Alison Henry Leading New Nurse Anesthetist Program at School of Nursing

When Alison Henry, CRNA, DNPc, MSN, was starting her nursing career as a cardiac step-down unit nurse in North Carolina, she aspired to become an acute care nurse practitioner.

That was until she started to get to know the daughter of one of her patients, who worked as a certified registered nurse anesthetist, or CRNA. She asked Henry about her future career plans, and when Henry told her she planned to become a cardiac NP, her response was, “You don’t know it yet, but you want to be a CRNA,” Henry recalled.

Henry accepted an invitation to shadow her at work on a day off, and it changed her career path. More than a decade after that interaction, Henry now serves as Chief CRNA at Golisano Children’s and Strong Memorial hospitals, and the director of the School of Nursing’s upcoming CRNA program. The School aims to welcome its first CRNA cohort in Summer 2027.

“It's an honor and a privilege to be able to build our CRNA program from the ground up, and to captain the ship as the program director,” Henry said. “I have the opportunity to take all the knowledge that I have and create a team of highly intelligent, competent colleagues — with expertise in nursing, anesthesia, finance, administration, and leadership — and bring them all together in one room and build a fantastic curriculum, program, and experiences for our future students. I’m excited about the program we’re bringing to fruition, and the opportunities we’re going to have for our CRNA students and faculty.”

“The development of our CRNA program is an exciting moment in School of Nursing’s rich history, reflecting our continued commitment to addressing our community’s most urgent health concerns and creating new opportunities for nurses to advance their careers,” said School of Nursing Dean Lisa Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN.

“Under Dr. Henry’s leadership, and with support and collaboration across our academic medical center community, we are well-positioned to prepare future nurse anesthetists to deliver safe, effective, and compassionate care.”

You get the opportunity to care for people across the lifespan, to critically think every day, and recognize, diagnose and treat an issue as one person with no middleman."

Addressing a demand for anesthesia providers

Anesthesiology is one of the most in-demand subfields in the healthcare industry, but faces severe shortages across the U.S. Employment for the nurse anesthetist role is expected to grow by 38% by 2032, the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) reports. This increase in CRNAs would be especially impactful for rural counties in the U.S., where CRNAs make up about 80% of anesthesia providers and shortages hit residents the hardest.

“To best serve our surgical service patients, we must come together to produce physicians and nurse anesthetists in a meaningful, thoughtful way. We want to have graduates who are ready to take the world by storm as clinicians, academics, leaders, and administrators,” Henry said.

Henry attributes growing interest in the role partially to CRNAs’ ability to practice at the top of their licensure, as well as rare opportunities to not only develop complex skills, but utilize them regularly.

“You’re working at the top of your scope of practice, taking everything you’ve learned in your career, and putting it into practice. You get the opportunity to care for people across the lifespan, to critically think every day, and recognize, diagnose and treat an issue as one person with no middleman,” Henry said of the role.

Looking ahead to the CRNA program’s continued development and launch, Henry sees her role not only as a job, but as a service to the Rochester community.

“It is a service to champion this program for our community, and to ensure that those in Rochester and our surrounding areas have the access to care they need.”