​Deadline for voting: December 15, 2025

CLICK HERE to Vote!

 

President-Elect (Vote to Approve)

Robert Freundlich, MD, MS, MSCI, FCCM, FASA

Robert E. Freundlich, MD, MS, MSCI is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he also leads the Vanderbilt Anesthesiology and Perioperative Informatics Research (VAPIR) Group. Dr. Freundlich earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Johns Hopkins, his MD at Baylor College of Medicine, and completed residency, critical care fellowship, and informatics research training at the University of Michigan. He has done an exceptional job improving and sustaining STA's finances since 2023.

Board certified in anesthesiology, critical care, and clinical informatics, Dr. Freundlich’s NIH- and AHRQ-funded research focuses on using big data and informatics to improve perioperative outcomes. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and is a frequent national and international speaker. Dr. Freundlich is dedicated to mentorship and advancing technology in anesthesiology, and he looks forward to serving the STA community as President.

Secretary (Vote to Approve)

​Jonathan Tan, MD, MPH, MBI, FASA

Dr. Jonathan Tan is the Chair of the STA Communications Committee and Editor-in-Chief of Interface, the official newsletter for the STA. He has served as an active and integral member of the STA in this capacity since 2019.  His mission has been to increase the membership activity and professional presence of the STA.  In addition, he has had the honor of serving as the Program Co-Chair of the STA Annual Meeting in 2018, and as an Annual Meeting Abstract Co-Chair in 2017. Dr. Tan has been actively engaged in supporting STA events, the STA Board, and as a speaker and mentor at the STA Annual Meetings for the past 7 years. His experience, commitment, and familiarity with the STA membership, Board, and larger Society activities positions him well to serve as the next Secretary of the STA. 

Dr. Tan is an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Spatial Sciences at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the Keck School of Medicine, and the Spatial Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California. He is board certified in Anesthesiology, Pediatric Anesthesiology, Clinical Informatics, and certified in Medical Quality. Dr. Tan has been invited to speak nationally and internationally on spatial data science, social and environmental determinants of health, clinical informatics, and quality improvement. He serves on several technology focused national committees with the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF). He is a member of the Association for University Anesthesiologists. Dr. Tan has been awarded grant funding from the APSF and FAER for his research on bringing together spatial science, clinical informatics, and environmental health science to better understand the risks of respiratory adverse events with children undergoing general anesthesia.

Treasurer (Vote to Approve)

​James Xie, MD

The Society for Technology in Anesthesia has been an important part of my professional network and career development. As a member of the Board of Directors, I hope to bring this same value to STA members and beyond, furthering STA’s mission and reach. At the encouragement of my mentor Dr. Jim Philip, I joined STA in 2014 as a CA-1 resident, went to my first national meeting in January 2015, and I have not looked back! In 2024 I was the STA meeting abstract co-chair and subsequently co-chaired the 2025 STA national meeting. Having had these experiences gave me insight on the ongoing needs of STA members and how to shape STA’s offerings to evolve with the changing landscape of technologies in anesthesia including artificial intelligence and informatics, while also staying true to the origins of STA in hardware and medical devices.

I trained in general pediatric (Boston Children’s/Boston Medical Center) and anesthesiology (Brigham and Women’s Hospital), followed by a fellowship in pediatric anesthesia (Stanford). I qualified for the American Board of Preventive Medicine’s Clinical Informatics board certification and passed the exam (which STA has a great resource for how to study for the exam) in 2024. Currently, I practice pediatric and obstetric anesthesia at Stanford. I also serve as a clinical informaticist at Stanford Children’s Health, an Epic physician builder, and lead Stanford Anesthesiology’s Clinical Informatics Scholars Program, fostering the next generation of anesthesiologist-informaticists. 

I would be honored to be part of STA’s board of directors and help continue its mission to improve anesthesia technologies and their application!

At Large Industry Director (Vote to Approve)

​Neill Saunder, RN, CCRN, MBA

I have been a Registered Nurse for several decades, primarily in Critical Care. My last clinical role was managing the largest Intensive Care Units in San Diego County. I have always enjoyed working in a technology rich environment that the intensive care environment provides. My current role is Clinical Partnerships Manager at Mindray. This non-sales position allows me to interact and collaborate with physicians regarding current and future trends for technology, especially in the Anesthesia/Critical Care arena. I feel my long clinical background and current role would dovetail smoothly in the role of At Large Industry Director at STA. Thank you for considering my application for this position.

At Large International Director (Vote to Approve)

​Asad Siddiqui, MD, M Ed, FRCPC

Dr. Siddiqui is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and a Pediatric Anesthesiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children. He is the director of pediatric liver transplant anesthesia at SickKids and has helped lead the initiative for storage of operating room physiologic data. His current research focuses on the utilization of high-frequency waveform physiologic data for risk modelling in the perioperative period using traditional and machine learning techniques. He is a previous Neurowave Research Grant recipient and has published on the use of performance prediction in simulation using deep learning from this work. 

At Large Director (Vote for One)

​Lara Brewer, PhD
Dr. Lara Brewer, PhD, serves as Research Associate Professor at the University of Utah and brings 25 years of experience in driving innovation in patient safety, anesthesia and critical-care monitoring. She is a Society for Technology in Anesthesia (STA) Past-President. Her translational research and collaborations with clinical and industry partners worldwide have influenced clinical decision-making and enhanced non-invasive patient monitoring technologies.
Dr. Brewer’s leadership is grounded in collaboration, bringing together clinicians, engineers, and industry partners to translate innovative ideas into practical solutions. Her ongoing work to leverage SpO₂ and ventilation monitoring to detect ataxic breathing during opioid delivery reflects her commitment to bridging science and patient care to improve safety and outcomes in perioperative medicine. The study demonstrated novel metrics for early detection of opioid-induced respiratory compromise. Her current research on treating traumatic pain in remote and austere conditions is focused on patient-titrated, self-dosing of inhaled anesthetics with oxygen.
Lara Brewer is eager to contribute her leadership, technical insight and collaborative mindset to help steer our community forward. She understands the needs of the society, and she looks forward to contributing to the future strength of the society. She aims to strengthen connections among STA members to foster development of new ideas, research, and the safe, effective application of novel technology that improves patient care.

 

​Christopher Connor, MD, PhD

Dr. Chris Connor is an associate professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and an adjunct associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Boston University. He is an attending anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesiology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital with a particular interest in neuroanesthesia. He is frequently invited to speak at conferences on the implications of artificial intelligence on anesthesia practice, and he is one of the editors of the standard reference text Clinical Anesthesia. His main research focus is on determining the mechanisms of action of anesthetics by reverse-engineering the neuronal function of the tiny nematode worm C. elegans. He also studies the application of processed EEG monitors in human beings.