Dr. Nutan Winston: Elevating anesthesiology education across HCA Healthcare

Riverside, CA — When Dr. Nutan Winston talks about education, she often returns to a piece of wisdom from her father, an oncologic surgeon: “You cannot operate on yourself and take out your gallbladder, so you must teach well.” That belief that great care depends on great teaching has guided her entire career and now shapes her new role as Academic Chair of Anesthesiology for HCA Healthcare GME.

Dr. Winston is a nationally recognized cardiac anesthesiologist and educator with more than two decades of experience at leading cardiovascular centers and academic institutions. She currently serves as Chief of Anesthesiology at Riverside Community Hospital, Program Director for the ACGME-accredited Anesthesiology Residency Program and HS Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at UC Riverside School of Medicine. Her recent promotion to Academic Chair of Anesthesiology for HCA Healthcare GME expands her impact from one hospital and residency to anesthesiology learners and faculty across the enterprise.

At Riverside, Dr. Winston led a comprehensive revitalization of the anesthesiology residency program. Under her leadership, the program eliminated all prior citations and now maintains a clean, citation-free ACGME review with a strong, structured curriculum. Residents consistently achieve top national performance on In-Training Examinations (ITE) — annual exams that gauge knowledge and readiness for board certification — and several have been recognized by the American Board of Anesthesiology for scoring in the top percentiles nationwide. The program also boasts an impressive Net Promoter Score of 92.9% and outstanding ACGME resident survey results, reflecting a culture where trainees feel supported and heard.

Dr. Winston credits those outcomes to a deliberate, learner-centered approach. She and her team built a curriculum mapped to national board content, with regular didactics, simulation, academic half-days and case-based learning focused on real-world decision making. When exam results reveal knowledge gaps, faculty work side by side with residents on individualized study plans. Just as importantly, she prioritizes mentorship, psychological safety and wellness, ensuring residents have the guidance and support they need to grow, not only as clinicians, but as leaders and teammates.

Her passion for education is rooted in the belief that teaching directly improves patient care and the future of the specialty. Over her career, Dr. Winston has trained hundreds of residents, CRNAs, SRNAs and fellows, and has helped design enhanced recovery pathways, regional anesthesia programs and perioperative optimization protocols that tie learning to measurable improvements at the bedside. She is known for connecting the dots between classroom, operating room and outcomes so that “every teaching moment ultimately benefits a patient.”

Beyond Riverside, Dr. Winston has held leadership roles in nationally recognized heart and lung centers, chaired anesthesiology departments and contributed extensively to research and professional societies. She has been deeply involved in the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, including work on diversity and health equity initiatives that expand opportunities for underrepresented clinicians and advance more inclusive care.

In her new role as Academic Chair of Anesthesiology for HCA GME, Dr. Winston will help standardize and elevate anesthesiology education across HCA Healthcare. Her responsibilities include collaborating on national didactic content, advising on simulation curricula, supporting faculty development and helping programs interpret exam and accreditation trends so they can continuously improve. She also serves as a thought partner to program leaders, sharing practical tools and lessons learned from Riverside’s success.

For Dr. Winston, the promotion is both an honor and a responsibility. It represents the chance to “scale what works” — a strong curriculum, engaged faculty, data-driven improvement and a respectful, inclusive culture — so that anesthesiology residents and CRNAs across HCA Healthcare have the same opportunity to thrive that her learners have at Riverside. Ultimately, her goal is simple and ambitious at the same time: to develop clinicians who are not only technically excellent, but also thoughtful, resilient and deeply committed to patient safety.

By investing in educators like Dr. Winston and expanding her impact across the enterprise, HCA Healthcare is unlocking new possibilities for teams and patients one rotation, one resident and one operating room at a time.