Spring on Hilton Head Island 2023 Encore Symposium

Dwayne Accardo, DNP, CRNA, FAANA

Since 2001, Dr. Dwayne L Accardo, CRNA, DNP, FAANA has been working in the Memphis Tennessee area as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthesiologist. In 2002, he became the clinical coordinator for nurse anesthesia students from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) who were doing their clinical rotations with the Medical Anesthesia Group.

In 2006, Dr. Accardo became a faculty member for the UTHSC Nurse Anesthesiology Concentration and in 2008, he was appointed as the Associate Program Director. In August 2014 he became the Interim Program Director and in January 2015, Dwayne was appointed as the permanent Program Director. His teaching expertise is pharmacology and obstetrical anesthesia. Dr. Accardo also works with the anesthesia students while teaching them in the clinical area. He is an active member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA), and the Tennessee Association of Nurse Anesthetists (TANA). Currently, He serves on the Educational Committee for the Tennessee Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

Dr. Accardo’s expertise is obstetrical anesthesia, where he has worked for over two decades in the Memphis area. Dr. Accardo has lectured on various anesthetic topics at multiple conferences. He has also taught regional anesthesia workshops at both regional and national venues.

Dr. Accardo currently serves on the Continued Professional Certification Assessment Subcommittee for the National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists. He also served on the Practice Management Advisory Panel for the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology. Dr. Accardo has served as a reviewer for current obstetrical nursing textbooks and has written the anesthesia chapter in the nursing textbook Pharmacology for Nurses. He served on the evidence-based regional guideline revision team for the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, and helped develop the revised guidelines for regional anesthesia.

Dr. Accardo received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from The University of Mississippi Medical Center. He received his Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia degree from Webster University in St. Louis, and his Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center with a focus in Advanced Obstetrical Anesthesia. Dr. Accardo was inducted as a Fellow with the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology in August 2022.

Kevin Driscoll, DNP, MSN, CRNA

Email: Kevin.driscoll@nih.gov

Kevin Driscoll is a Staff Anesthetist at the NIH (National Institutes of Health)**, Clinical Center, Building 10. This is the world’s largest research-only dedicated hospital where they take on medically complex cases to gain greater insights into future diagnosing, treating, and curing patients. The NIH is the lead institution for first in human clinical trials and sets a standard for new and emerging technologies. Prior to that, he was at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where he helped lead the first Collaborative Unit-Based Safety Program in the Department of Surgery and co-chaired a Johns Hopkins Medicine Clinical Community.

He received his DNP from Yale University, where his focus was on the geo-spatial analysis of the positive correlates for veteran suicide in the post-9/11 veteran communities. Kevin is on Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and Sits on the Surgeons Advisory Committee (SAC) for the National Institutes of Health.

**Kevin Driscoll is providing his insights in a personal capacity and not part of his role as a federal employee.

Katherine Meuti, DNP, CRNA

Katherine Meuti, DNP, CRNA has been a certified registered nurse anesthetist since 2008 and has been residing in Jacksonville, FL for the past 10 years. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of the Anesthesiology Nursing Program at the University of North Florida. She also practices as a CRNA at several clinical sites in the Jacksonville area, including the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville.

After graduating with her BSN from Bowling Green State University in 2002, Kathy worked as a pediatric intensive care nurse in Tampa, Florida. In 2005, she moved to Cincinnati, OH, to pursue her master’s education in nurse anesthesiology. After completion, she took a faculty position at the University of Cincinnati nurse anesthesia program and later became the Assistant Director/Clinical.

In 2012, her family moved her to Jacksonville, FL, where she started off working as a CRNA at local hospitals before deciding to specialize in Obstetric Anesthesia in 2014. Shortly after, she pursued her Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree. Once graduated in 2017, she accepted a faculty position at the University of North Florida and has been there since. She started off as the Coordinator of Clinical Education and has now moved to be the Assistant Director.

Her areas of interest include pharmacology, obstetric anesthesia, emotional intelligence, and resilience.

Kimberly Westra, CRNA, DNP, MSN, APRN, MBAc

Kimberly Westra CRNA, MS, DNP, is a certified registered nurse anesthetist with 21 years of experience and a faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania. She began her career in Baltimore, Maryland with experience as a critical care nurse at Johns Hopkins University. Kimberly is the Chief Nurse Anesthetist at Tidal Health Regional Medical Center in Maryland. Kimberly is the clinical site coordinator at Tidal Health, Johns Hopkins Nurse Anesthesia, University of Maryland Nurse Anesthesia, and Old Dominion University.

Dr. Westra is a doctoral graduate of Chatham University and is an MBA candidate in Healthcare Finance and Administration at Patten University. She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau honor society at Chatham and serves in the mentoring program for advanced practice nurses.

Mrs. Westra’s extensive clinical experience includes her role as an RNFA, CNOR, and CPAN. She specializes in difficult airway program development within healthcare networks. Dr. Westra is a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Nurse Anesthesia Program. Kimberly teaches both didactic and hands-on simulation labs to the interdisciplinary team.

Westra is a dynamic and energetic speaker who engages audiences with lively discussions on numerous topics such as CPC Exam Review, Cardiac Anesthesia, Pediatrics, and a variety of anesthesia core concepts. Kimberly speaks locally and nationally on anesthesia clinical topics and healthcare business management.