Martina Steed, Ph.D., CRNA, Named Director of UAMS College of Nursing’s Nurse Anesthesia Program
| The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Nursing named Martina Steed, Ph.D., CRNA, as the next director of its Nurse Anesthesia Program.
Steed, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing, had served as interim director since January.
The three-year, full-time track, a specialty in the college’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program, prepares students to provide high-quality, cost-effective anesthesia care to patients of all ages in a variety of clinical settings. Graduates gain eligibility to take their national certification examination to become certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs).
Steed is a Little Rock native and a UAMS alumna, having earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1988. She obtained her Master of Science in Nursing with a nurse anesthesia specialization from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 1996, and she earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Health Services from Walden University in Minneapolis in 2015.
She also completed an advanced pain management fellowship at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
Steed’s career as an educator began in 2000 when she was hired as an adjunct faculty member for the nurse anesthesia program at Webster University in St. Louis. She went on to serve in a variety of teaching and leadership roles at the university, including as chair of the Department of Nurse Anesthesia from 2022-23 and the Department of Advanced Clinical Sciences from 2023-25.
As a practicing nurse anesthetist, Steed worked for more than 25 years at hospitals and other healthcare providers in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
Steed is an active member of professional organizations at the state and national levels. She is recognized as a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and as a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology.
“I’m humbled to have the opportunity to come home and play a role in the education and training of CRNAs in the state of Arkansas,” she said. “I started my nursing journey at UAMS, and it feels right to be working with students who represent the future of this profession.”
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and seven institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,553 students and 1,030 medical residents and fellows, and two dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with about 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###