Danna Peterson M.B. Ch.B. (Ed.) Professor Emerita

I graduated from the University of Edinburgh faculty of medicine in Scotland in 1967. I completed one year of internship in Scotland and one year of Residency in Anesthesiology in Scotland at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh.

In 1970, I returned to the USA to finish my residency at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. I took an extra year to do fellowship rotations in Critical Care and Pediatric Anesthesia. After completing my training, I spent a year in Jamaica to practice and teach Anesthesia at the University of the West Indies teaching Hospital in Kingston. I taught mostly nurse anesthetists and some medical students.

In 1975, I returned to the USA to Washington, DC and started my academic career at George Washington University. I became involved in teaching medical students in the Operating Room and Emergency Medical Technicians in the new paramedic curriculum. I was involved with the Department in introducing Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support into the medical school curriculum.

In 1978, I left DC to join the Anesthesiology Department at the UMass Chan Medical School (UMass Chan) in Worcester, MA. I continued my interest in teaching in medical student education as the anesthesia electives coordinator and in the Ethics course and later in the Patient, Physician and Society course. These experiences led me to take on the directorship of the Residency program in Anesthesiology, which became my focus for 17 years. I developed the curriculum, evaluation process, mentoring and networking with other colleagues nationally.

I eventually came full circle back to medical students in 1996, this time as Assistant Dean for Diversity and Minority Affairs. Throughout my time at UMass Chan, I had always been a strong advocate for diversity and worked toward recruiting more minority faculty and residents. In my position in Student Affairs I continued this work as well as provided support for minority students. I retired from UMass Chan in 2011.