Biography
Soneru earned her Doctor of Medicine degree (2000) from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iuliu Hatieganu. Following her MD degree she completed a 3-year anesthesiology residency at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospitals.
Personal Statement
Early in my training as a medical student the goal of first do no harm, ?Primum non nocere?, was deeply embedded into my way of seeing a physician?s role in patient care. This goal has been the foundation of my clinical practice, teaching, research, and quality improvement activities. Throughout my career I strive to improve the quality of health care delivery to patients by practicing and teaching safe, compassionate, evidence-based medicine.
Areas of Specialty
Anesthesiology
Pediatric Anesthesiology
Languages
- English
Courses Taught
Throughout my development as a physician, I had passionate teachers, which I admired, respected and valued tremendously. The knowledge they passed on enables me to better serve patients, and for that I?m very grateful. I participated in several education workshops offered by UNM?s Teacher Educational Development to become an effective teacher who impacts learners in a positive and inspiring way. Working in academic medicine allows me to fulfill the passion for education by being involved in teaching medical students, residents and fellows from the Department of Anesthesiology, Pediatrics, and Emergency Medicine on a daily basis. I also have the opportunity to teach pediatric airway management to physicians from rural New Mexico, and Lifeguard staff.
I believe that outstanding education in medical school will yield outstanding physicians. I have been involved in teaching medical students in both Phase I and Phase II. I served as a tutor for the Endocrinology, Human Sexuality & Reproduction block, and the Transitions block.
Besides teaching medicine, I believe early introduction to scholarly activities is an important part of learning as a physician. I was asked by several medical students to be the mentor for their research project. I also mentored medical students submit abstracts to national and regional conferences. I was also asked by one of the medical students that shadowed me to be the preceptor for his Medicine in New Mexico rotation.
Since 2009, I have been the Co-director of the core curriculum in pediatric anesthesia for second year anesthesia residents (a two month long rotation of clinical anesthesia training) and third year anesthesia residents (one month long rotation). I chose this position because it gives me the opportunity to teach evidence based anesthesia to our residents, and also how to become safe, competent and empathic clinicians. The responsibilities are updating and revising the educational curriculum and the pediatric anesthesia handbook, and delivering weekly lectures covering basic topics relevant to pediatric anesthesia. We performed several extensive milestone based revisions.
Since 2013, I have been the Co-director of the Advanced Pediatric Anesthesia rotation which we created for third year anesthesia residents interested in acquiring more experience in pediatric anesthesia. I also developed a milestones-based evaluation system for residents during the pediatric anesthesia rotation.
Being a member of the pediatric division, I participated regularly in didactics through attendance and presentation of lectures directed at a fellow learning level. Also, I actively participated in the pediatric anesthesia fellows interviewing process before fellowship was closed.
Besides teaching clinical skills in the operating room, and providing the pediatric anesthesia lectures in the curriculum, I mentor our residents, and residents from other specialties in scholarly and QI activities. I mentored anesthesia residents and fellows in the publication of case reports in medical journals (7, 2 published), and poster presentations at various conferences (over 60 poster presentations). I also mentored emergency room residents for poster presentations (3), article submissions and publication in medical journals (2). I have worked with our attending colleagues from Emergency Medicine, Pediatric, Pediatric Surgery, and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for collaborative poster presentations, article publication (2), and research (3). I collaborated with pediatric anesthesia fellows from different institutions for poster presentations (3), and case report publication (1).
I also mentored several junior attendings from our institution or other institutions in clinical practice and scholarly activities.
Research and Scholarship
1. ?Effect of peri-intubation apneic oxygenation via nasal cannula on pediatric patients? oxygen saturations during airway management.? This is a study done in collaboration with Emergency Medicine department. We hypothesized that apneic oxygenation via nasal cannula during airway placement prolongs duration of optimal oxygen saturation in pediatric patients during airway management. Using nasal cannula would be beneficial during airway management by learners, or in patients with difficult airway who are expected to necessitate longer time to achieve a secure airway. The study was published in 2019. It was cited as one of the most significant research article from Pediatric Anesthesiology at the Society of Pediatric Anesthesia Spring Meeting.
2. ?When is NPO status not good enough?? was an observational study of the gastric content of pediatric patients with long bone fractures. In this study, ultrasound was used to evaluate stomach content before surgery. Our goal was to establish if these patients should be considered to have a full stomach, or can be safely managed by existing fasting guidelines.
3. ?Worldwide variation in post-tonsillectomy pain management and admission criteria? was another study based on the desire to provide the safest care possible to our patients. It was an international study in collaboration with the otolaryngology department examining worldwide practices in management of pain and admission criteria after tonsillectomy surgery.
4. ?Pediatric myopathies: Parental knowledge of Anesthetic Risks.? The goal of the study is to identify knowledge deficits regarding the unique risks of anesthesia in this group of children. We advise parents to provide their child with a medical alert bracelet to avoid administration of potentially lethal drugs to these children.
5. ?Present Anesthesiology Practices in the Context of Patent Foramen Ovale, PFO Anesthesiology Survey?. The goal is to determine if patients presenting for scoliosis surgery are screened for PFO, and if found will they be closed by interventional cardiology or surgery prior to spine surgery. The survey was sent to over 350 pediatric anesthesiologists, data was analyzed, we plan to write the results for publication.