Every day VCU Nurse Anesthesia students, alumni, faculty and staff do extraordinary things. Read more about our latest achievements and Department news here.
While the festivities of graduation have given way to the summer months, there is still plenty of activity within the Department of Nurse Anesthesia. This issue highlights the incredible work our students and faculty are undertaking, as well as new openings that will cement the foundations of anesthesia care and education throughout Virginia.
For VCU nurse anesthesia students in Southwest Virginia, the operating room has always been close to reality.
Long before virtual classrooms became commonplace and lecture recordings were just a click away, Gerald “Jerry” Clarke was quietly making distance education work.
Changes to student loan limits are concerning for students across the Commonwealth and the nation. Earlier this year, as part of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ the Department of Education proposed significant changes to loan limits and repayment programs that directly impact nursing students. The proposal classified nursing programs, including nurse anesthesia, as graduate rather than professional, which limits how much nursing graduate students are eligible to receive in loans. Recently, however, a federal judge blocked the rule, and the Department of Education issued a revised rule to comply with the order.
Just months after launching Virginia’s first Cardiovascular Perfusion program, Virginia Commonwealth University’s inaugural class is already moving from textbooks to operating rooms.
One of the newer leaders within the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System is Tanya Smith, CRNA, DNAP, who was named interim chief nurse anesthesiologist in October 2025. Having attended the College of Health Professions in the early 2000s, Smith has worked for VCU Health for decades and draws on her experience to guide the department into the future.
Two doctoral students in the Virginia Commonwealth University College of Health Professions have been selected to present their research at the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiologists’ (AANA) 2026 annual congress in Boston.
It is with heavy hearts and profound sadness that we share this news of the unexpected passing of our longtime, beloved colleague, Mike Kammerman. To say this is a significant loss feels insufficient, as his absence will be felt far beyond the walls of our College and the communities he served.
This year, the VCU College of Health Professions’ Department of Nurse Anesthesia will launch a graduate program in Cardiovascular Perfusion – the first of its kind in Virginia and one of just 22 nationwide.
VCU’s Department of Nurse Anesthesia has long been known for excellence. And now, the department is drawing larger pools of potential Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP) students, while maintaining the high performance outcomes that matter most.
As we begin the new year, I’m proud to share the incredible momentum within VCU’s Department of Nurse Anesthesia. This issue, our stories reflect both the depth of our tradition and the bold ways we are advancing the future of anesthesia care and education.
As a newly minted registered nurse in 2019, Casey Zhao was passionately working at NYU Langone Health in New York City. Then the COVID-19 pandemic burst into the world, and Zhao found herself caring for desperately ill patients.
Jan Pasnak loved nurse anesthesia, and by all accounts nurse anesthesia loved her back.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect the passing of Mike Kammerman, director of simulation and a longtime member of the Department of Nurse Anesthesia.
On a cold January evening in 2015, as snow began to fall across Richmond, colleagues, family and students gathered at a local restaurant to celebrate Marjorie T. Goodwin’s retirement. That night, she expected kind words and memories from more than two decades of service in VCU’s Department of Nurse Anesthesia. What she did not expect was the announcement that would bring her to tears: a scholarship would carry her name forward.
In early 2025, Virginia passed a law allowing for the licensure of anesthesia assistants (AAs), making it one of about 20 states to permit the profession. Anesthesia assistants will work exclusively under the supervision of physician anesthesiologists, a model different from the training and practice approach of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs), who are prepared for independent practice.
Joseph Osborne adds new meaning to the idea of a traveling nurse.
As a researcher, Cayla Ann DeGuzman has managed to find a topic that marries her two favorite topics: technology and nursing.
DeGuzman, a student in the accelerated B.S. in nursing program in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing, previously earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from George Mason University. In her research at VCU, DeGuzman is exploring generative artificial intelligence and its role in both academic and clinical practice for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist students in the College of Health Professions. The research experience has proved powerful.
As a first-year nursing student, Crystal Hunnicutt, DNAP, CRNA, decided to change her career track and become a nurse anesthetist. The trouble was, however, that she was in Southwest Virginia and didn’t have the resources — or want — to relocate elsewhere.
VCU Nurse Anesthesia is mourning the loss of Rachel Davis Fowlkes, who sparked the department’s movement into distance learning almost two decades ago. Fowlkes died in early April in Abingdon, Va.
Crystal O’Guin’s lifelong dream was to become a college professor.
By Kyra Newman
With every week, we see more signs of a return to our daily practices before COVID-19 upended our lives. Even though caseloads continue to decline, except for an occasional variant-driven spike, we haven’t completely returned to our previous ways of doing things.
Suzanne Wright assumed the new role of interim dean of the School of Nursing on Jan. 25. Wright, who joined ODU in 2021 as chair of the School of Nursing, previously served as a full professor and in leadership positions at Virginia Commonwealth University for nearly 20 years. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in nurse anesthesia and a Ph.D. in health-related sciences from VCU.
The faculty members were among 250 nurse leaders selected to join the academy’s 2022 class of fellows. The inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, set for Oct. 27-29.
Graduate, pass the National Certification Exam, get certified, practice as a CRNA.
Jiale (Gary) Hu, Ph.D., associate professor and director of research and global outreach in the Department of Nurse Anesthesia, has received the 2021 Interprofessional Research Collaboration Grant from the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP).
VCU Nurse Anesthesia begins research to understand, promote implementation of crisis resource management principles in anesthesia practice
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Thursday, along with leaders at Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health, stressed the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine and of training frontline health care workers in remarks made to reporters during a visit to VCU’s College of Health Professions.