The Nerds
Tasha McNerney
BS, CVT, VTS (Anes), CVPP
Tasha is a Certified Veterinary Technician from Pennsylvania where she works as a educational consultant and relief anesthesia technician. Tasha is the founder of the Veterinary Anesthesia Nerds, while also a Certified Veterinary Pain Practitioner and board member of the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM) to educate the public about animal pain awareness. In fact, Tasha was the thought leader behind the now celebrated “Animal Pain Awareness Month” within the veterinary industry.
Tasha became a veterinary technician specialist in anesthesia in 2015. Tasha loves to lecture on various anesthesia and pain management topics around the globe and was recently named the VMX 2020 speaker of the Year.
Tasha has authored numerous articles and textbook chapters on anesthesia and analgesia topics for veterinary professionals and pet parents.
In her spare time Tasha enjoys reading, spending time with her husband and son, and recording the Veterinary Anesthesia Nerds Podcast.
Stephen Niño Cital
RVT, RLAT, SRA, CVPP, VTS-LAM (Res. Anesthesia)
Stephen is a Registered Veterinary Technician from California where he is a Laboratory Manager at Stanford University School of Medicine and a partner at Remedy Veterinary Specialists. Stephen is also the Executive Director for the Academy of Laboratory Animal Veterinary Technicians and Nurses, holding a Veterinary Technician Specialist certification in Laboratory Animal Medicine (LAM) with an anesthesia focus. He also holds the Certified Veterinary Pain Practitioner credential, and was a board member of the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM). He also holds the certification as a Surgical Research Anesthetist through the Academy of Surgical Research.
Stephen is an award-winning international lecturer on anesthesia, pain management, cannabis, and best practices in research. He enjoys teaching and serves on advisory boards, is a key opinion leader for multiple pharmaceutical/device companies.
Besides the many former and active board positions within the veterinary industry, he was also a column coordinator for one of Nature’s journals and has contributed to numerous textbooks and peer-reviewed papers.
Darci Palmer
BS, LVT, VTS (Anes)
Darci Palmer has been a credentialed veterinary technician for 21 years. She obtained her veterinary technician specialty in anesthesia and analgesia in 2006 while working at the Washington State University (WSU) Veterinary Teaching Hospital followed by a position at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. Currently Darci is at Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine where she is providing both didactic lectures and clinical hands-on training to the veterinary students.
In addition to her clinical work, she serves as the Academy of Veterinary Technicians in Anesthesia & Analgesia, Executive Secretary and in January 2021 she took over the chair of CVTS which is the committee that oversees all of the NAVTA recognized Veterinary Technician Specialty academies.
Darci’s passion for educating continues outside of the teaching hospital as she has been an instructor for VSPN since 2007, lecturing and writing on the topics of anesthesia and analgesia nationally, and has been teaching a two-module small animal anesthesia course that she created since 2010.