The Board is responsible for the management of the Federation according to the decisions of the General Assembly, taking account of the recommendations of the Council.

The Board meets monthly by teleconference and physically usually twice a year. In practice, and thanks to our increasingly connected world, its members provide daily leadership, guidance and stewardship of a complex and busy global organisation. 

This photo shows WFSA Board members at the October 2018 meeting in San Francisco. 

Dr Jannicke Mellin-Olsen (Norway), President

Jannicke is a full time practising anaesthesiologist in Bærum Hospital, Norway. She has always been active in organisations in addition to her clinical work and has held several Board positions in Norway and abroad.

She is the Past President of the European Board of Anaesthesiology/UEMS where she led the process of developing the Helsinki Declaration on Patient Safety in Anaesthesiology, and she is currently the secretary of the European Society of Anaesthesiology. She has always had a “ global drive” and holds a Diploma in Public Health.

Dr Gonzalo Barreiro (Uruguay), Immediate Past President

Dr Barreiro attended the School of Medicine, University of the Republic, Uruguay and became a Doctor of Medicine in 1979. Specialist in Anaesthesiology: 1982 Specialist in Intensive Care Medicine: 1986. Associate Professor of Anaesthesiology (Grade 4) since 1992. Anaesthesiology Director of the National Burn Centre: 1992 - 2000. Anaesthesiology Director, Unidad Nacional Cirugía Ortopédica, Sanatorio Americano (FEMI Montevideo), since 1999. Anaesthesiology Director, Centro Cardiológico, Sanatorio Americano (FEMI Montevideo) since 2007.

He has supported the WFSA for many years, as a member of the Safety Committee 1992-2000 and a Member of the Executive Committee 2000-2008. He then served as Assistant Secretary 2008-2012, and Secretary 2012-2016. 

Professor Adrian Gelb (USA), Secretary

Adrian W Gelb MBChB, FRCPC, FRCA is a Professor in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Previously he was the Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesia at University of Western Ontario, Canada from 1990 to 2001 and Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care at UCSF 2004-2011.

Professor Gelb has served as the leader in multiple national and international Anesthesia Societies having been the President of 3 societies - the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS), the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (SNACC), and the International Society for Anesthetic Pharmacology (ISAP). He currently serves on the California Society of Anesthesiologists Executive Committee and chairs the Education Programs Division.

Professor Alan Merry (New Zealand), Treasurer

Alan Merry practises in anaesthesia and chronic pain management at Auckland City Hospital. He is Head of the School of Medicine at the University of Auckland, a Councillor of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, Deputy Treasurer of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists and Chair of the Board of the NZ Health Quality and Safety Commission.

He is on the Board of Lifebox, which aims to improve standards of surgery and anaesthesia in low-income areas of the world. His books, book chapters and papers in peer-reviewed journals reflect interests in human factors, patient safety and simulation.

Dr Berend Mets (USA) - Director of Partnerships

Dr. Mets is the Eric A. Walker Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania, USA.

Dr. Mets received his medical degree from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa in 1980, and was trained in anesthesiology in both England and South Africa. He served his residency (1985-1988) as well as earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology (1992) at the University of Cape Town. He was designated a Fellow in Anesthesia of the Royal College of Anaesthetists in England and of the College of Medicine in South Africa, in 1987. In addition, he is a diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology (1996).

Dr Wayne Morriss (New Zealand), Director of Programmes

Wayne is an Anaesthesiologist in Christchurch, New Zealand. He trained in New Zealand and Australia and then spent two years working as a Senior Lecturer at the Fiji School of Medicine in Suva, Fiji. He returned to New Zealand in 2002 but continued to make frequent trips back to the Pacific as a clinician and teacher.

Wayne chaired the Overseas Aid Committee of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and the Overseas Aid Subcommittee of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists. He was also Chair of the WFSA Education Committee from 2012 to 2016. In 2010, he co-authored a course called Essential Pain Management (EPM), which has now been taught in over fifty countries around the world.

Dr Daniela Filipescu (Romania)

Professor Filipescu is currently Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Fundeni Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Medicine “Carol Davila” and Medical Director (since 2011) of the Emergency Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Bucharest, Romania.

She is a specialist in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine, and Research Director at the Emergency Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases between 2007 and 2010.

Dr Philippe Mavoungou (Congo)

Dr Mavoungou is currently anesthesiologist at the Nantes Cancer Research Center (Institut de Cancérologie de l'Ouest (ICO) René Gauducheau), and was Head of Department 2010 - 2011. He is a Member of the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) among others, and was a founding member of the Société Congolaise d’Anesthésie Réanimation Urgences (SOCARU).