Committees

Affiliations Committee

• Chair: Kumar G. Belani, MBBS, MS, FACA, FAAP, SAMBA-F
• Vice-Chair: JP Ouanes, DO
• Jackson Condrey, MD
• Sean Daley, MD
• Steven Gayer, MD, MBA, FASA
• Salomon Imiak, MD
• Girish P. Joshi, MB, BS, MD, SAMBA-F
• Tara Kelly, MD
• Sakura Kinjo, MD
• Christina Menor, MD
• Jyoti Pandya, MD
• Meghan C. Valach, MD
• Arnaldo Valedon, MD, MBA, SAMBA-F, FASA
• Lisa Weiss, MD

Bylaws Committee

The SAMBA Bylaws Committee is responsible for the maintenance of the society bylaws, which is the set of rules that helps to guide the organization’s operations and activities.

• Chair: Arnaldo Valedon, MD, MBA, SAMBA-F, FASA
• Jamey Eklund, MD
• James Moore, MD

Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee

The Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee works closely with other committees to develop various guidelines. This process involves a literature search, selecting and grading the available evidence, and developing recommendations. In the absence of high quality evidence, expert opinion and consensus are used to formulate recommendations. The guidelines and practice advisories thus developed are published on the SAMBA website or as a journal article. The Guidelines Committee also works closely with other subspecialty societies to update or develop Practice Guidelines.

• Co-Chair: Niraja Rajan, MD, SAMBA-F
• Co-Chair: Girish P. Joshi, MB, BD, MD, SAMBA-F
• Basem B Abdelmalak, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Barry Brasfield, MD
• Elizabeth Duggan, MD
• Angela Edwards, MD
• John George III, MD
• Scott Harshman, MD
• Kunal Karamchandi, MD
• Maria Michaelis, MD
• Karlyn Powell, MD
• Srinivas (Srini) Pyati, MD, MBBS
• Tanya Randall, MD
• Justin Routman, MD
• Arnaldo Valedon, MD, MBA, SAMBA-F, FASA
• Lisa Weiss, MD
• Meltem Yilmaz, MD

CME Committee

The SAMBA CME committee provides oversight for the CME offerings of SAMBA. It has traditionally ensured accreditation for the CME offerings of the society including the annual meeting, webinars, and website content.

Members

• Chair: Julius Pawlowski, MD
• Vice-Chair: Melinda Seering, MD, MHCDS, FASA
• Board Advisor: Michael O'Rourke, MD
• Kenneth Cummings, MD, MS, FASA, DFPM
• Michael Presta, DO

• Jeffrey Tsai, DO

Communications Committee

The Communications Committee aims to develop and maintain effective communications with SAMBA members, other professional societies, other medical specialties, surgical patients, and the public to promote the medical specialty of ambulatory anesthesiology. It maintains effective communications via the SAMBA mailing list, social media accounts, website, webinars, and other electronic media. One of the key responsibilities of the committee is to contribute articles and ideas to the SAMBA LINK Newsletter. The committee also facilitates the communications between various SAMBA committees.

Members

• Chair: Kelly Lebak, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Vice-Chair: Claudia R. Fernandez Robles, MD
• Board Advisor: Alberto Ardon, MD, MPH, SAMBA-F
• Christopher Canlas, MD
• Bernard Hwang Jiang, MD
• Yvette Martin McGrew, MD
• Sher-Lu Pai, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Sudarahan Setty, MD
• Renuka Shenoy, MD

• Michael Smith, MD MS

Dental Anesthesia Committee 

The Dental Anesthesia Committee is a general resource for anesthesiologists who want to share and exchange information to promote and provide safe anesthesia in the dental and oral surgery office setting.

Members

• Chair: Steve C. Yun, MD
• Vice Chair: Dallen Mill, MD
• Boris Anyama, MD
• Grace Lee Dorsch, MD
• Penelope Duke MD, PA
• Joseph “Max” Hendrix, MD, SAMBA-F
• Naixi Li, MD
• Christina M. Menor MD, MS, FASA 
• Daniel Nieva, MD
• Matthew Martin Peterson, MD, D.ABA
• Stanford Plavin, MD
• Stephen Richey Smith MD, DABA, FASA
• Philip Yen, DDS

Development Committee

The Development Committee represents SAMBA and builds relationships with pharmaceutical, and industrial supporters and sponsors. The committee creates and maintains SAMBA prospectus for exhibiting at, partnering with, and sponsoring SAMBA. The committee fundraises to support SAMBA’s mission and vision, especially the educational endeavors.

Members

• Chair: Basem B Abdelmalak, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Vice-Chair: Kenneth Cummings, MD, MS, FASA, DFPM
• Board Advisor: Victor Davila, MD, SAMBA-F
• Jyoti Pandya, MD
• Michael Walsh, MD, SAMBA-F

Education Committee

The Education Committee is here to educate our members. We organize monthly webinars. These webinars are live with a speaker giving a lecture on a topic with time for questions and answers at the end. The webinars are available for future viewing on the SAMBA website. We also submit and organize a SAMBA Panel with experts to ASA Annual Meeting. In the past we have worked on other online learning tools such as Anesthesia Tool Box. We are always happy to collaborate with others on educational projects.

Members

• Chair & Board Advisor: Jaime Hyman, MD
• Vice-Chair: Chhaya Patel, MD, SAMBA-F
• Claude Abdallah, MD, MS
• Kara M. Barnett, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Mary Blanchette, MD
• Tyler Chernin, MD
• Jihye Ha, MD
• Travis Pecha, MD
• Karlyn Powell, MD
• Tanya Randall, MD
• Jorge Rubio, MD
• Catherine Tobin, MD, FASA
• Connie Tran, MD
• Rafael Vazquez, MD

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee meets to review the results of the audit process and make recommendations for budgetary and investment actions to be approved by the Board.

Members

• Chair: Michael O'Rourke, MD, FASA
• Vice Chair: Alec Lawrence, MD
• Board Advisor: Victor Davila, MD, SAMBA-F
• Eric D Bolin, MD
• Angela Edwards, MD
• Steven Gayer, MD
• John George III, MD
• Melissa Kreso, MD, MsBA, FASA

Meetings Committee

The Meetings Committee works year-long on the logistics of planning the Annual Meeting in regard to location, topics, speakers, and format. It also delegates authority to other members in planning specialty meetings such as Office-Based Anesthesia, Medical Directors, Ambulatory Pediatrics, Mid-year, etc. The committee also works within the financial framework to provide at least an even budget, if not a profit. Work is in done in tandem with the Development, CME, and Education Committees.

Members

• Chair: Basem B Abdelmalak, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Co-Chair/Board Advisor: Steven Butz, MD SAMBA-F
• Sabry Ayad, MD, MBA, FASA
• Kara Barnett, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Kumar G. Belani, MBBS, MS
• Jaime Hyman, MD
• Girish Joshi, MBBS, MD, FCAI
• Kelly Lebak, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Michael O'Rourke, MD, FASA
• Mark Phillips, MD, FASA
• Srinivas (Srini) Pyati, MD, MBBS
• Dawn Schell, MD, SAMBA-F
• Fred Shapiro, DO, FASA
• Ramprasad Sripada, MD
• BobbieJean Sweitzer, MD, SAMBA-F
• Arnaldo Valedon, MD, MBA, SAMBA-F, FASA
• Michael Walsh, MD, SAMBA-F
• William Weisberg, DO
• Paul F. White, PhD, MD, FANZCA

Membership Committee

The SAMBA Membership Committee promotes the benefits of SAMBA membership, identifies issues important to our members, and works to enhance the value of SAMBA membership by evaluating both current and potential products and services. The committee evaluates due structures and can also be tasked by the Board of Directors to address membership-related issues or special projects that requires discussion, research and recommendations for changes to SAMBA membership.

Members

• Chair: Sonia Pyne, MD, MS, FASA
• Vice Chair: John George, III, MD, FASA
• Mary Blanchette, MD
• Niraja Rajan, MD, SAMBA-F
• Ramprasad Sripada, MD
• Olga Vornovitsky, MD

Nominations Committee

The Nominations Committee is responsible for scouting talented interested members, and encouraging, supporting, mentoring, and nominating them to different leadership positions

Members 

• Chair: Steven Butz, MD SAMBA-F
• Board Advisor: Niraja Rajan, MD, SAMBA-F
• Basem Abdelmalak, MD, SAMBA-F
• Kumar Belani, MD, SAMBA-F
• Leopoldo Rodriguez, MD, MBA, FAAP, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Dawn Schell, MD, SAMBA-F
• BobbieJean Sweitzer, MD, SAMBA-F

Non-Operating Room Anesthesia Committee

As non-operating room anesthesia (NORA) cases increase each year so does interest in the Non-Operating Room Anesthesia (NORA) Committee of SAMBA. It is our hope that this group can address the special challenges to providing safe care in NORA settings, while being vigilant with the medical complexity of these patients. In this rapidly changing field, we hope to focus our attention on the implementation of innovative technologies, procedures or medications while harboring a special focus on patient safety. With new challenges being seen each day, we hope we can foster a better understanding of the risks associated with NORA while maintaining quality care that benefits all of our patients.

Members

• Chair: Kara M. Barnett, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Co-Vice Chair: Claudia Fernandez Robles, MD
• Co-Vice Chair: Rafael Vazquez, MD
• Omaira Azizad, MD, FASA
• Kar-Mei Chan, MD
• Ahmad Elsharydah, MD, MBA
• Akil Farishta, MD
• Kunal Karamchandani, MD
• Bernadette Pasamba-Rakhlin, MD
• Matthew Martin Peterson, MD, D.ABA
• Mark Phillips, MD
• Michael V. Presta, DO, FASA
• Justin Routman, MD
• Dane Saksa, MD
• Syed Shah, MD
• Alvin Stewart, MD, FASA
• Olga Vornovitsky, MD
• Audra Webber, MD, FASA
• Ryan Wilson, MD

Office-Based Anesthesia Committee

The Office-Based Anesthesia (OBA) Committee is a general resource of anesthesia providers who want to share and exchange information to provide safe anesthesia care in the office-based procedural and surgical setting.

Members

• Chair: Meghan C. Valach, MD
• Boris Anyama, MD
• Susan Bazzell, MD
• Cassie Dietrich, MD
• Grace Lee Dorsch, MD
• Kelly Lebak, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Christina M. Menor MD, MS, FASA 
• Brian Osman, MD
• Syed Shah, MD
• Stanford Plavin, MD
• Stephen Richey Smith MD, DABA, FASA
• Anthony Tanella, MD
• Jeffrey Tsai, DO
• Philip Yen, DDS

Ophthalmologic Anesthesia Committee

The Ophthalmologic Anesthesia Committee deals with all aspects of Ophthalmic anesthesia, surgery, and ambulatory care with particular emphasis on teaching ophthalmic regional anesthesia, relevant sedation techniques, and general anesthetic aspects pertinent to the niche subspecialty.

Members

• Chair: Steven Gayer, MD, MBA, FASA
• Aparna Chunduri, MD
• Maggie Jeffries, MD
• Jeremy Juang, MD, PhD
• Melissa Kreso, MD, MsBA, FASA
• Sameh Nour, MD, MMM
• Mary Ann Vann, MD, FASA

Pediatric Anesthesia Committee

The Pediatric Anesthesia Committee’s (PAC) Mission is to promote the highest standards of anesthesia care and safety for pediatric patients in Pediatric Ambulatory Surgery Centers (PASC) and other settings

Members

• Co-Chair: Audra Webber, MD, FASA
• Co-Chair: Marjorie Brennan, MD
• Vice-Chair: Chhaya Patel, MD, SAMBA-F
• David Beebe, MD
• Kumar G. Belani, MBBS, MS
• Steven Butz, MD, SAMBA-F
• Kar-Mei Chan, MD
• Steven Dalbec, MD
• Jamey Eklund, MD
• Balazs Horvath, MD, FASA
• Daniel Nieva, MD
• Sameh Nour, MD, MMM
• Leah Bumgarner Templeton, MD
• Samuel Vanderhoek, MD
• Jill Wilson, MD

Performance Measures Committee

The Performance Measures Committee is responsible for developing, reviewing or advising on ways to determine the effectiveness of processes, procedures and systems to improve and optimize patient outcomes in ambulatory and office-based anesthesia settings.

Members

• Chair: Thomas Durick, MD
• Vice-Chair: Yvette Martin McGrew, MD, PhD
• Preeti Anand, MD
• Eric D Bolin, MD
• Barry Brasfield, MD
• Michael Thomas Buist, MD
• Aparna Chunduri, MD
• Victor Davila, MD
• Angela Edwards, MD
• Akil Farishta, MD
• Jarrett Heard, MD
• Michael Kushelev, MD
• James Moore, MD
• Sonia Pyne, MD, MS, FASA
• Lisa Weiss, MD

Regional Anesthesia Committee

The Regional Anesthesia Committee advances the knowledge and use of regional anesthesia and modern acute pain management approaches in the ambulatory setting.

Members

• Chair: Ashley Shilling, MD
• Vice Chair: Hanae Tokita, MD
• Preeti Anand, MD
• Sabry Ayad, MD, MBA, FASA
• William Francis Barrett IV, DO, MS
• Michael Thomas Buist, MD
• Christopher Canlas, MD
• Steven Dalbec, MD
• Vlad Frenk, MD, FASA
• Jihye Ha, MD
• Balazs Horvath, MD, FASA
• Sakura Kinjo, MD
• Michael Kushelev, MD
• Alec Lawrence, MD
• Grant Neely, MD
• Jean-Pierre P. Ouanes, DO
• Nathan Paul Painter, MD
• Jyoti Pandya, MD
• Jorge Rubio, MD
• Melinda Seering, MD, MHCDS, FASA
• Ramprasad Sripada, MD
• William Weisberg, DO

Resident Committee

The Resident Committee provides a framework for residents to participate in the education and guidance of the specialty of ambulatory anesthesia. They participate in the development of the resident lectures at the Annual Meeting and provide opportunities to network throughout the year.

Members

• Co-Chair: Patrick Connell, MS
• Co-Chair: Anthony Dinkel, MD
• Brian Gabriel
• Connie Tran, MD
• Jeffrey Tsai, DO
• Chris Wolla, MD
• Steven Young, MD

Scientific Papers Committee

The Committee on Scientific Papers is committed to furthering scientific research and recognizing advances in the field of ambulatory anesthesia. The committee is responsible for abstract review prior to the annual meeting, abstract award determination, and research grant review.

Members

• Chair/Board Advisor: Kara M. Barnett, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Co-Vice Chair: Kenneth Cummings, MD, MS, FASA, DFPM
• Co-Vice Chair: Imoh Ikpot, MD
• Claude Abdallah, MD
• Sabry Ayad, MD, MBA, FASA
• David Steven Beebe, MD
• Jackson Condrey, MD
• Ahmad Elsharydah, MD
• Sarah Fandre, MD
• Audrice Francois, MD, FASA
• Bernard Hwang Jiang, MD
• Jeremy Juang, MD, PhD
• Bernadette Pasamba-Rakhlin, MD
• Chhaya Patel, MD, SAMBA-F
• Clinton Pillow, MD
• Vikas Raghove, MD
• Sudarahan Setty, MD
• Ramprasad Sripada, MD
• BobbieJean Sweitzer, MD, SAMBA-F
• Catherine Tobin, MD, FASA
• Paul F. White, PhD, MD, FANZCA
• Ryan Wilson, MD

Website Committee

The Website Committee is responsible for curating and reviewing website content and functionality, investigating issues and comments, and exploring opportunities to improve, advance, and modernize the website.

Members

• Chair: Sher-Lu Pai, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Vice-Chair: Jihye Ha, MD
• Board Advisor: Kelly Lebak, MD, FASA, SAMBA-F
• Claudia Fernandez Robles, MD
• Andrew David Fisher, MD
• Tara Kelly, MD
• BobbieJean Sweitzer, MD, FACP, SAMBA-F, FASA
• Chris Wolla, MD