Lesa has been providing anesthesia in the Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Dept. since 2012, becoming full time in 2019. (You may meet her in the main OR or while covering special procedures.)
Her undergraduate training from Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, was courtesy of the Kansas State Board of Regents, as a Kansas Scholar. Lesa was later honored as an Alumni Fellow.
Graduate school was completed at the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles, with rotations to Cedars Sinai, West Los Angles VA, & Harbor View Medical Center. While completing her laboratory research on the Cardiopulmonary & Metabolic Effects of Hypoxemia during Acute Adrenal-cortical Suppression by Etomidate in the Dog, Lesa served on the UCLA faculty as a Clinical Instructor.
Lesa then discovered Project Orbis & the Flying Eye Hospital, administering anesthesia for eye surgery while in Sudan, Mali, Nigeria, Malta, Tunisia, & Yugoslavia. During this time, she contributed to textbooks in Nigeria & the U.S. on Anesthesia for Ophthalmic Procedures.
While in private practice in the greater Los Angeles area, Lesa continued her medical mission work with Surgical Eye Expeditions, Liga International, Flying Doctors of Mercy, & Operation Blessing International, Flying Hospital visiting India, Bolivia, Malaysia, Guyana, & Mexico.
Completing her doctorate at Rush University, Chicago, IL in 2002, she participated in a multi-center study on the Safety of Continued Anticoagulation Therapy for the Cataract Surgery Patient. Her research was presented at the Ophthalmic Anesthesia Society & the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.