SPOCUS has brought together clinicians & students from many specialties, practices, and walks of life, all of who are united in their passion for point-of-care ultrasound. Our members recognize the great value that ultrasound offers to our patients, and our practice. We are fortunate to have a board of directors comprised of experienced practitioners with skills and knowledge in the practice, education, and administration of point-of-care ultrasound, who are listening to the needs of our members and always pushing to expand POCUS into undiscovered realms.
2024-2025 Board of Directors
Megan Quin
President
Megan represents nursing professionals and students who bring the benefits of increased POCUS access to a wide patient population.
She says it has been very rewarding to see the hard work of the POCUS community resulting in improvements in patient care, but we still have a long way to go. Access to affordable educational opportunities is a barrier for many POCUS learners. She would like to help address the problem of meeting the very high demand for POCUS education. One of the ways the Board can help is to celebrate people who are generous with sharing their knowledge, support them, and boost them so they can inspire others.
Cynthia C. Bennett, OBGYN
Past President
Dr. Bennett is a board-certified OB/GYN who attended medical school at The University of North Carolina School of Medicine and residency at the University of Florida/ Shands Teaching Hospital. After leaving clinical practice, Dr. Bennett joined the faculty of Elon University’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies, where she is an Associate Professor. Dr. Bennett teaches heavily in the basic sciences, including anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology, as well as teaching reproductive medicine and surgical skills. Dr. Bennett learned obstetric/ gynecologic ultrasound as a resident and worked with ultrasound actively as a practitioner. She is excited about the possibilities that POCUS education brings for PA students and has loved both training in POCUS herself and teaching her students the many applications of POCUS.
Daniel Sturm
President - Elect
Daniel Sturm is a physician assistant and full-time faculty member at Butler University. He currently works part-time in an urgent care setting and has a primary care background working in family and internal medicine. Daniel graduated from Midwestern University, Downer’s Grove campus in 1997. His passion for ultrasound began to grow a few years ago when he joined SPOCUS and was tasked with implementing ultrasound into the PA curriculum at Butler University. He has served as a House of Delegate member for the Indiana Chapter for the past 3 years. Previously, he was the chair of the Indiana Academy of Physician Assistants and was instrumental in planning an annual CME conference and helped develop a student track for this conference, which includes a state-level Medical Challenge Bowl for Indiana PA students. In addition, he serves as the faculty advisor for the Butler student ISCAN ultrasound team. In his spare time, Daniel is an active adult leader for Scouts BSA. He is married with two children and resides in Westfield, Indiana.
Lacey Hood
Secretary
After graduating from Rosalind Franklin School of Medicine and Science in 2013, my career in interventional radiology continued until 2018. I switched my practice area to critical care, covering all specialty ICUs, including Neuro, Cardiac, Trauma, and Medical. In 2019, life circumstances transitioned me from Tyler, Texas to Cleveland, OH, where I joined the Medical ICU and Tracheostomy Rounding Service at Cleveland Clinic. Over the past 5 years I’ve led projects such as expanding the APP’s procedural skills and advocating for Point of Care Ultrasound privileging and education for APPs, PA students and PA faculty. I’ve completed a simulation education fellowship and a distinguished educator certificate program to support my mentor, coach, and instructor role. Beyond involvement with education and simulation, I’m passionate about advocacy for the PA profession. I serve on the Cleveland Clinic Enterprise PA leadership council and the Commission for Continuing Education and Professional Development for the AAPA. One particular aspect of PA professional development I am passionate about is research engagement. Throughout my career, I have been involved with several quality initiatives and original research projects, including IRB submissions and management, data management, database design, abstract submission, and presentations at national conferences. In my free time, I am either traveling, entertaining friends, on the tennis court or playing a round of golf with my husband Tony.
Frank Acevedo, PA-C, MS, DFAAPA
Director at Large
As a 1983 graduate of the Long Island University/Brooklyn Hospital Physician Assistant Program and has worked continuously in surgery and surgical critical care in addition to teaching the physician associates of tomorrow. As a clinician he works in the surgical intensive care unit at Saint Francis Hospital & Heart Center a nationally renowned institution that is part of Catholic Health Services of Long Island. In addition to his clinical responsibilities, he is a PA educator who has been the founding Chair of the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn; Queens/St. John’s University physician assistant program and currently is a tenured faculty member in the School of Health Professions at the New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, New York. His professional memberships include the New York State Society of Physician Assistants, The American Academy of Physician Assistants, The Society of Critical Care Medicine, Society of Point of Care Ultrasound, Physician Assistant Education Association, and is a Founding Member of the Physician Assistant History Society. As an educator of physician associate students, physician associates, medical students, physicians, nurse practitioners, and critical care nurses he realizes the need for continued self education and holds two Masters of Science degrees from New York Institute of Technology in Instructional Technology and Simulation for Medicine & Healthcare and is currently enrolled in an Ed.D. program with a concentration in Leadership and Curriculum. A keen interest in the utilization and teaching of ultrasound to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and physicians started in 2006 at the national AAPA conference and has continued with workshops and lectures at hospital, PA programs, local, state, and national conferences for the Society for Critical Care Medicine, Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants, and the New York State Society of Physician Assistants. The future of ultrasound is bright within the physician associate profession and as a board member exciting possibilities are on the horizon to further stimulate its teaching and application to all.
Dayna Jaynstein
Director at Large
Dayna Jaynstein, MSPAS, PA-C, EM-CAQ has been an emergency medicine PA for almost 15 years in Denver, CO. She currently practices at Denver Health, a Level I trauma center, where she is the lead APP US Educator. In addition, she is faculty and the assistant director of the Red Rocks PA program. Dayna has served in multiple national leadership roles advocating for PA in emergency medicine and POCUS utilization.
Keneka Newton
Student Director
Keneka is a PA student at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado. She has a passion for ultrasound and was co-chair of her PA classes ultrasound club. She also designed and implemented an escape room for her cohort to test their POCUS skills in a gamified format. She and her team reached the finals at iScan 2023. As a clinical year student, she has continued to participate in instructing ultrasound club. She has also been helping to facilitate the Train the Trainer course via scheduling and instruction. She is excited to keep expanding her knowledge of POCUS and promote this modalities utilization in new and exciting ways over the course of her career. She is graduating in May of 2024 and looks forward to beginning her clinical practice in Urology on Colorado’s western slope.
SPOCUS is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization
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