WFSA Council

Dr Mavoungou is currently staff anesthesiologist at the Hopital Robert – Ancenis, France, and is a firm advocate of anaesthesiology in Africa and worldwide. He is founding member of the Société Congolaise d’Anesthésie Réanimation Urgences (SOCARU) and, amongst others, a member of the Societe Francaise d’Anesthesie Reanimation (SFAR) and of the Societe d’Anesthesie Reanimation d’Afrique Francophone (SARAF). He was elected as Council member of the WFSA in 2016 and has served as a co-opted Member of the Board (2018-2019), He is currently Chair of the WFSA ad hoc Anaesthesia Equipment Committee.

Dr Bisola Onajin-Obembe is a Consultant Anaesthesiologist at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, River State, Nigeria.

She is Past President of both the Nigerian Society of Anaesthetists and the Africa Regional Section of the WFSA. She is currently the Permanent Council Secretary and on the Board of Directors for the Global Alliance for Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma and Anaesthesia Care (G4 Alliance).

Dr Onajin-Obembe graduated from the Medical College of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. She is a Fellow in Anaesthesiology from the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS) and gained regional experience as a Fellow of the West African Health Organization (WAHO) as part of a professional and linguistic exchange programme within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). She obtained her MBA in International Hospital and Healthcare Management from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germany and holds a PhD in International Business Management from the International School of Management, Paris.

Profesor Yazbeck is a specialist in of Anesthesia and Critical Care at St Joseph’s University, Beirut and has been a full time physician in the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care at Hotel-Dieu de France Hospital since 1982 and Chair of the department since 2005. She is also Head of both their Ambulatory Surgery Committee and the Organ Procurement Unit.

She was President of the WFSA regional section, the Pan Arab Federation Societies of Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Management (PAFSA) from 2016-2018 and reappointed from 2018-2020.

In addition Professor Yazbeck is President of the Lebanese Society of Critical Care Medicine (LSCCM), an Advisory Board member of the Lebanese Society of Anesthesiologists (LSA) and a member of both the French Society of Anesthesia and Critical Care (SFAR) and the French Society of Reanimation (SRLF). She has been a co-opted member of the WFSA Council since 2016.

Dr Yuguang Huang is Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing. He is the President of Chinese Society of Anesthesiology (CSA), Chairman and Professor of the Department of Anesthesiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Dr Huang undertook his post-doctoral research training at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, USA.

He is an active member of national and international societies, including Director of Anesthetic Quality Assurance Center of National Health Commission (NHC) of the People’s Republic of China; Vice President of the China Ambulatory Surgery Alliance; Faculty member of the Faculty of 1000 (F1000) for Anesthesiology; Pain Management; a member of the 13th National and Municipal Committees of the The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and a member of the Committee on Education, Science, Health and Sport.

Professor Il-Ok Lee graduated from Korea University, Seoul. She is Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the College of Medicine, Korea University. She was research fellow at Harvard Medical School, Boston and visiting professor and research associate for the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She is an editorial member of several reputed journals including the World Journal of Anesthesiology, Case Reports in Anesthesiology and the International Journal of Clinical Research & Trials and has authored 60 research articles. She was formerly President of the Korean Society of Anesthesiology, of the Korean Society of Pediatric Anesthesia, and the Korean Society of Geriatric Anesthesia.

Professor Shigeru Saito is Professor of the Department of Anesthesiology, Director of the Intensive Care Unit and Deputy Chief of Gunma University Hospital, Tokyo. He is a graduate of the Gunma University School of Medicine and went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Department of Neuroscience.

He has held numerous directorial posts, including a member of the Board of Directors and Vice-Chair of the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists, a member of the Japan Society of Pain Clinicians past-President of The Japan Society for Clinical Anesthesia and a member of Japanese Societies including Regional Anesthesia, Medical Gases, Hyperbaric and Undersea Medicine and Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care. He is a current member of the The Japan Society for Clinical Anesthesia and of the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists.

David Pescod AO, is the Honorary Clinical Associate Professor of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne and is Deputy Director of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at the Northern Hospital, Melbourne. He is a currently a member of the Overseas Aid Committee of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and of the Overseas Development and Education Committee of the Australian Societies of Anaesthetists (ASA).

David has extensive experience in anaesthesia education and anaesthesia provision in low resource environments. He has received the Presidents Medal from the Australian Society of Anaesthetists, the Medal of Honour from the Mongolian Ministry of Health and the Officer of the Order Australia from the Australian Government in recognition of his service.

Stefan De Hert is Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of Research at the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the Ghent University Hospital/Ghent University.

He has authored and co-authored over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and many chapters in different textbooks. He is Executive Section Editor of Cardiovascular Pathophysiology and Outcomes of Anesthesia & Analgesia and Associate Editor of the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia. He has over 65 scientific and clinical papers included in this and other journals. Professor De Hert acted as chair of the European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA) Scientific Committee. He is currently President of the ESA and a board member of the Society for Anaesthesia and Resuscitation of Belgium (SARB).

Dr Guasch is a Spanish anaesthesiologist, who was born in Uruguay. She has always been involved in obstetric anaesthesia, which is her main field of interest. She is an advocate of patient safety and as a member of her national society in Spain, Sociedad Española de Anestesiología, Reanimación y Terapéutica del Dolor (SEDAR) is involved in developing responsibilities in this field. She has been the Vice-President of SEDAR for the past six years and also involved in the European Society of Anesthesia (ESA) as a member of the Obstetric Anesthesia Subcommittee and the Gender Equity Committee. She is also Honorary Secretary of the European Board of Anaesthesiology (EBA/UEMS).

Dr Anna Spacek is Associate Professor of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. She works at the General Hospital (AKH) in Vienna and studied in Stettin, Poland. She has specialist interests including pain management, acupuncture, intensive care management and anaesthesia in developing countries. She has been a Board member of The World Society of Pain Clinicians, member of the Editorial Board of The Pain Clinic, secretary of the World Society of Pain Clinicians and on the Editorial Board Member of Anestezjologia iRatownictwo. She is also past-President of the World Society of Pain Clinicians.

Dr Falcão is associate professor and vice-chair of the Department of Anesthesia, Pain and Critical Care Medicine at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is currently Scientific Director for the São Paulo State Society of Anesthesiologists (SAESP) and from 2018 to 2019 was Director of International Affairs. Additionally, he is Chief Operating Officer of the Paulista Associated Anesthesiologists Group (GAAP).He holds an MBA in Business Management and a postdoctoral degree from Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts General Hospital), gained a superior title of anesthesiology in 2013 from the Brazilian Society of Anesthesiology and a PhD in Anesthesiology in 2012.

Dr Ibarra holds a critical care fellowship in trauma anaesthesia from New York University and an MSc in Healthcare Informatics from the University of Bath. In 1992, he developed the Anesthesia Practice Minimal Standards of the Colombian Society of Anesthesiologists (SCARE), which were adopted by the Health Ministry as mandatory requirements for anaesthesia practice in Colombia. As chair of the Safety Committee he also led the publication of the Consensus in Anaesthesia Safety for Plastic Surgery and Sedation Practice by non-Anesthesiologists.

Over the last 25 years, Dr Ibarra has been at the forefront of a number new developments in Columbian anaesthesiology, including streamlined preanesthetic testing algorithms, dynamic volemia monitoring, rational fluid management, the concept of optimizing HbA1C prior to major arthroplasties in diabetics and the first Patient Blood Management program in Colombia.

He has been a member of the WFSA Education Committee and the Safety Committee and chair of the Safety Committee for CLASA.

Dylan Bould is an Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Ottawa, and cross appointed to the Department of Innovation in Medical Education. He has a Masters in Education and has sub-specialty fellowship training in simulation/education, paediatric anaesthesia and paediatric cardiac anaesthesia. He is the immediate past-chair of the Canadian Anesthesiologist’s Society International Education Foundation and serves on the editorial boards of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesiology, BJA Education and Advances in Simulation.

Dr Drum is a pediatric anesthesiologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA. She has been active in anesthesiology education and training for more than ten years, with her primary focus being on strengthening educational programs in anesthesia in Ethiopia.

She is Vice-Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Global Humanitarian Outreach Committee and directs the Resident International Anesthesia Scholarship program, through which she has coordinated rotations for over 40 anesthesiology residents and fellows. She is a member of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia Global Committee (SPA Global), the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery (GICS) and Secretary/Treasurer of the Alliance for Surgery and Anesthesia Presence (ASAP). She is also leading an effort with the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) to start an anesthesiology residency training program at Kijabe, Kenya.

Dr Evans is a Senior Associate in Perioperative Anaesthesia in the Department of Anaesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and an Assistant Professor in Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School where her specialty is paediatric anaesthesia. She is the current Chair of the Education Committee and one of the Paediatric Editors for the WFSA publication “Anaesthesia Tutorial of the Week”(ATOTW). She is the Vice-Chair for the ASA’s Global Humanitarian Outreach Committee, serves on The Global Governance Council-Lifebox and is on the Medical Advisory Board for SmileTrain. Her global health work currently focuses on improving the quality and safety of anaesthesia in the low-resource setting through education and advocacy. She has been involved in a variety of educational initiatives including as an advisor to the University of Nairobi Paediatric Anaesthesia fellowship in Kenya, the Safer Anaesthesia from Education (SAFE) Paediatric Course, and as the Director of the Anaesthesia for Global Outreach Course.

Professor Dyer has been a member of the Obstetric Anaesthesia Committee since 2016. He is Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Cape Town and also Deputy Head of the Department. He has a background in Basic Sciences and Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and was previously Lead Clinician in Obstetric Anaesthesia at the University Hospital. He is also a long-standing examiner for the final Fellowship of the College of Anaesthetists of South Africa as well as being directly involved in the African Surgical Outcomes projects, which specifically engage with Obstetrics and Obstetric Anaesthesia outcomes in limited resource environments.  

He was Chair of the special interest group in Obstetric Anaesthesia in South Africa (OASIS), and is directly involved in the African Surgical Outcomes projects, which engage with Obstetrics and Obstetric Anaesthesia outcomes in limited resource environments. He successfully hosted the 2019 International Congress of Obstetric Anaesthesia in Cape Town, which specifically dealt with the interface between high- and low- income countries. 

In addition, he has published over 90 publications and several book chapters, including a chapter on hypertensive disorders in the most recent edition of “Chestnut’s textbook of Obstetric Anaesthesia”. 

Professor Christina Lundgren-Steele is an anaesthesiologist in Johannesburg South Africa. She obtained her Fellowship from the College of Anaesthetists of South Africa in 1986. Her PhD on Deaths due to Anaesthesia was completed in 2011, and she was awarded an MSc (Med), in Health Law and Bioethics by the University of the Witwatersrand in 2015.

She is currently Head of Clinical Governance at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre, and is also Visiting Honorary Professor in the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at the University of the Witwatersrand. Two years ago she retired as Head of Anaesthesiology, University of the Witwatersrand, a post she held for 8 years.  

She is a past president of both the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists, as well as the College of Anaesthetists of South Africa. She continues to teach registrars and also examines fellowship candidates for the College of Anaesthetists of South Africa.

She was Editor-in-Chief of the Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia and Analgesia from 2001 to December 2014, and is currently a member of the editorial board. She is Co-Editor-in Chief of the journal Update in Anaesthesia, for the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists, and Chairman of the WFSA Publications committee.

Dr Erlinda Dela Cruz Oracion is a staunch Patient Safety advocate with over 25 year’s experience in anaesthesiology. She is a Physician Assessor and specialises in paediatric anaesthesiology. As well as being Chair of the Patient Safety Committee of WFSA, she is a member of the Executive and Education Committee of the Asian Society of Pediatric Anesthesiology and was a founder member of the Society and of their Faculty of Pediatric Perioperative Life Support. Dr Oracion was also President of the Philippine Society of Pediatric Medicine from 2012-2014. She is a passionate advocate of education and learning as a tool for success and has lectures and speaks at Universities, meetings and Congresses at local and international level.

Dr Kuratani is Anesthesiologist-in-Chief at Saitama Children’s Medical Center, Saitama, Japan. He also holds several Professorial positions at University hospitals in Japan. He has a Master’s degree in Public Health and is a visiting Research Associate in Teikyo University Graduate School of Public Health. Dr Kuratani is a member of several professional societies of anaesthesia, including the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists (JSA) and the Asian Society of Paediatric Anaesthesiologists (ASPA).

He has been involved in several short-term surgical missions and educational activities in low-income countries. He was also a member of the WFSA Paediatric Anaesthesia Committee from 2017 to 2020 and is actively involved in various educational activities of ASPA, supported by WFSA Committee project funding. 

After medical training in Germany, Professor Dr Christian Werner undertook a neuroanesthesia research fellowship at Michael Reese Hospital Medical Center, Chicago, USA. He was then appointed as Professor of Anesthesiology and Vice-Chair at the Technische Universität München, Germany and subsequently Professor of Anesthesiology and Chairman at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz.

He has served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and also Past President of the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) and on the Board of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) as well as being a past Council member of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC). 

He has authored, co-authored and collaborated on over 180 publications in peer-reviewed journals along with several book chapters and co-edited the German Anesthesia Textbook.

Dr Clare Roques is a consultant anaesthetist and leads the inpatient pain service at Wexham Park Hospital in the UK. As a previous member of the WFSA’s Pain Management Committee she co-authored the Committee’s consensus statement on opioid use. She has coordinated and taught on multiple educational workshops overseas, including Essential Pain Management (EPM) and is a member of the WFSA EPM Steering Committee. She is also a co-opted member of the Association of Anaesthetists’ International Relations Committee. With an academic interest in global aspects of pain management, she has recently completed a PhD in that field from the University of Glasgow.

Dr Ramirez is currently Consultant Anaesthesiologist at the Universidad CES Medellin, Colombia. For more than 10 years, he has held senior positions on the Boards of many anaesthesiology and trauma societies and was President of the Colombian Society of Anesthesiology (SCARE) from 2018-2020.

For WFSA, he was Chairman of the Obstetric Anaesthesia Committee and a Council member from 2016-2020.

Professor Sheila Myatra has worked in the Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai for over 20 years. She is a Professor of Intensive Care at the Homi Bhabha National Institute University. 

She is the President and founder member of the “All India Difficult Airway Association” (AIDAA) and is the Vice Chancellor of the Indian College of Critical Care Medicine (ISCCM).

She is one among the 13 international airway experts who is working on the Project for the Universal Management of the Airway (PUMA) guidelines and the next American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) difficult airway guidelines. She has also developed a new test in hemodynamic monitoring, called the “tidal volume challenge” (Critical Care Medicine 2017).

She was recently appointed on the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) steering committee, working on updating the SSC COVID Guidelines. She is also on the steering committee of several ongoing international studies including the COVID Steroid 2, HOPE, IntubateCOVID, Unite COVID, SANDMAN Study and the InPUT Study. 

She is presently on the editorial board of Anaesthesia (Impact factor 5.739), Journal of Critical Care (Impact factor 2.78), and Trends in Anaesthesia and Critical Care (1.81).Previously, Intensive Care Medicine, the journal of the ESICM (Impact factor 17.679).