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WFSA Council

The Council is the body in which representatives of all the Federation’s components (National Societies, Regions, Committees, WCA COC Chair) meet to discuss matters which concern the Federation as a whole.

The Council gives advice and recommendations on policy and subjects of common interest to the Federation. This is presented to the Board and should also be disseminated to the General Assembly and Member Societies by the Council. Board members attend Council meetings but without voting rights.

Regional Representatives

Prof. Elizabeth Ogboli Nwasor (Nigeria)

Africa & Middle East

Prof. Mohamed Adnane Berdai (Morocco)

Africa & Middle East

Prof. Patricia Yazbeck (Lebanon)

Africa & Middle East

Prof. Hailong Dong (China)

Asia

Dr. Suraphong Lorsomradee (Thailand)

Asia

Prof. Il-Ok Lee (Korea)

Asia

Dr Kumudini Ranatunga (Sri Lanka)

Asia

Dr. Christopher Bowden (Australia)

Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands

Prof. Hilal Ayoğlu (Turkey)

Europe

Dr. Carlos Tornero (Spain)

Europe

Dr. Else-Marie Ringvold (Norway)

Europe

Dr Else-Marie Ringvold is a general anaesthesiologist who is Head of Department in Akershus University Hospital in Norway. She holds a Master of Health Management and also has extensive education and experience in the field of Disaster Management. She is the current president of the Norwegian Society of Disaster Medicine and Traumatology. She holds a teaching position at the University of South-East Norway, teaching in various master’s programmes for specialist nurses.

She has been an active examiner for the European Diploma of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care(EDAIC) for almost twenty years. She has spent 8 years on the Examination Committee of ESAIC(formerly ESA). She has served 5 years as a council member of ESAIC, and 2 years on the ESAIC Board of Directors. She is currently the Secretary of ESAIC. Dr Ringvold has a special interest in medical education programmes, quality management and patient safety and was the main author of the document “Norwegian Standards of the Safe Practice of Anaesthesia” in 2016.

Dr. Vicente Faraon Fonseca (Brazil)

Central and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands

Dr. Nicolás Sergi (Argentina)

Central and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands

Prof. Dylan Bould (Canada)

North America and Canada

Dr. Elizabeth Drum (USA)

North America and Canada

Chairs of Committees

Dr Kathleen Ferguson (UK and Ireland)

Chair of the Constitution Committee

Dr Fauzia Anis Khan (Pakistan)

Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Dr Fauzia Khan is a Professor of Anaesthesiology at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan .She completed her anaesthesia training and Fellowship from UK and was one of the founding members of the Department of Anaesthesiology, Aga Khan University, in Pakistan. She chaired the department between 2002 and 2010.She has published more than 200  articles in peer reviewed journals and received the Research Productivity Award of Pakistan Council of Science and Technology and mention in the Directory of Productive Scientists of Pakistan. Her current clinical and research interests are pediatric and neurosurgical anesthesia, and quality and safety . She chaired the Safety and Quality of Practice (SQP) Committee of World Federation of the Societies of Anaesthesia (WFSA) (2016 – 2020), and was a member of both SQP and Diversity, Inclusion and Equity ( DEI) committee (2020-2024). She has now taken over as Chair of DEI committee ( 2024-) of WFSA.

Dr. Sonia Akrimi (UK and Ireland)

Chair of the Education Committee

Dr. Sheila Myatra (India)

Chair of the Intensive and Critical Care Medicine Committee

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).

Dr. Emilia Guasch (Europe)

Chair of the Obstetric Anaesthesia Committee

Dr. Zehra Serpil Ustalar Ozgen (Turkey)

Chair of the Paediatric Anaesthesia Committee

Dr Ustalar Özgen, is working as an anesthesiologist at the Altunizade Hospital of Acibadem Health Group and as an associate professor at the department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation and at the Vocational School of Anesthesia Technicians in the University of Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar, in Istanbul Türkiye. She has worked at the pediatric anesthesia Department of Queen’s Medical Center, Nottingham, UK after completing her residency at the Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, University of Marmara, Istanbul Türkiye.

She is a member of several professional societies including ESPA, SPA, ASA, ESRA and ASPA. She has been a member of the executive committee of ASPA, served as general secretary, and is serving as the President of ASPA for 2023-2025. She has coordinated, organized and taught on several national and international meetings and workshops, including Perioperative Pediatric Life Support Courses of ASPA. She is a member of the educational committee of ASPA. She serves as the Chair of the Scientific Committee of Pediatric Anesthesia of Turkish Society of Anesthesiology and Reanimation and country coordinator of Perioperative Pediatric Life Support Courses in Türkiye. She is the founder member of the Association of Anesthesia Technicians in Türkiye and now serves as the Honarary President of the Association. She has worked as the country representative in Pediatric Anesthesia Committee of WFSA, and from 2024, she will serve as the Chair of the Pediatric Anesthesia Committee.

Dr. Sean Chetty (South Africa)

Chair of the Pain Management Committee

Sean Chetty is the Executive Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology & Critical Care at Tygerberg Hospital and Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa  After completing his post-graduate specialist training in Anaesthesiology he went on to complete his Sub-specialist fellowship in Critical Care, before branching out into the field of Pain Medicine.  He subsequently completed his PhD addressing the management of acute post-operative pain in women after caesarean section surgery.

Professor Chetty is a previous recipient of the prestigious Discovery Foundation MGH Scholarship, which afforded him the opportunity to complete a research fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University in Boston, USA   During his time at MGH he has gained valuable experience within the field of Pain medicine and is working with colleagues in sub-saharan Africa to incorporate appropriate practices into the regional healthcare setting. 

He has a passion for expanding medical education and is regularly involved in knowledge expansion initiatives for health care professionals internationally.

Professor Chetty has served on numerous professional committees during his career.  He is the current president of the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists and has served as a member of the Pain committee of the WFSA prior to taking on the role of chair of this committee in 2024    

Dr. Erlinda C. Oracion (Philippines)

Chair of the Safety and Quality Committee

Dr. Tony Gin (Hong Kong)

Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee

 

Dr. Jodi Sherman (USA)

Chair of the Sustainability Committee

Jodi Sherman, MD, is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology of the Yale School of Medicine, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in Environmental Health Sciences, and founding director of the Yale Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability in the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health. 

Dr. Sherman also serves as the Medical Director for Yale New Haven Health Center for Sustainable Healthcare. She is inaugural and former chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Environmental Health, and inaugural chair of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists Sustainability Committee.

Dr. Sue Nicoll (New Zealand)

Chair of the Workforce Wellbeing Committee

Dr Susan Nicoll is a specialist anaesthetist at Te Whatu Ora-Waitaha, Health NZ-Christchurch. She is Chair of WFSA Workforce well-being committee, a member of the tripartite well-being special interest group of ANZCA, ASA, NZSA and founding coordinator of the Well-being Advocates for Anaesthesia Aotearoa/ New Zealand (WAANZ) network and a Well-being Advocate in her own department.

Currently, she is also completing a Public Health Master’s thesis on the impact of patient complaint on hospital doctors and their preparedness for restorative justice practise for complaint resolution. In her own time, she enjoys family and friends, knitting, swimming and practising spoken French.

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