The Nurse Anesthesia program at the Goldfarb School of Nursing celebrated its Commencement on Saturday, December 14, 2019, at the Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis.
On Saturday afternoon, family members and anesthesia providers were invited to a special ceremony where Nancy Ridenour, PhD, APRN, BC, FAAN, the Maxine Clark and Bob Fox President of Goldfarb School of Nursing, and Michael Avidan, MBBCh, FCASA, Dr. Seymour and Rose T. Brown Professor of Anesthesiology and Head of the Department of Anesthesiology gave opening statements about the graduates and the nurse anesthesia program. Bill Wise, CRNA, and Class President, Dan Eddins, both provided wonderful presentations to all in attendance.
Former CRNA, Tsugie Watanabe, traveled from New York City to present the Tsugie Watanabe Award for Outstanding CT SRNA and the Watanabe-Henrichs Endowed Scholarship Award. Watanabe retired in 2009 after working in the Department of Anesthesiology for 33 years.
Overall, seven students received their certification, five of whom will be staying on as CRNAs in the Washington University Department of Anesthesiology.
- Tsugie Watanabe Award for Outstanding CT SRNA: Dan Eddins
- Award for Clinical Excellence: Margaret “Maggie” Bradley
- Agatha Hodgins CRNA Award: Martha “Marti” Sabino
- Watanabe-Henrichs Endowed Scholarship Award Recipients: Emily Imhoff and Elvira Sayfutdinova, second-year SRNAs
- The Beverly Krause Outstanding CRNA Clinical Instructor: Nate Peterson, CRNA
- Outstanding MD Clinical Instructor: Swarup Varaday, MD
- The Helen Lamb Outstanding Didactic Instructor: Ellen Frye, Anatomy lab instructor
Congratulations to the entire Class of 2019 Nurse Anesthesia cohort!