Students reach milestone on road to become certified anesthesiologist assistants

Fourteen students in the Master of Medical Science in Anesthesiology (M.M.Sc.A.) Class of 2025 celebrated an important milestone with a White Coat Ceremony Saturday, March 11. The students were joined by friends and family, as well as faculty and staff, in the NEW Center Ballroom to receive their white coats – a hopeful step on their voyage to becoming Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants.

Program director Nathanial Flath, M.S.A., M.B.A., CAA, welcomed the audience by sharing his appreciation for the students and their skillset.

“In the first three months of the program, these students have cared for 181 Northeast Ohio patients in the clinical setting. Intubating 74 patients, starting IVs for 18 patients, placing two arterial lines and three spinal nerve blocks. I am humbled to play a small part in preparing these students to be future transformational leaders to safely guide thousands of patients in some of the most serious moments of their lives during surgery,” he said.

The keynote speaker, Ronald Harter, M.D., FASA, president-elect for the American Society of Anesthesiologists and practicing anesthesiologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, provided the students with his top 10 suggestions on how to succeed in their education and future career:

1. Stay humble.
2. Never stop learning; stay hungry for knowledge.
3. Always keep the patient as your focus.
4. Maintain interests outside of work.
5. Remember, you are a medical professional.
6. Give back.
7. Prioritize your self-care.
8. Support your colleagues.
9. When you have bad outcomes, and you inevitably will, learn from them.
10. When you have finished your training and become a Certified AA, come to work at Ohio State.

Tyler Schwartz and Andrew Sullivan, students in the inaugural M.M.Sc.A. Class of 2024, were coaters for the event, helping the new class don their white coats as they crossed the stage.

Members of the M.M.Sc.A. Class of 2025:

• Yeline Cespedes
• Phoebe Devore
• Heran Dhimal
• James Feeney
• Samantha Galambos
• Miguel Gonzalez
• Daniel Horning
• Abbie Howard
• Abigail McMullen
• Mason Merton
• Garrett Mullvain
• Eric Prayson
• Megan Wilke
• Rosemary Zaleski