Faculty

Adam Amundson, MD, attended residency and completed a fellowship in regional anesthesia at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is the current president of the Minnesota Society of Anesthesiologists (MSA) and the program director of the regional anesthesia and acute pain fellowship program at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. His educational and clinical interests involve point-of-care ultrasound, perioperative outcomes research in regional anesthesia, and practice optimization. He is very active in resident and fellow regional anesthesia education and teaching ultrasound-guided workshops at MSA, ASRA, and ASA meetings. In his free time, Dr. Amundson enjoys spending time with his wonderful wife and four children.

David Auyong, MD, is the medical director of the Lindeman Ambulatory Surgery Center and section head of orthopedic anesthesiology at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA. His research focuses on improving patient outcomes with regional anesthesia, most recently with blocks like the continuous adductor canal block and suprascapular nerve block. He has co-authored a popular textbook, Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia, now in its second edition. Dr. Auyong is often recognized by his videos on YouTube describing ultrasound guided regional anesthesia approaches to many different nerve blocks.

W. Michael Bullock, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor at Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC.  He graduated in 2010 with an MD and PhD from the University of New Mexico and completed a residency and fellowship in regional anesthesiology at Duke University Hospital in 2015. He remained on staff at Duke where he is currently director of resident education for the regional anesthesiology rotation and assistant program director for the regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine fellowship. His research interests include ultrasound-guided nerve blockade, tourniquet hypertension, gastric ultrasound, and trainee education.

David Creighton, MD, MS, has clinical interests and areas of expertise in regional anesthesia,  perioperative pain management, ambulatory and orthopedic anesthesia. He currently works at the University of North Carolina, where he practices in both academic and community settings. He completed his medical degree at Columbia University, anesthesiology residency at Stanford University, and fellowship training in regional anesthesia at Duke University. He is originally from Vancouver, Canada.

Derek Dillane, MB BCh, FCARCSI, is an associate professor at University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, where he completed a clinical and research fellowship in regional anesthesia in 2006. His clinical research interests involve the use of ultrasound in regional anesthesia with a particular focus on education and training techniques. He has taught and led numerous ultrasound workshops in North America and internationally. He is a past chair of the Canadian Anesthesia Society Regional Anesthesia Section. 

Daniel Gessner, MD, is a clinical assistant professor of anesthesiology at Stanford University in the Division of Regional Anesthesia. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Oberlin College prior to moving to California for medical school at Stanford University. After residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital, he returned to the Bay Area to complete a fellowship in regional anesthesia and acute pain medicine at Stanford Health Care/Palo Alto VA.

Stuart Grant, MBChB, MMCI, graduated from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and trained in anesthesiology in Glasgow before taking an appointment in the Department of Anesthesiology at Duke University in 2002. He earned his masters in Management Clinical Informatics while at Duke University. He is now chief of the Division of Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He has multiple publications on the use of regional anesthesia in major joint replacement, and in ambulatory surgery. His textbook “Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia” is now in its second edition. Dr. Grant currently serves on ASRA Pain Medicine board of directors and its CME Committee. 

Akua Gyambibi, BSc, MD, FRCPC, grew up in Edmonton, Canada where she attended medical school and completed her anesthesiology residency at the University of Alberta in 2020. During her training, she developed a passion for regional anesthesia and completed fellowship training in regional anesthesia and acute pain at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2021. Upon returning to Edmonton, she joined the University of Alberta department of anesthesiology and practices jointly at the University of Alberta Hospital and Misericordia Community Hospital. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling and relaxing in the Rocky Mountains.

Colleen Harnett, MB BCh, BAO, serving as Associate Faculty, is from the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, Canada.

Eman Nada, MBBCH, PhD, is an associate professor, chief of regional anesthesia, and medical director of the acute pain service at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. She has completed a regional anesthesia fellowship and another in neuroanesthesia at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She is passionate about education, which she demonstrates through participating in workshops and other educational activities. She believes in the importance of having a strong knowledge of anatomy to be a good regional anesthesiologist. Her interests include prolonging nerve blocks and integrating them into the multimodal pathway to reduce or even replace the use of opioids.

Antoun M. Nader, MD, is a professor in the department of anesthesiology and orthopedics at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. He is the section chief for regional anesthesia and acute pain management at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the medical director for acute pain medicine. He is also the fellowship co-director for the adult and pediatric regional anesthesia and acute pain management fellowship at McGaw Medical center, Northwestern University. Dr. Nader is board certified in anesthesiology, with a subspecialty certification in pain management. He is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, ASRA Pain Medicine, and the Association of University Anesthesiologists. With interests in neuroanesthesiology and pain management, he is engaged in numerous activities, including authorship, editorial work, grant review, lecturing for many societies. During his medical career in pain management, he has authored and coauthored more than 150 original peer-reviewed articles, editorials, reviews, books, commentaries, case reports, and technical notes. He is very involved in the development of institutional pathways for regional anesthesia and pain management protocols that have resulted in publications in major anesthesia journals.

Monika Nanda, MBBS, MPH, is a professor of anesthesiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Nanda directs the regional anesthesiology fellowship at UNC and leads education in residency and fellowship. She organizes cadaveric courses in Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia and teaches extensively at workshops and conferences. Her research focuses on clinical outcomes, simulation, educational methods in anesthesia, and quality improvement. She holds key roles in ASRA Pain Medicine and UNC School of Medicine committees.

Kristopher Schroeder, MD, works at the University of Wisconsin as a member of the regional anesthesia and acute pain medicine team. At the University of Wisconsin, Kris formerly served as division chief of regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine, but now serves as the vice chair of faculty development and interim vice chair of education. He has been an active member of ASRA Pain Medicine since completing his fellowship in 2008 and recently served as editor of the ASRA News.

Melinda Seering, MD, FASA, is from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where she did her residency and returned to practice there 12 years ago after a brief stint in private practice.  She is the current clinical director of the ambulatory surgery center there.  She is a member of the hospital’s acute pain team is current program director of the regional anesthesia and pain medicine fellowship there.  She has worked to establish a regional program in the ambulatory surgery center and is the current director of ambulatory regional anesthesia.  She is active in resident education on regional and acute pain for the department.  She is active in research and has had many peer-reviewed publications book chapters and funded research for this.  Recently she is looking at chronic breast pain and regional anesthesia as well as Exparel with shoulder surgery.  She is the alternate director from Iowa to the BOD of the ASA and serves on committees there, through the ASA and SAMBA.  She is also a former president of the Iowa Society of Anesthesiologist.  Due to these, she is active in advocacy for our specialty.  Overall, she has a passion for teaching regional anesthesia to trainees, fellows and colleagues to improve patient care, safety and surgical experiences.

Leslie Thomas, MD, earned her medical degree from Louisiana State University, where she also completed her internship and residency. She completed a regional anesthesia fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery which is associated with Cornell University in New York City. Dr. Thomas is a Diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology and has been on staff at Ochsner Medical Center since 2000. She started the Acute Pain and Regional Anesthesiology Services at Ochsner and is now Lead Anesthesiologist at the Ochsner Hospital for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.

Luminita Tureanu, MD, FRCPC, is an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL. She is board certified in anesthesiology and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Tureanu completed her anesthesiology residency and chronic pain fellowship at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, and the regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine fellowship at Western University, London, ON, Canada. Her interests include teaching evidence-based ultrasound guided regional anesthesia and multimodal analgesia to residents and fellows.