2026 ElectionsThe following candidates have submitted nominations for open positions on the Society for Education in Anesthesia Board of Directors: President-Elect (One Position – Two Year Term) Secretary (One Position – Two Year Term) Treasurer (One Position – Two Year Term)Director (Three Positions – Two Year Term)
If you not have already done so, we strongly encourage all members to review their position statements by clicking on their name above. Voting ProcedureThis election will be done using an electronic balloting process. The advantage of this method is everyone who is eligible to vote (not just the members attending the Fall Meeting), will be able to do so. THERE WILL BE NO VOTING AT THE FALL MEETING.
Candidate for President-Elect: Herodotos Ellinas, MD, MHPE – University of Minnesota
I am honored to be nominated for the role of President-Elect of the Society for Education in Anesthesia. For the last 20 years, I have been thrilled to be part of a group of innovative educators, committed to SEA’s core values of collaboration, innovation, scholarship, and inclusion to advance the future of anesthesiology. I share both their passion and their determination through turbulent times. To further SEA’s mission, I have a vision for SEA grounded in three domains: belonging, mentorship, and innovation. Belonging: SEA has always been a welcoming place. As co-chair of the IMPACT (Influence, Mentorship, Partnership, Accountability, Collegiality, Transformation) committee (former DEIJ), our mission is to encourage cultural awareness and advocate for voices not usually heard, to put out statements to support equity, and to partner with other societies to utilize the power and minds of the many to educate all. We welcome everyone. SEA’s strength is its people and I intend to continue to invest in them and ensure that every member is supported and guided throughout their professional journey. Mentorship: Mentoring is a powerful tool for professional growth and leadership development and remains a pivotal element at all stages of health professions. We have the unique opportunity and responsibility to expand intentional mentorship to support learners and faculty anywhere in the world. I will promote expanding current programs, connecting with other societies to develop repositories of mentors, and exploring opportunities of partnership with international societies to inspire our next generation of learners and faculty. Innovation: With the advent of social media, virtual platforms, precision medicine, and artificial intelligence, education has drastically changed. SEA has been a leader in advancing innovative educational initiatives and scholarship, global outreach, and faculty development. We must strive to do more: foster collaboration across institutions, promote creative educational models and sustainability frameworks, and fund scholarships for outcome data, all to prepare anesthesiology educators for the evolving landscape of healthcare, technology, and learner needs. I would be grateful for the opportunity to serve in the role of President-Elect for SEA, working alongside members to inspire innovation and lead education with success. Candidate for President-Elect: Samuel D. Yanofsky, MD, MSEd, ACC – Children's Hospital Los Angeles / Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
It has been an honor to serve as Secretary of SEA for the past two terms, and I am excited to bring that experience forward as a candidate for Vice President. During my tenure, I focused on strengthening the operational backbone of the Society so that our leadership transitions, reporting, and meeting processes are more consistent, transparent, and easier to sustain over time. I redesigned the committee chairs' report template to align more closely with KPIs, giving the Executive Committee better metrics for strategic planning and process improvement. In partnership with Treasurer Dr. Deborah Schwengel, I reformatted the Society's journal club with a supporting job aid, and I worked with Education Meeting Committee chair Dr. Barbara Orlando to establish a job aid and checklist for future meeting leads, so that role is easier to step into regardless of who is chosen to run it. I also created job descriptions for our executive members, in partnership with Carol Diachun, to clarify roles and responsibilities and support a smoother, more informed election process going forward. Beyond my role as Secretary, I currently sit on SEA's newly established Coaching Committee and serve as one of the group coaches for the Coaching Experience for Professional Growth, a program that has seen strong early engagement and attendance. Nationally, I have served a six-year term as president of the Pediatric Anesthesiology Program Directors Association within the Society for Pediatric Anesthesiology (SPA) and currently serve on SPA's executive education committee. I also teach in the Masters of Academic Medicine program at USC Keck School of Medicine, training mid-level health care professionals in leadership and organizational change. If elected Vice President, I would build on this foundation — continuing to strengthen the systems, documentation, and mentorship structures that help SEA run smoothly, while remaining closely connected to the coaching and professional development work that I believe is central to our Society's mission. Candidate for Secretary: Tracey Straker, MD, MS, MPH, CBA, FASA – Montefiore Health System / Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Throughout my career, mentoring educators, fostering academic excellence, and building supportive learning environments have been my passion. SEA has long been my professional home, and it is a deep privilege to stand before you as a candidate for Secretary. Having the opportunity to serve this community has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my journey. Seven years chairing the Faculty Development Committee, six years chairing the IMPACT Committee, and three terms on the Board of Directors, I have had the joy of working side-by-side with so many of you. Those years were about far more than just committee work—they gave me a front-row seat to what our educators need to thrive, how our society operates at its best, and how much we accomplish when we support and lift one another. One of the greatest joys of recent years has been watching SEA grow and evolve. I am continuously inspired by the energy, fresh ideas, and passion of our younger, rising leaders. As Secretary—a role of true Executive Leadership—I want to ensure our governance remains open, nurturing, and forward-looking. Executive leadership is about opening doors, creating meaningful pathways for our early-career colleagues, and honoring our traditions while embracing where our next generation is taking us. I ask for your confidence and your vote for Secretary. If elected, I will be a leader who listens to you—not just hearing the words, but truly listening to the voices, experiences, and vision of our membership. My utmost priority will always be grounded in our shared core values: an unwavering commitment to education, academic excellence, impactful advocacy for our specialty, and the well-being and success of every single member of our SEA community. Thank you for your dedication to education and for the opportunity to continue serving you. Candidate for Secretary: Jed Wolpaw MD, MEd – John Hopkins School of Medicine
I am honored to be considered for the role of Secretary for SEA. I was lucky to have incredible mentorship in my early years as a program director thanks in no small part to the connections I have made through SEA. I served for 4 years as the Chair of the Resident Education Committee, am now in my second term on the board of directors and am an associate editor for JEPM where I have served for the past 7 years. In addition to these positions, I have given workshops, presented abstracts, and participated in almost every Fall and Spring SEA meeting since 2016. During my terms on the board, I have worked to find ways for SEA and AACPD to collaborate. Last November SEA and AACPD co-hosted a workshop series for new PDs at the SEA fall meeting and we will be doing it again this year. I am the immediate past president of the Association of Anesthesiology Core Program Directors (AACPD) and in that role, and as Secretary of SEA, I will continue to find ways for the two organizations to cooperate that will be mutually beneficial. I also believe that we should experiment with different forms of communication to further our goals as an organization. My podcast, ACCRAC, now has more than 60,000 monthly listeners worldwide, making it an excellent platform to foster collaboration. We can also harness the power of social media to connect and share in new ways. I help run the PD and APD Facebook group which has been a helpful avenue for collaboration over the past few years and will continue to expand that platform. Additionally, we are facing a pivotal time in anesthesiology education. With competency-based advancement, signaling, exams becoming pass/fail, new and exciting methods of teaching and learning coming on the horizon, this is a time for us to take the lead in medical education in our specialty and beyond. I think SEA is perfectly poised to play a key role in these initiatives and it would be an honor to serve the organization as its secretary as it does so. I am deeply appreciative of your consideration. Candidate for Treasurer: Deborah A. Schwengel, MD, MEHP, FASA – Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
I am excited to submit my candidacy for re-election to the position of Treasurer for SEA. Why run for re-election? There is a learning curve to this job and effectiveness is more likely to follow the initial learning of the tasks. In addition, belief in the mission must be strong. Thank you for reading my statement. I have been a member of SEA for over 20 years. I have served three terms on the SEA Board of Directors. I developed the Outreach Task Force and have spearheaded SEA sponsored workshops and co-developed the SEA Medical Education Journal Club with Melissa Davidson. I am currently serving on the Research, JEPM and Finance committees. I am associate editor at JEPM and MedEdPORTAL, and Editor-in-Chief of the ASA Anesthesia Patient Safety Editorial Board. I have personal interests in innovative curricula, teaching applied physics in anesthesiology and mass casualty preparedness. My passion is to contribute significantly to SEA’s mission and to continue the innovative and collaborative leadership of the Board of Directors. Our financial health is good, due to the robust performance of the stock market. Nevertheless, we must be careful about expenditures due to ongoing escalating costs, particularly related to meetings. We have opportunities to boost our financial health and organizational sustainability, and we would be remiss in not exploring them. Our approaches which will allow us to better meet our expenses and allow growth, include:
The following paragraph is a rephrasing of one that I included in my last candidate statement, because it is still relevant. The goal is not just to remain solvent; it is to provide opportunities like the SEAd and Sprout awards. Although education is one leg of the three-legged stool of academic medicine, it is more like a smaller tricycle wheel (analogy is borrowed from Dr. William Greeley and quoted from July 8th, 2024, Pediatric Anesthesia Article of the Day). “Academic practices are cracking and the workforce imbalances threaten the mission. What is the mission? For most academic practices, the mission is a 3-legged stool (really a tricycle in my [WJG] view where the large front wheel is clinical care driving and steering the other 2 missions.” This means that SEA must play a pivotal role in the funding of educational grants, providing early mentorship or funds needed to establish important innovative ideas in educational scholarship. SEA is already achieving this mission, and I look forward to expanding this mission as the treasurer of the society. Candidate for Director: Bryan Mahoney, MD, FASA – Mount Sinai West
I am honored to be considered for another term on the Society for Education in Anesthesia Board of Directors. SEA has been my professional home for more than fifteen years, and few organizations have shaped my career as profoundly. From presenting my first educational workshops to chairing the Advancement of Technology in Education Committee, co-chairing the 2022 Fall Meeting, and serving on the Board since 2022, I have been privileged to contribute to an organization that continually pushes anesthesiology education forward. During this time, I have also had the opportunity to develop educational programming spanning simulation, resident remediation, wellness, diversity, faculty development, communication technologies, artificial intelligence, and leadership, while helping launch the PD's at SEA podcast to create an enduring educational resource and strengthen connections among program directors across the country. My commitment to SEA is grounded in a career devoted to graduate medical education. I serve as Residency Program Director at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West in New York City, where I have the privilege of training the next generation of anesthesiologists. Beyond SEA, I serve on the Boards of the American Association of Clinical Anesthesiology Program Directors (AACPD) and the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists, hold leadership roles within the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, and serve as a Full Examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology. These experiences allow me to bring diverse perspectives back to SEA while fostering collaboration among organizations that share our mission of advancing excellence in anesthesiology education. Growing up in a working-class military family as the first physician in my extended family instilled in me the values of service, mentorship, and creating opportunities for others—principles that continue to guide my work. If re-elected, I look forward to continuing to champion innovation in medical education while ensuring that SEA remains the welcoming, collaborative community that has benefited so many educators throughout their careers. I am particularly passionate about supporting new educational leaders, expanding mentorship opportunities, embracing emerging technologies responsibly, and developing practical resources that help educators succeed in an increasingly complex training environment. It would be a privilege to continue serving our members and helping shape the future of anesthesiology education through the Society for Education in Anesthesia. Candidate for Director: Rachel Moquin, EdD, MA – Washington University School of Medicine
It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the SEA Board of Directors. Since joining in 2020, SEA has become my professional home where I have found a community of mentors, collaborators, and friends who have challenged and inspired me to grow as an educator, scholar, and leader. I have been fortunate to serve SEA in many capacities, through service on multiple committees, co-leading over 15 workshops at meetings, co-chairing the upcoming 2028 Spring Meeting, serving as an Associate Editor for the JEPM, and supporting conference programming, abstract review, and educational scholarship as co-chair of the Scholarly Project Advisory and Research Consulting program. Every opportunity to contribute has deepened my appreciation for the generosity, collegiality, and commitment to educational excellence that define SEA. Receiving the ASA/SEA Distinguished Educator Award in 2025 was especially meaningful because it reflected the values of a community that has profoundly shaped my own professional journey. Together with my work as Vice Chair for Academic Affairs & Professional Development at WashU, where I lead faculty and educator development, these experiences exemplify how organizations like SEA can shape careers, foster scholarship, and build lifelong professional communities. As a Board member, I would support the networks, mentorship, and professional development opportunities that have made SEA such an extraordinary community where educators can connect, grow, and thrive. I would be honored to continue giving back to the organization that has given so much to me and further contribute to making SEA the welcoming, collaborative, and intellectually generous professional home I have found. Thank you so much for your consideration alongside this exceptional group of candidates. Candidate for Director: Kristin Ondecko Ligda, MD, FASA
Bio Coming Soon! Candidate for Director: Barbara Orlando, MD, PhD, FASA – McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston
I am deeply honored to be considered for a position on the Board of Directors of the Society for Education in Anesthesia (SEA). As an enthusiastic and active member since 2016, my commitment to our shared educational mission has grown steadily through diverse leadership roles. My dedication to SEA’s mission is demonstrated by my extensive service across core committees and initiatives:
SEA has provided me with an invaluable community of educators. If elected to the Board of Directors, I will leverage my strong work ethic, administrative experience, and passion for mentorship to expand SEA's influence across the anesthesiology community. A central priority of mine will be attracting and engaging junior attendings and early-career educators, ensuring they experience the immense professional growth and connection that SEA membership offers. I recognize the exceptional caliber of the other candidates and would be truly honored to serve our society alongside such an accomplished group of leaders. Thank you for your support and consideration. Candidate for Director: K. Karisa Walker, MD, MEd, FAAP – University of Florida
I joined the Society for Education in Anesthesia over a decade ago as a new academic attending. I knew there had to be “more” to teaching in medicine than what I had experienced; I had just enrolled in the MEd program at Johns Hopkins University School of Education and was looking to learn how to best serve my learners. What I found was so, so much more than a place to learn: a collaborative, dedicated group of educators and servant leaders who became my mentors and friends. Having personally benefitted so meaningfully from our society, I want to give back. I am honored to be considered for a position on the Board of Directors.
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