Nurse Anesthesia Program Director of Year Award Presented to Ladan Eshkevari

Rosemont, Ill. (AANA) – The American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) presented Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) Ladan Eshkevari, PhD, CRNA, L.Ac., FAAN, with the Program Director of the Year Award during its 2022 Annual Congress, August 12-16, in Chicago.

The Program Director of the Year Award was established in 1991 to recognize a CRNA who has made a significant contribution as a program director to the educational process of student registered nurse anesthetists.  The award recognizes the individual’s commitment to the profession of nurse anesthesia and to the advancement of educational standards that further the art and science of anesthesiology and result in high-quality patient care.

Eshkevari is program director and professor at the Doctorate of Nurse Anesthesia program at Georgetown University School of Nursing in Washington, DC.  She has been the program director 2016.

“It is an honor and a privilege to receive this award. I would not be here today were it not for the dedication of all of our faculty, graduates, current students, and our past Director, Dr. Donna Jasinski who started the GU nurse anesthesia program in the 1990s,” said Eshkevari. “I am grateful to the AANA for recognizing me, and to all my colleagues in Nurse Anesthesia education who work tirelessly to ensure a solid future for our beloved profession. Thank you!”

According to her nomination, Eshkevari was one of the first anesthesia educators to utilize cadavers for anatomical instruction and in teaching nerve block placements. She also implemented one of the first teaching assistant programs. “Although Dr. Eshkevari is in a leadership role, she maintains an integral role in the didactic and simulation-based education of the students. Dr. Eshkevari is approachable and always available as a mentor to faculty and students. She has extended this mentoring to several students who, following graduation, have gone on to pursue leadership in educational and clinical roles.”

Her students praise her “tireless” work to “continue to advance our program to provide the best experience for us as future CRNAs.… The success of our program and the opportunities allowed to us as students are a direct reflection of Dr. Eshkevari’s leadership and the entire faculty’s dedication, passion, and professionalism. As Georgetown students under Dr. E’s leadership, we proudly enter the CRNA profession with a unique and multifaceted education.”

In 2014 Eshkevari received AANA’s John Garde Researcher of Year Award. She served as president of the District of Columbia Association of Nurse Anesthetists and is a former chair of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology Foundation Board of Trustees.

Eshkevari earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from University of Maryland in Baltimore, with honors, and earned her master’s degree in nurse anesthesia at Columbia University in New York. She has a doctorate in physiology and biophysics from Georgetown University. Eshkevari also earned a diplomate in acupuncture from Maryland Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.