Ariana Nelson, MD

Vice President of Programming

Dr. Ariana M. Nelson is a double board-certified anesthesiologist and interventional pain medicine specialist working currently as an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at University of California, Irvine (UCI). She completed residency and chief residency in anesthesiology and fellowship training in pain medicine at Northwestern Hospital. She is enrolled in a master’s in education of the health professional at Johns Hopkins School of Education, with MEHP expected 2024. Much of her academic work focuses on education as she has been a Dean’s Scholar since 2017, dedicating eight hours per week to curriculum design of didactic, ultrasound and simulation sessions for medical students. Hallmarks of her curricular development include creation and continuing development of the four-year Integrated Opioid Curriculum (2018), the four-year Integrated AI Curriculum (2023) and the mission-based Space Medicine program. Her dedication to education has earned her multiple honors awarded by the Dean’s Cabinet including Excellence in Teaching Clinical Science (2019), Medical Education Service Award (2020), Dean’s Scholar Award (2021) and Excellence in Basic Science Teaching Award (voted by medical students, 2023). Additionally, she is core faculty for the graduate medical education (GME) of her department and conducts quarterly full day educational sessions for residents and fellows. She is also active in continuing medical education (CME), as co-chair of the 2023 Opioid Safety Symposium sponsored by American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA-PM), in medicolegal courses including Prescribing Practices and Pain Management and in primary/emergency medicine courses through Hippo and EMRAP CME courses. Lastly, her research focuses on machine learning, clinical decision support and assistive intelligence in healthcare, which she hopes to leverage in the field of space medicine. A list of her academic work can be found here.