The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Nursing named Martina Steed, PhD, 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 a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in 1988. She obtained a Master of Science in Nursing with a nurse anesthesia specialization from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 1996, and she earned a 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.