Advisory Board
Prof Ellen O’Sullivan,
FRCA, FCAI, FCPSP (Hon)
St James Hospital, Dublin
Professor Ellen O’Sullivan is a Consultant Anaesthesiologist at St James’s Hospital Dublin, Ireland. She specializes in airway management and is Director of the Fellowship in Advanced Airway Management and Simulation. Clinically she has developed a worldwide reputation in airway management with a substantial portfolio of clinically relevant research. She is Past President of the Difficult Airway Society, DAS, and is now the DAS International liaison officer. She was appointed DAS Professor of Anaesthesia & Airway Management. Prof O’Sullivan is Lead Advisor for Airway Mx at the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland (CAI) & runs the CAI national airway training.
- Other roles in societies include
- Past Board Member of Society of Airway Management (SAM) USA
- Awarded Fellowship of European Airway Management Society (EAMS)
- Hon Member of Airway Special Interest Group (ANZCA)
- Past Chair ESA ctee on Respiration & Airway Management
- International Airway Management Society (IAMS) founding director & recipient of IAMS distinguished contribution award 2018
- Member of the ASA Task Force on Management of the Difficult Airway published in 2021
- Founder of GCAP (Global Capnography Project)
- Council member Royal College of Anaesthetists
- Member of the Project for Universal Airway Guidelines Group (PUMA)
A particular interest of Prof O’ Sullivan’s is supporting education and training in low & middle income countries which has led to a number of projects in Malawi & Uganda and supporting CANECSA (College of Anaesthesiologists of East, Central & Southern Africa) She contributing to validating what later became the Lifebox Pulse Oximetry project, and more recently set up the GCAP (Global Capnography Project )Prof Ellen O’Sullivan is Past-President of the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland and Past Vice-President of the Association of Anaesthetists (AAGBI). She was awarded the AAGBI John Snow Silver Medal in 2013 for her contributions.
Elizabeth Cordes Behringer M.D. FASA
Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center
A native of Boston Massachusetts, Dr. Behringer received her Undergraduate BA with Honors at Brown University in Providence R.I. Upon graduation from Boston University School of Medicine, she went on to Internal Medicine Residency at the New England Deaconess Medical Center, Residency in Anesthesia and Fellowships in Thoracic Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital – Harvard Medical School in Boston Massachusetts.
She is currently a Cardiac Surgical Intensivist in the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery & Critical Care at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She is an Attending Intensivist in the 16 bed Cardiac Surgical ICU specializing in the care of complex Cardiac Surgical patients. Kaiser Permanente LAMC is a large tertiary care center performing approximately 1500 cardiac surgical cases annually. LAMC is a flagship teaching hospital for the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J Tyson School of Medicine.
Dr. Behringer’s research and clinical interest in advanced airway management date back to her anesthesiology residency at MGH where she was fortunate to learn from notable airway enthusiasts Drs. James Roberts, Roger Wilson and Hermes Grillo. She has published extensively on airway management outside of the operating room. Dr. Behringer has been the Co-Moderator of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Difficult Airway Workshop for over 15 years. She has received numerous clinical teaching awards throughout her career to date.
She is Past President of the Society for Airway Management and earned it’s Distinguished Service Award in 2013. Presently, she serves as the secretary for the SAM Specizl Project group on Airway Leads. The goal of this committee is to introduce the Airway Leads concept into the United States.
She served as Co-Chair of the first World Airway Management Meeting in Dublin Ireland in November 2015 and the Second WAMM meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in November 2019. Dr Behringer currently serves as Executive Director of the World Association of Airway Management
Prof Anil Patel MBBS PhD FRCA
Anil Patel is a Consultant Anaesthetist at The Royal National ENT & Eastman Dental Hospital and University College Hospital, University College London Hospitals and DAS Professor of Anaesthesia & Airway Management.
He graduated from University College London in 1991 and following specialist training in London was appointed a Consultant at The Royal National Throat Nose & Ear Hospital in 1999.
Anil is a clinical anaesthetist working in an operating theatre 4-5 days a week and has held posts as Clinical Lead, College Tutor, Royal College Audit Co-ordinator, as well as National and International roles developing guidelines for airway management.
Clinically he continues to develop and refine the largest experience of anaesthetising adult airway patients (> 6,000 ) in the UK, probably Europe and possibly the world, leading to innovative techniques and improved patient care. Over 100 anaesthetists from 18 countries have visited and spent time ranging from a few days to weeks observing our practise.
He has received the Humphry Davy Award from The Royal College of Anaesthetists, Distinguished Research Award from International Airway Management Society and Honorary Membership of the European Airway Management Society for extraordinary contribution in the field of airway management.
Research Interests
His interests include (i) Emergency Airway Management, (ii) Airway stenosis, (iii) Jet ventilation, (iv) Airway reconstruction, (v) Role of Laryngeal Mask Airways in ENT surgery, (vi) THRIVE, (vii) Videolaryngoscopy and (viii) Difficult Airway Management.
Anil has given 100+ talks at local meetings and been invited as a Keynote or invited speaker to over 100 talks at National meetings and 100+ talks at International meetings in 38 countries.
Publications
He has 130+ peer reviewed publications, 25 book chapters, over 4,500 citations and an h-index of 25.
About WAAM Advisory Board
Board / Structure
- WAAM will be governed by a Board consisting of 3 Company Directors: Anil Patel, Ellen O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Behringer (5-year term).
- Board Members: 2 representatives appointed by DAS Executive Board, 2 representatives appointed by SAM Executive Board, 2 representatives appointed by EAMS Executive Board, Charitable Lay representative (5-year term, non-voting Advisory role), Representative from the PCO Organiser (CPI) (non-voting Advisory role).
- Voting Members are the 3 Company Directors and 6 Host Society Board Members only.
- Future Board members will be nominated by each host society for confirmation and ratification at the AGM held during the WAMM Conference every 4 years. A nomination form will be sent to the President of each host society at least three months prior to the WAMM Conference in order to facilitate the nomination of new/recurrent board members. The current WAAM Board will review and support the nominations prior to confirmation and ratification at the AGM held during the quadrennial WAMM meeting.
- The day to day administration and management of WAAM will be carried on by the Board. The Board may delegate specific tasks or projects to individual Board members or to a sub-committee of the Board.
- Quorum for Meeting shall be at least 6 Board members.
- For voting, the Quorum shall require at least 1 Board member from each of the Host Societies and at least 2 Directors. A simple majority for voting is required. Appointed board members cannot be substituted by other individuals.
- Constitutional changes requires presence of the full Board.