2019 Teaching Assistants

We are proud to announce the 2019 Teaching Assistants from the Class of 2020. Mimi Gu and Hannah Burzumatto were selected as the Research TAs and Maggie McDonell, and Carter Gisriel were selected as the Introduction to Nurse Anesthesia TAs.

Mimi, Maggie, Hannah, and Carter will work collaboratively with faculty to enrich the student experience while also learning strategies that will enable them to become effective educators after they graduate.

“I have always enjoyed teaching, and when the opportunity to become a TA came up, I jumped on it. My mentor during nursing school initially sparked my interest in education, and my interest since then has never faded. I am excited to be able to help train fellow nurses who are entering the field of anesthesia with the basic skills that are so important to develop and master to ensure a successful career as a CRNA.”
Carter

Carter, Hannah, and Maggie will be an integral part of the classroom and simulation lab experience of the incoming Class of 2022. The faculty look forward to mentoring them as they learn more about the educator role.

Mimi has a strong foundation in research and will be a great asset to the Class of 2021 as they enter the clinical setting and make the decision about the trajectory of their doctoral projects. Mimi’s role will be to assist the faculty in the construction and development of NURA780 Evidenced Based Research Methods active learning sessions. She will have a chance to participate, alongside the faculty, in active learning sessions with the objective of helping students develop fundamental research skills and to select a research topic and research questions.

“I’ve noticed that knowledge is so often depicted as light where there was once darkness. And I’ve also been told that pursuing a doctorate means pushing yourself to the boundary of knowledge in a particular field. So, it seems to me that research is when we throw our effort against this boundary and we drive our light just a little bit further into the darkness. It might be a romantic notion, but I hope my role in research adds to this light and this human effort to discover.”
Mimi

Hannah is from northern Virginia (but originally from Georgia. Hannah has worked for multiple years as a medical-surgical intensive care unit nurse, but was always interested in nurse anesthesia and furthering her career.

It appealed to me because nurse anesthesia offers a unique opportunity wherein you not only master advanced technical skills and critical thinking but also have the chance to participate in research. For years I knew I wanted to teach future generations and I began this career by being a teaching assistant in my undergraduate nursing program. I continued this path by becoming a preceptor to new graduate nurses while in the intensive care unit, and now I am honored and excited to continue this passion as the teaching assistant for Class of 2021! I loved my rotations in regional anesthesia (a specialty rotation at the VA for peripheral nerve blocks and a few months at Washington Hospital Center for obstetrics) and I am so happy I get to share that passion with the underclassmen. I also am excited to assist the class with their research endeavors, helping Dr. O’Guin and Dr. Bowman teach the fundamentals of developing a data collection tool and the intricacies of collecting said data.
Hannah