Safar Symposium

May 8, 2026

Free event!

SCAIFE HALL

3550 Terrace St
Third Floor (WISER at Scaife)
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Registration now open! Click here.

In-person registration is open through May 4. 

Registration for online attendance will remain open until the day of the meeting 

Dr. Aaron Calhoun

Dr. Calhoun is a tenured professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville and an attending physician in the Just for Kids Critical Care Center at Norton Children’s Hospital. He received his MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2001, completed his general pediatrics residency at Children’s Memorial Hospital/Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2004, and completed his pediatric critical care fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Boston/Harvard School of Medicine in 2007.  Dr. Calhoun is the Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care, and senior advisor for the SPARC simulation program at Norton Children’s Hospital.  He has numerous publications in the field of simulation and medical education.  Dr. Calhoun is the president of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) and serves as the Associate Editor-in-Chief for Simulation in Healthcare, the primary journal in the field of medical simulation.  In 2017 he was awarded membership in the Society for Simulation in Healthcare Fellow’s Academy.

Dr. Advait Kothare, MB, BCH, BAO

Dr. Advait Kothare is a Clinical Instructor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is also currently a Simulation and Medical Education fellow at the Winter Institute for Simulation, Education, and Research (WISER) at the University of Pittsburgh. He has extensive experience in simulation-based education. He has developed an Emergency Department-based mock code in-situ pediatric cardiac arrest program, critical care simulation curricula, and faculty development programs for simulation and high acuity low occurrence scenarios. Internationally, he has built simulation curricula in Rwanda, Africa, for their Emergency Medicine training programs. His primary educational and research focus is on in-situ simulation, simulation assessment, pediatric emergency readiness, and curriculum development in health sciences. Dr. Kothare was the recipient of the Rhode Island American College of Emergency Physicians Educational Excellence Award in 2024. He recently successfully defended his Master’s of Science in Medical Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kothare is a practicing Emergency Physician at the UPMC Health System.

Dr. Bhavesh Patel

Dr. Bhavesh Patel is a Consultant in Critical Care Medicine at Mayo Clinic Arizona, a role he has held since 1999. He holds appointments as Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. He serves as Associate Program Director of the Military Medicine Simulation Fellowship and holds Master’s Faculty Privileges in Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare. Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Critical Care Medicine (FRCP(C)), and Neurocritical Care (UCNS), he is a Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer (RDMS) with expertise in point-of­care ultrasound, ECMO, austere/military medicine, simulation-based education, and medical acupuncture. He was a founding member of the leadership team that designed the Mayo Clinic Arizona Multidisciplinary Simulation Center. Dr. Patel directs courses including Special Operations Tactical Medicine, Prolonged Casualty Care, and Interprofessional team training for the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. As Vice President and co-founder of Global Surgical and Destination Healthcare, he leads critical care capacity building in resource-limited settings. His research centers on resuscitation team performance and simulation for skills sustainment. He served as Site Principal Investigator for the U.S. Army-funded Skills Determination, Decay, and Delay (SD3) Study, a multi-year, multi-phase consortium evaluating competency thresholds, skill decay, and retraining for acute care medical procedures. Dr. Patel has authored >65 peer-reviewed publications, holds multiple patents, and contributed book chapters, including ELSO and EACTS guidelines. His mentorship has produced institutional leaders (including the current Chair of Critical Care at Mayo Arizona). He is a member of SCCM, ATS, IMSH, and ELSO, and a recipient of the Distinguished Mayo Educator Award (2013) and Mayo Clinic Legacy Educator honor (2020).

Eliese Pergi, RN, BSN, CCRN

Eliese earned dual degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018. She began her career providing therapy and inpatient services to individuals with intellectual disabilities before pursuing an accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Carlow University in 2020. She went on to specialize in critical care nursing and is currently a third-year student registered nurse anesthetist at the University of Pittsburgh.

Robert J. Rindone, RN, BSN, CCRN

Rob earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas at Arlington, graduating summa cum laude. He began his nursing career at Baylor Scott & White in Temple, Texas, where he worked in a Level 1, Magnet-designated Medical ICU and served as a charge nurse caring for critically ill patients. During this time, he was involved in training and mentoring new nurses and participated in unit-based quality improvement initiatives. He is currently a student registered nurse anesthetist at the University of Pittsburgh with an interest in ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia.

Prior to nursing, Rob served as an officer in the U.S. Army, where he led teams in operational settings and received several military commendations.

2026 Schedule

7:30 – 8:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:00 – 8:15 Opening Comments

Paul E. Phrampus, MD, CPE, FSSH  – Director, Winter Institute for Simulation, Education and Research (WISER), Professor, Depts. of Emergency Medicine and Anesthesiology, University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA

8:00 – 12:00 SIMULATION AND EDUCATION IMPROVING HEALTHCARE

Moderators:

John M. O’Donnell, DrPh, CRNA – Professor and Chair, Department of Nurse Anesthesia, Director, Nurse Anesthesia Program, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Associate Director, WISER, Pittsburgh, PA

Bianca Caruso – Director of Educational Development, WISER

8:15 – 8:55 The International Liaison Council on Simulation: Charting the Future of Healthcare Simulation Research

Aaron W. Calhoun, MD, FSSH – Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division Chief, Pediatric Critical Care, University of Louisville and Norton Children’s Medical Group, Louisville, KY

8:55 – 9:05 Discussion

9:05 – 9:45 Military Civilian Partnership to Advance Standards of Trauma Skill Performance

Bhavesh Patel, MD, FRCP(C), RDMS – Associate Professor of Medicine, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Neurology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Consultant, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Phoenix, AZ

Bhavesh Patel, MD on behalf of Combat Medical Skills Sustainment Consortium

9:45 – 9:55 Discussion

9:55 – 10:10 BREAK

10:10 – 10:50 Calib-RATER Protocol: How Do We Improve High-Stakes Assessment as a Busy Academic Healthcare-Clinician?

Advait K. Kothare, MB, BCH, BAO – Clinical Instructor, Emergency Medicine, UPMC/WISER Simulations and Medical Education Fellow, UPMC Shady Hospital Emergency Department, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA

10:50 – 11:00 Discussion

11:00 – 11:40 Evaluating the Efficacy of AI-Assisted Training in Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia for Novice Anesthesia Providers

Eliese Pergi, RN, BSN, CCRN, SRNA – DNP Nurse Anesthesia Class of 2026, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, PA

Robert J. Rindone, RN, BSN, CCRN – Third-year Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, PA

11:40 – 11:50 Discussion

11:50 – 12:00 Closing Comments | Paul E. Phrampus, MD, CPE

12:00 – 1:00 Facility Tour – Light Lunch OPTIONAL