Central Line episode 140: Subspecialty: Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology

Heather C. Nixon, MD

Dr. Heather Nixon is a professor of anesthesiology and the division chief of obstetric anesthesiology at the University of Illinois Hospital at Chicago where she has worked for the last 13 years. She completed her residency at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical School and her obstetric anesthesiology fellowship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital – Feinberg School of Medicine. Her previous academic appointments include residency program director, associate head for education and obstetric anesthesiology fellowship director.  

Nationally, she served as the vice chair for the American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Obstetric Anesthesia for six years and a member of the board of directors for the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology for the last 9 years and holds the position of SOAP President currently. She is a recognized national and international speaker and is a passionate advocate for patient safety as it relates to medication management in anesthesiology and the patient experience in obstetric anesthesia care.

Tracey M. Vogel, MD, FASA

Tracey M. Vogel, MD, FASA, is an obstetric anesthesiologist, trained sexual assault counselor, and the creator and director of the Perinatal Trauma-informed Care Clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received her MD degree from the University of Pittsburgh and finished her anesthesia training, including a fellowship in obstetric anesthesiology, from Stanford University in California. She speaks nationally and internationally on the topic of birth trauma and the need for trauma-awareness in obstetrics and actively promotes medical “centers of excellence” in providing trauma-informed care for obstetric patients. Her hospital-based work also includes involvement with quality assurance processes, education and training of nurses, residents, and medical students, and creation of specific care plans for high risk obstetric patients including those with prior sexual trauma, opioid tolerance and substance use disorders, and mental health concerns. Beyond her work in hospital settings, she is part of the governor’s HEAL PA Taskforce seeking to make Pennsylvania a trauma-aware state.

Brooke E. Trainer, MD, FASA

Brooke E. Trainer, MD, FASA, remains devoted to her fellow Veterans and maintains her full-time status as an anesthesiologist, acute pain physician, and critical care medicine Intensivist at the Central Virginia VA Health Care System in Richmond VA. She is also an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Virginia Commonwealth University where she works as a critical care intensivist in the liver transplant and surgical trauma burn ICU. Most recently, Dr. Trainer was recognized for her contributions and interest in simulation education and was granted a national faculty position with the VHA Simulation Learning Education and Research Network (SimLEARN) Division.

Dr. Trainer received her doctor of medicine from the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, completed her anesthesia residency at Yale New Haven Medical Center in Connecticut, and fellowship in critical care medicine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a US Air Force veteran, having served as an anesthesiologist at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and director for the Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATT). She deployed in 2012, '13, and '14 to Afghanistan from Germany, flying wounded soldiers safely out of Afghanistan back to Germany, then home to the US. In 2012, she was recognized as the top-level physician of the European Medical Command and was awarded the US Air Force European Clinical Excellence Award. Dr. Trainer also holds several leadership positions in organized medicine, including her current role as the president for the Association of VA Anesthesiologists, and has published numerous book chapters in internationally recognized Anesthesia Textbooks.