Dr. Keya Locke interviews the guest editor of October’s ASA Monitor, Dr. Brooke Trainer, about the state of advocacy. Learn how AI is changing advocacy, how to deal with the threat of retaliation, how to get involved, and more. Recorded August 2026.
Brooke E. Trainer, MD, FASA, remains devoted to her fellow Veterans and maintains her full-time status as an anesthesiologist, acute pain physician, and critical care medicine Intensivist at the Central Virginia VA Health Care System in Richmond VA. She is also an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Virginia Commonwealth University where she works as a critical care intensivist in the liver transplant and surgical trauma burn ICU. Most recently, Dr. Trainer was recognized for her contributions and interest in simulation education and was granted a national faculty position with the VHA Simulation Learning Education and Research Network (SimLEARN) Division.
Dr. Trainer received her doctor of medicine from the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, completed her anesthesia residency at Yale New Haven Medical Center in Connecticut, and fellowship in critical care medicine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a US Air Force veteran, having served as an anesthesiologist at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and director for the Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATT). She deployed in 2012, '13, and '14 to Afghanistan from Germany, flying wounded soldiers safely out of Afghanistan back to Germany, then home to the US. In 2012, she was recognized as the top-level physician of the European Medical Command and was awarded the US Air Force European Clinical Excellence Award. Dr. Trainer also holds several leadership positions in organized medicine, including her current role as the president for the Association of VA Anesthesiologists, and has published numerous book chapters in internationally recognized Anesthesia Textbooks.
Keya Locke, MD, MBA, serves as the medical director of perioperative services at UF-North in Jacksonville Florida. Dr. Locke has been an assistant professor at UF Jacksonville since 2017. She completed medical school at UF Gainesville, residency at UF Jacksonville, and graduated from UF Warrington School of Business with an MBA in 2020. Her current interests include practice management and organizational behavior. She hopes to bring a better understanding of how organizations “breathe” and begin to apply strategies of successful organizations to medical ones. Dr. Locke is a member of the ASA practice management and women in anesthesia committees.
Date of last update: September 21, 2026