Tiffany Uranga DNP

Biography

Commander Tiffany Ann Uranga is a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) in the United States Navy currently assigned to Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) as an assistant professor.
In 2000 she graduated magna cum laude from Villanova University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. After three years as a civilian critical care nurse she was commissioned as an Ensign into the Navy Nurse Corps and began her naval career in the intensive care unit at Naval Hospital Pensacola in Pensacola, FL. Two years later she deployed to Camp Delta Detention Hospital and Clinic in Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), Cuba as an individual augmentee, detainee operations critical care nurse. As a lieutenant her next assignment was Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay in GTMO, Cuba in the emergency department.

From Cuba Uranga was selected for the Navy Nurse Corps Anesthesia Program in 2007 and attended Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. She graduated in 2009 with a Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia and co-authored her first publication in obstetrical anesthesia. One year into her first CRNA tour at Naval Hospital Bremerton in Bremerton, WA, she volunteered for a seven-month deployment aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). Uranga served as the sole anesthesia provider for medical and dental departments while in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn. While afloat she earned her Surface Warfare Medical Department Officer qualification. Her next tour at Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD), CA, she served as a staff CRNA, became certified in acupuncture through the HELMS Medical Institute for Physicians Course, and earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University of Alabama with her capstone project focusing on high-fidelity technology.

After her tour in San Diego, Uranga joined academia transferring to USUHS as a Phase I professor in the GSN's Registered Nurse Anesthesia Program. She severed in this capacity for three years before transferring to her current position as Assistant Director of Phase II clinical site at Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, CA. Additional professional accolades include a graduate of the Naval Post Graduate School Healthcare Modeling and Simulation certificate program (2016) and eCornell Plant Based Nutrition certificate program (2017). Her current research and academic interests are the use of emergency manuals and operational readiness training in nurse anesthesia, particularly utilizing multi-level fidelity simulation, and incorporating integrative medicine into the GSN curriculum. Uranga personal military decorations are a Joint Service Commendation Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.