Grace Lim, MD, MSc
Dr. Lim, a board-certified OB anesthesiologist and physician scientist, specializes in improving pain management and recovery for vulnerable populations. Through clinical and translational research, she focuses on safe, effective therapies for labor pain, postpartum recovery, and perioperative care. Dr. Lim leads multidisciplinary teams to implement best practices and has published extensively on pain, depression, and anesthesia outcomes.
Mark Neuman, MD, MSc
Dr. Neuman, a practicing anesthesiologist and health services researcher, directs the Penn Center for Perioperative Outcomes Research and Transformation. His work examines how care variations across hospitals and nursing facilities impact outcomes, especially for older adults. With expertise in observational studies and health policy, Dr. Neuman aims to improve care coordination and quality for vulnerable populations.
Susanna Stanford
Susanna Stanford became an advocate for patient safety after experiencing a spinal anesthetic failure during a C-section. She campaigns for better guidance on neuraxial block testing, follow-up care, and clinician-patient communication after anesthesia-related trauma. Her work, including a survey of 150 mothers, highlights the importance of acknowledging trauma to improve healing and outcomes.
Mark Zakowski, MD, FASA
Dr. Zakowski, a leading OB anesthesiologist, serves as Chief of Obstetric Anesthesiology and Fellowship Director at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He has held prominent leadership roles, including Past President of the California Society of Anesthesiologists and the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, contributing extensively at hospital, state, and national levels.
May Pian-Smith, MD, MS
Dr. Pian-Smith, an obstetric anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, also serving as Director of Anesthesiology Quality and Safety across the Mass General Brigham (MGB) enterprise. With expertise in patient safety and medical education, she focuses on improving care quality and fostering leadership in anesthesia safety and innovation.
Rachel Somerstein, PhD, MFA
Rachel Somerstein is a writer and associate professor of journalism at SUNY New Paltz whose spinal anesthesia failed during her C-section. That experience led her to write Invisible Labor: The Untold Story of Cesarean Section, which draws on memoir, reporting, and history to tell the story of her own C-section and what C-sections reveal about the state of healthcare in the U.S. As a patient advocate, she’s focused on increasing education about and awareness of C-sections’ physical and emotional impacts.
Cristina Wood, MD, MS
Dr. Cristina Wood is a board-certified OB anesthesiologist and physician-scientist at the University of Colorado, where she serves as Section Chief of OB/GYN Anesthesiology and the Medical Director of Obstetric Anesthesia for the Colorado Fetal Care Center.
Her clinical and research work focuses on improving outcomes for patients undergoing cesarean delivery, with a passion for reducing both physical and psychological pain. She is the principal investigator of an NIH-funded study titled Preventing Maternal Mood, Anxiety, and Trauma Symptoms after Cesarean Delivery. Her research interests include maternal hemodynamics, opioid-sparing analgesia, and enhanced recovery pathways.