By Pareasa Rahimi
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Associate Professor and PhD Program Director Edwin Aroke, PhD, CRNA, FAANA, FAAN, is advancing education for nurse anesthetists in Cameroon, a country facing a critical shortage of anesthesia providers. As President of the Association of Cameroonian Nurse Anesthetists in America, he helped organize the second annual Cameroon Conference of Nurse Anesthetists in December 2022.
“As a CRNA, I realized that medical mission trips have limited impact on population outcomes,” Aroke said. “The purpose of CCNA is to educate nurse anesthetists and students in Cameroon using modern equipment. It also gives CRNAs from the United States a chance to learn about anesthesia care in resource-limited settings.”
In partnership with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Buea, more than a dozen CRNAs and students traveled to Cameroon to participate, including a graduate of the UABSON Nurse Anesthesia Pathway.
At the conference, more than 100 nurse anesthetists and students were trained in advanced cardiac life support, airway management and regional anesthesia. Aroke also coordinated the first conference in Cameroon in 2021.
“The School already has a huge international impact through our Pan American Health Organization World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. We are excited to contribute to this global mission and bring quality anesthesia education to Cameroon and worldwide.”
In 2022, Aroke received the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research 2022 Protégé Award, recognizing his excellence in early career nursing research. In 2021, Aroke was the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology John F. Garde Researcher of the Year and in 2020, was named Didactic Instructor of the Year.
Aroke currently has a $1.7 million, four-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the cause of racial differences in chronic lower back pain.
