Craig M. Palmer

Dr. Palmer was born and raised in Delaware, and attended the University of Delaware, receiving a Bachelor's degree with Honors and Distinction before going on to medical school at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Following graduation, he entered Anesthesiology Residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Following residency, he completed a year of Fellowship training in Obstetric Anesthesia at Jefferson. He accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at the Arizona Health Sciences Center in 1988, and was promoted to Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology in 1995, and Professor of Anesthesiology in 2000. He was the Director of Obstetric Anesthesia at University Medical Center from 1989 through 2005, when he became Director and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs of the Department of Anesthesiology at University Physicians Healthcare Hospital, now the University of Arizona Healthcare South Campus.

Dr. Palmer's primary interest is Obstetric Anesthesia. His current research interests include the use of intrathecal opioids for labor analgesia, the dose-response relationship of analgesic medications for post-cesarean analgesia, combined spinal/epidural and continuous spinal techniques for labor analgesia. In addition to being lead author of 2 well-received texts on Obstetric Anesthesia, he has authored or co-authored dozens of articles of original research in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Palmer currently serves as Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Obstetrical Anesthesia and as their liaison to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He is a long serving member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP), and hosted two of their annual meetings, in 1996 in Tucson and 2003 in Phoenix. He is a Past President of the Arizona Society of Anesthesiologists. He has been a Visiting Professor or invited speaker at scores of universities and meetings on 4 continents.