPA Pediatric Difficult Intubation Collaborative –
Member – 2013-present
SPA Quality and Safety Committee –
Member – 2013-present
Executive Committee, Associate Vice Chair – 2022-present

Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation
Perioperative Multicenter Handoff Collaborative – Member – 2019-present
Patient Safety Advisory Committee – Clinician Safety – Member – 2022-present
Patient Safety Advisory Committee – Medication Safety – Member – 2022-present

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills
Those SPA members that have participated in successful quality improvement initiatives recognize that effective quality improvement efforts are a ‘team sport’ – sustained improvement is rarely found by telling people what to do! Instead, all stakeholders must be involved, have a voice, and collaboratively identify potential opportunities for improvement in their aim to solve a problem. I have mentored over 50 quality improvement projects with Duke faculty, fellows, residents, and CRNAs, and I owe these successes to my interpersonal skills and ability to effectively collaborate with these teams and all of the personalities present within them.

Leadership experience
Duke Anesthesiology – Director of Quality and Safety
Duke Anesthesiology – Assistant Director of Anesthesia Perioperative Operations
Duke Pediatric Anesthesiology – Medical Director for Quality and Safety for Children’s Anesthesia
Duke Pediatric Anesthesiology – Medical Director for Pediatric Perioperative Services

Emmett Whitaker, MD, FAAP
University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
Burlington, VT

Candidate Video

Hospital/Institutional Titles
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Neurological Sciences, & Pediatrics

Name and City/State of College attended; degree and year obtained
Niagara University, Niagara Falls, NY, B.S. Biology & B.A. Spanish, 2002

Name and City/State of Medical School attended, degree and year obtained
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, M.D., 2006

Name and City/State of Hospital where Internship was completed; type and dates attended; degree and year obtained
Mercy Medical Center/University of Maryland, Internal Medicine, 2006-2007

Name and City/State of Hospital where Anesthesiology Residency was completed; dates of training
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Anesthesiology, 2007-2012

Name and City/State of Hospital where Fellowship training was completed (if applicable); type and dates of Fellowship
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Pediatric Anesthesiology, 2012-2013

Prior involvement in SPA (Board, Committee, etc) (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of these activities.
I have been a SPA member since 2008 and have become increasingly involved as my career has progressed. At this point, moving our specialty forward at the national and international levels is central to my career. Being involved in SPA is a central pillar of my efforts.

In 2021 I had the honor of being the Program Chair for the SPA Spring Meeting. Initially, the meeting was supposed to be in person, and we planned it as such. However, the pandemic required us to pivot to a virtual format. The theme of our meeting was “A Celebration of Women in Pediatric Anesthesiology”. One of my proudest achievements as part of the SPA membership is chairing a meeting at which greater than 80% of speakers and moderators were women.

In addition to planning our Annual Meeting, I also serve on several SPA committees, including the Research Committee, Communications Committee, and Education Committee. As a member of the Research Committee, I was recently appointed to the SPA Young Investigator Grant Review Committee. As a prior SPA YIA recipient, I look forward to the opportunity to “give back” to the process. As a member of the Communications Committee, I serve as a social media ambassador for the Society, particularly during annual and winter meetings. Finally, as a member of the Education Committee, I am involved in making sure the membership has access to the highest quality educational content. I am also a Junior Advisor for the SPA Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Initiative (WELI).

Finally, over the past 15 years I have served the Society in a number of other capacities, including moderator of scientific sessions, abstract reviewer, and PBLD reviewer.

Involvement with other national/international (pediatric) anesthesia organizations (if applicable) – please provide a brief description of organization. Please include past, present, and anticipated future leadership roles, with effective dates.
I have been a Question Author for the American Board of Anesthesiology Pediatric Subspecialty Examination since 2015 and was a member of the ABA Standard Setting Committee for the Pediatric Anesthesiology Subspecialty Examination in 2020. I am the University of Vermont Site Director for the Visiting Scholars in Pediatric Anesthesia (ViSiPAP) Program.

Examples of your collaborative and interpersonal skills
I believe that the best examples of my collaborative and interpersonal skills, particularly within the context of SPA, were evident during my tenure as Program Chair for the Annual Meeting. Successful planning of a large medical conference always requires good collaborative and interpersonal skills…it is a significant responsibility that requires the Program Chair to manage a large team of individuals over a long period of time. In the case of our meeting, these skills were paramount. Due to the pandemic, we were required to pivot to a virtual format after we had already planned the entire meeting as an “in person” event. This required me to leverage all of my collaborative and interpersonal skills to keep the team engaged and on track. These skills will be of critical importance, and I will draw on them directly if elected to the SPA Board of Directors.

Leadership experience

Chief Resident, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Department of Anesthesiology
Coordinator, Johns Hopkins Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine ASA PAC Initiative; 2008-2011
Resident Chairperson, Johns Hopkins Department of Anesthesiology Curriculum Development Initiative; 2008-2011
Director, Fellow Oral Board Preparation Program, Nationwide Children’s Hospital; 2013-2017
Founder and Director, Nationwide Children’s Hospital Infant and Child Spinal (Intrathecal) Anesthesia Program; 2015-2018
Program Shadow, SPA-AAP Pediatric Anesthesiology 2020 Meeting (Bahamas); 2019-2020
Society for Pediatric Anesthesia: Implementing Spinal Anesthesia in Your Practice Workshop Coordinator; 2020
Program Chair, SPA-AAP Pediatric Anesthesiology 2021 Virtual Meeting; 2020-2021
Society for Pediatric Anesthesia: Implementing Spinal Anesthesia in Your Practice Workshop Coordinator; 2021
Visiting Scholars in Pediatric Anesthesia Program (ViSiPAP), University of Vermont Site Coordinator; 2021-present

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