The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) Foundation has named Young (John) Yauger, PhD, CRNA, FAANA, as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective March 1, 2025.
Dr. Yauger brings his extensive experience in the military, academia, and research to the charitable organization. He recently retired from the US Army after a rewarding 25 years of active military service.
“I am proud to be a CRNA and humbled to lead the AANA Foundation,” he said. “My background and unique experiences have prepared me for this moment where I have an incredible opportunity to reshape the cutting edge of anesthesia science, facilitate the generous philanthropic mission, and to enable scholarly pursuit within our nursing community.”
Dr. Yauger’s assignments in the military included Executive Director of TriService Nursing Research Program, Assistant Professor and Deputy Research Director in the US Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), critical care nurse, and medical surgical nurse. He deployed three times to combat, most recently in 2018, where he conducted golden hour surgical team operations for the Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan.
He earned his neuroscience PhD and Masters of Science in Nursing from the Department of Defense’s Uniformed Services University. As an assistant professor and researcher, Dr. Yauger taught biochemistry, leadership, and principles of nurse anesthesia. His research interests include combat nursing, resuscitation, anesthesia, traumatic brain injury, innovative technology, and neuro-inflammation. Dr. Yauger was the first US Army CRNA to become a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Service Chief Fellow. He served as a subject matter expert on neuroscience and combat anesthesia topics on the cutting edge of technology. His positive contributions focused on project efforts toward the multi-domain operational environment and led to the refinement of new projects identifying potential artificial blood products and traumatic brain injury treatments.
For more than 40 years, AANA Foundation has played a significant role in supporting CRNAs, also known as nurse anesthesiologists or nurse anesthetists. AANA Foundation works to improve patient care and advance the nurse anesthesiology profession by supporting research and education endeavors. Recent accomplishments include funding research by new and seasoned investigators, awarding scholarships to make learning more affordable, providing numerous grants and awards to celebrate and advance achievement in the profession, and funding health policy research that demonstrates that CRNAs are safe and effective.