SASRA Congress 2024

Dr. Kris Abbas completed his anesthesia residency at the Catholic University of Leuven in
Belgium. Upon returning to Canada, he started and completed a fellowship in regional
anesthesia at Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto. He further completed a second
fellowship in Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) at The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa.
Dr. Abbas's educational interests focus on regional anesthesia, pain management, point-ofcare ultrasound, and Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols. He is actively
involved in the undergraduate program, anesthesia residency, and regional anesthesia
fellowship at McMaster University. Additionally, Dr. Abbas organises and leads ultrasoundguided regional anesthesia and POCUS workshops at various national and international
conferences, contributing significantly to the field's educational and practical advancements in
regional anesthesia and POCUS.

Dr Ryan Davids [MBChB, DA (SA), MMED (Anaes), FCA, MPhil (Applied Ethics),Cert Critical Care ] is an anaesthetist with varied interests. He has a subspecialty qualification in Critical Care and heads the Surgical ICU at Tygerberg Hospital. In this capacity Ryan has solidified the research and education outputs of the unit and continues to strive for advancement in the field of intensive care medicine, anaesthesiology and bioethics.

Dr Davids also holds a Masters in Philosophy and Applied Ethics. In terms of his Bioethics involvement, Ryan serves on a number of local and national research and clinical ethics committees. Including SA medical research council and ethics consultant to the Mediclinic group nationally. Ryan is affiliated with the Division of Medical Law and Bioethics at Stellenbosch University where he serves as a senior lecturer and member of the Executive committee of this division.

His passions extend beyond academia. He is a family man, a father to a very busy 4-year-old. Ryan openly admits to being governed by his wife and his daughter: Isabella. They occasionally allow him to practice his martial arts and archery. Ryan holds black belts in Kyokushin and Samurai fighting styles.

Dr Nadia Hernandez is a Texas-born and raised, NYC-trained Regional and Acute Pain Specialist. She is a Trauma Anesthesiologist at the busiest trauma center in the US with a special interest in point-of-care ultrasound use in the perioperative setting. Dr Hernandez created the Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Fellowship training program at UTHealth in 2016. She transformed the Regional and Acute Pain Service at Memorial Hermann Hospital into a nationally renowned inpatient pain management service. Dr. Hernandez is a distinguished educator that wins teaching awards yearly and publishes innovative techniques for inpatient acute cancer and traumatic pain management. She is internationally known for point-of-care ultrasound and inpatient acute pain management.

Dr. Jacob Hutchins is currently the Senior Medical Director of Perioperative
Services for the University of Minnesota Medical Center and also the division
chief of the Regional Anesthesia, Acute Pain, and Ambulatory Surgery at the
University of Minnesota. His current research interests include ultrasound-guided
regional anesthesia in adult and pediatric patients in the areas of ambulatory,
cardiothoracic, and orthopedic surgery. His research also explores the area of
long acting local anesthetics for postoperative pain control in a variety of surgical
procedures and management of acute postoperative pain in ambulatory surgery.
Dr. Hutchins completed his Masters in Healthcare Administration, fellowship in
cardiothoracic anesthesiology and his residency in anesthesiology at the
University of Minnesota. He is originally from Rice, Minnesota.

Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Johnson is fellowship-trained, in Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Management. Additionally, Becky has received Postdoctoral Certificates in Clinical and Translational Science and Health Care Delivery Science. To date, she has used this health care delivery research background to study outcomes following total joint arthroplasty with a focus on how best to optimize the perioperative care for patients with regional anesthesia interventions and multimodal analgesia enhanced recovery protocols.

Dr. Sandra L. Kopp is a Professor of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University Of Minnesota School Of Medicine in 1999. Dr. Kopp did her Internship, Anesthesiology Residency, and Regional Anesthesiology fellowship at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Dr. Kopp is currently the Vice Chair, Integration and Convergence, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, and Chair, Mankato Department of Anesthesiology. As part of her Mayo Clinic Enterprise roles, she works clinically providing anesthesia in small community hospitals as well as a large tertiary care hospital. She serves as the Treasurer for the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. Her research interests include regional anesthesia and analgesia for orthopedic surgery, peripheral nerve injury, and anticoagulation.

Dr Bojan Korda is a specialist anaesthetist who completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training at the University of the Witwatersrand. He subsequently completed his European Diploma in Regional Anaesthesia, and has recently completed a fellowship in critical care. Prior to specialising, he also spent some time in Emergency Medicine, gaining his Diploma in Primary Emergency Care along with Level 1 accreditation in Point of care ultrasound (EMSSA).
He has always had an avid interest in innovation in medical practice, and even as an intern was learning to do upper limb blocks. His passion for point of care ultrasound carried through to his anaesthesia practice, particularly regional anaesthesia. He has been involved in research involving point of care ultrasound in obstetric regional anaesthesia, neuraxial anaesthesia and point of care ultrasound training.

Dr. Iryna Rybinkina is a Ukrainian born, UK trained Consultant Anaesthetist. She completed her Anaesthetic Training with special interest in Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia in 2021. In 2022, when Russia launched full-scale invasion in Ukraine, she relocated back to Ukraine to help with Humanitarian Medical efforts. Iryna is the Founder and CEO of SMART Medical Aid Charity delivering medical equipment and training to hospitals and frontline medics. She launched POCUS and regional anaesthesia training for tactical medics in combat zone and has been appointed as an advisor to the Minister of Health of Ukraine.
Currently working on delivering surgical and anaesthetic training programmes for Ukrainian doctors to improve training of specialists in Ukraine.

Dr Andrii Strokan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at the Shupik National Healthcare University of Ukraine, Kyiv. He has completed several fellowships and earned his PhD in 2012.

Starting my medical practice in Cape Town, then moved to London and finished specialising in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine in Cambridge. Developed special interest in Ultrasound RA in 2000.
Regularly lectures, organises workshops and have established ultrasound courses nationally and internationally.
Actively involved with RA-UK board for 12 years and Past-President for Regional Anaesthesia United Kingdom (RA-UK),
Previously an ESRA Board member
Chairman of European Diploma in Regional Anaesthesia exam (EDRA)
Examiner for the EDRA diploma.
My special interests are education in ultrasound regional anaesthesia, RA non-technical skills (RANTS), vascular anaesthesia, golf and fine wine.