Martina Steed, PhD, CRNA, NSPM-c, CHSE, FAANA
Interim Director, Nurse Anesthesia Program
Assistant Professor
Dr Steed received her BSN from UAMS in 1988, a master of science in nursing with specialization in nurse anesthesia from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in 1996 and a PhD in Health Services with a concentration in healthcare policy from Walden University in 2015. In 2022, she completed a fellowship in advanced pain management at Texas Christian University. She has extensive experience in nurse anesthesia program teaching and administration. She came to Webster after 20-year career at Webster University in St Louis where she left a tenured full professor. At Webster, she served as assistant program director and interim program director of the nurse anesthesia program and as chair of the Department of Advanced Clinical Sciences. In her current role as interim program director for the UAMS College of Nursing DNP nurse anesthesia program, she is supporting the expansion of the program into the Northwest Arkansas region by working with students and clinical affiliates in the area. Dr Steed is active in service to her national organizations as a Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs site reviewer and as a Nonsurgical pain management certification exam item writer for the National Board of Certification and Recertification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists. In 2024, she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiologists.
After living away from Arkansas for 37+ years, she moved back to Arkansas in December. She loves spending time with her kids, their spouses and granddaughter. For relaxation, she and her husband enjoy spending time on their houseboat on Lake Ouachita outside Hot Springs. Her hobbies include boating, reading, listening to all types of music and going to Razorback sporting events and watching the St Louis Cardinals baseball!
Mark Dunavan, DNP, CRNA, COL (USA Retired)
Assistant Director, Nurse Anesthesia Program
Assistant Professor
Dr. Mark Dunavan, DNP, CRNA, COL (USA Retired) has been a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist since 1998. Dr. Dunavan’s education began after a tour in the U.S. Army with obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1994. He then practiced as an RN in a Cardiac ICU in Memphis for two years before obtaining a Master of Nurse Anesthesia at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1998. He then returned to the Memphis area to practice as a CRNA, most notably with Medical Anesthesia Group and the Methodist Healthcare System from 2000-2020. He completed a Master of Science in Nursing in 2015 and Doctor of Nursing Practice degree in 2016 from Union University.
Dr. Dunavan became an Assistant Professor and the Assistant Program Director of the UAMS Nurse Anesthesia Program in 2019. At UAMS, he also serves as the Clinical Director, allowing him to mentor students while continually developing clinical and professional foundations. Prior to arriving at UAMS, Dr. Dunavan was an Assistant Professor for the UTHSC-Memphis Nurse Anesthesia Concentration from 2016-2019. While there, he also served as the Simulation Coordinator as they entered a new simulation center with expanded capabilities. Dr. Dunavan also has previous experience as an Assistant Professor and Associate Coordinator of Nurse Anesthesia at Arkansas State University from 2008-2010 and their Memphis Area Clinical Coordinator from 2014-2015. While at ASU, he was integral in their move into their current teaching facility and development of their simulation program and new simulation lab space.
Dr. Dunavan maintains clinical practice by working PRN in various locations around Arkansas. His areas of clinical interest and expertise are trauma, cardiothoracic, and obstetric anesthesia. His academic interests are the same with the addition of clinical education experience development, technology and simulation in healthcare.
Dr. Dunavan is an active member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) and the Arkansas Association of Nurse Anesthetists (ARANA). He has served on the ARANA Board of Directors, various committees, President-elect, and ARANA President from 2016-2017. He is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS), Gideons International, and the Military Officers Association.
Dr. Dunavan retired from military service in 2024, having served in the U.S. Army, Army National Guard, and the U.S. Army Reserve for 36 years 10 months. He began his career in the U.S. Army as a Private progressing to the rank of Colonel in the Army Nurse Corps before retirement. He has led Soldiers from the Infantry Rifle Team level through Battalion Command. Dr. Dunavan is also a 2014 graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He has served in a variety of theaters with multiple deployments. His awards, badges and decorations are consistent with those of most Soldiers who have had the honor to serve the United States over a few decades and the good blessing to return home safely.
Outside of his professional roles, Dr. Dunavan is dedicated to his wife, adult children, grandchildren, and pets. In his free time, Dr. Dunavan enjoys running, hiking, biking, swimming, and just about anything outdoors. Most importantly, he is committed to his relationship with God and can be found serving in and through His Church and the community.
Michelle LR Gonzalez, PhD, CRNA, FAANA, CHSE-A®
Associate Professor
Dr. Gonzalez has over 26 years of experience in civilian and military-based facilities as a CRNA and educator, providing services to military, hospitals, private practice, and educational institutions in Illinois, Texas, Maryland, and now Arkansas. Dr. Gonzalez serves as an Associate Professor and was the inaugural Program Director for the DNP Nurse Anesthesia Specialty at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). A longtime supporter of the AANA, AANA Foundation, AANA PAC, state associations, and the nurse anesthesiology profession, her passion for teaching began in 1999 at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, where she precepted SRNAs, residents, and medical students.
In 2012, she began teaching and quickly moved into a full-time faculty position with a focus on simulation development and education. Dr. Gonzalez was a founding member of the AANA Simulation Sub Committee, has worked on simulation-focused grants in excess of 1.2 million dollars, including: a Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) grant incorporated hybrid simulation models to foster communication in healthcare settings, focusing on faculty and preceptor development to enhance student learning (University of Maryland), and provided subject matter expertise when selected by AANA leadership to serve as one of two CRNAs on an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) grant from Vanderbilt University’s Center for Research and Innovation in Systems Safety (CRISS) developing a unified cognitive model and taxonomy of decision-making strategies clinicians use during critical event management in anesthesiology practice with the goal of improving medical performance during acute crises through simulation activities.
Additionally, she was the sole author of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) Simulation Education Program (ISEP) Specialty Simulation Module focusing on simulation-based activities for APRN education, inclusive of Nurse Practitioners, CRNAs, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Clinical Nurse Midwives, and Interprofessional Educational learners. The goal of this program is to develop leaders, mentors and practitioners who advance pedagogy of simulation worldwide.
Prior to arriving in Arkansas, Dr Gonzalez was an active member of the Maryland Association for Nurse Anesthetists, serving on the Board of Directors in various roles for over 5 years. During that time, MANA actively modernized CRNA practice by eliminating the need for collaborative agreements and successfully prevented multiple Anesthesiology Assistants bills. Dr Gonzalez currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Arkansas Association of Nurse Anesthetists and has done so in various roles since her arrival in January of 2019.
Dr Gonzalez was recognized for these achievements by being nominated and selected as a member of the inaugural class selected of Fellows of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (FAANA) in 2021 and was recognized as the AANA Foundation Rita L. LeBlanc Philanthropist of the Year in 2024. Additional recognition received while at UAMS include: 2023 Nominee for the UAMS Excellence in Mentoring: Diversity Faculty Mentoring Award, 2023 Arkansas Great 100 Nurses Honoree, 2022 Nominee for Outstanding Nurse Educator Award (Arkansas).
In her spare time Dr Gonzalez is passionate about history and travel often combining the two.
Casey Polk, DNP, CRNA
Instructor
Dr. Polk is an Assistant Professor in the Nurse Anesthesiology Program. Her academic career began at Stanford University studying Human Biology with a focus in health policy and child advocacy. She studied international health policy in Stanford’s Berlin Program in Germany. In 2003, she graduated from Stanford in the top ten percent of her class and was chosen to be a Rotary International Scholar in Perth, Australia, where she obtained a master’s in public health from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 2004.
After returning to the U.S., Dr. Polk entered the field of nursing through the accelerated programs at the University of Arkansas Little Rock (UALR). She received a Walker Scholarship and graduated in 2008 at the top of her class with the Academic Award in Nursing. She practiced primarily in pediatrics at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, earning two Daisy Award nominations, prior to entering the Duke University Nurse Anesthesia Program in 2012. She served as class president there, was one of two students awarded a HRSA scholarship, and graduated at the top of her class.
Dr. Polk began practicing as a CRNA in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2014. Today, she teaches at UAMS and practices clinically at multiple facilities around central Arkansas. In May 2025, she graduated with her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from UAMS. She is a current board member of the Arkansas Association of Nurse Anesthetists (ARANA) and a member of ARANA’s legislative committee. Her professional interests include pediatric anesthesia, safety in dental anesthesia, pharmacogenetics, and finding the best methods to educate the next generation of nurse anesthesiologists.
Dr. Polk is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. She enjoys spending time with her family, travelling, playing music, cooking, and doing anything outdoors.
Jennifer Rader, DNAP, CRNA
Instructor
Dr Rader graduated from Arkansas State University in 2013. She has been practicing as a CRNA since that time in Arkansas and Missouri. She graduated from Missouri State University in 2018 with her doctorate. She plans to graduate this August 2026 with her FNP Post-Master’s Certificate. She is a native Arkansan and lives in Little Rock with her husband and 3 kids. She currently works as an assistant professor in the UAMS Nurse Anesthesia Program and clinically at multiple facilities around Central Arkansas. In what little spare time she has, she spends it watching her kids competing at their favorite sports. She and her husband love to travel. They spend lots of time outside with friends and family.
Brian Parks, PhD
Instructor
Dr. Parks earned his BS in Biochemistry from Abilene Christian University and his PhD in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Specializing in pharmacology and scientific foundations, he is passionate about helping graduate nursing students understand the scientific principles that guide sound clinical decision-making and support patient well-being. He leads curriculum innovation in graduate nursing basic science courses by integrating pharmacologic calculations across first-year didactic courses in the nurse anesthesia program and leading the revamping of the clinical pharmacology course for future advanced practice registered nurses and nurse anesthetists. His dissertation research focused on how prenatal opioid exposure and adverse childhood experiences affect adolescent alcohol consumption and later responses to opioid analgesia. He also serves as an academic senator, representing the College of Nursing at the university level. Originally from Colleyville, Texas, Dr. Parks now lives in Furlow, Arkansas, with his wife, Sarah, and their son, Seth. Outside of work, he enjoys gardening, yard work, and watching sports.
Michael Agbor DNP, MSN.Ed, CRNA
Adjunct Instructor
Dr. Michael Agbor is a dedicated Nurse Anesthesiologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) hospital and serves as an Adjunct Clinical Faculty member for the UAMS Nurse Anesthesiology Program.
As the Nurse Anesthesia Clinical Coordinator at UAMS, he brings a wealth of experience and commitment to the field of nurse anesthesia.
Dr. Agbor earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2017 from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He further pursued his Master’s in Nursing Education in 2019, during which he contributed as an Adjunct Clinical Faculty member at the Southern University Baton Rouge Nursing Program.
A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion within the nursing profession, Dr. Agbor is actively involved in numerous state and national nursing organizations. He serves on the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Association of Cameroonian Nurse Anesthetists in America (ACNAA) and chairs its Communications and Public Relationships Committee. At the state level, he is a Board Member for the Arkansas Registered Nurse Anesthetist Association (ARANA). He also has extensive experience in medical mission trips in underserved countries like Cameroon, Kenya, and Honduras.
Beyond his civilian contributions, he proudly serves as a CRNA and Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, exemplifying his dedication to service both inside and outside the operating room.