Valley Faculty & Staff

DR. TODD L. HICKS, DNP, MNA, CRNA
Clinical Sciences Lecturer

As a practicing CRNA with more than twelve years of clinical experience and ten years as a CRNA educator, Dr. Todd Hicks joins Valley as an expert Clinical Sciences Lecturer. Todd most recently served as Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), a program with a long and proud history of preparing successful nurse anesthetists.

Dr. Hicks has practiced clinically in the Baptist Health System in Montgomery, AL, which includes a trauma center and referral OB hospital. Currently, Todd provides anesthesia services in an office-based setting, independently. Dr. Hicks is a sought after lecturer and has presented anesthesia review and continuing eduction content locally, regionally, and nationally.

Todd was awarded a Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2015 and a Masters of Nurse Anesthesia in 2008, both from UAB. Dr. Hicks has dual bachelors degrees in nursing (BSN, 2004) and education (BS Ed, 1999) from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Todd’s professional interests include USGRA, OB anesthesia, opioid free techniques, and all things pharmacology.

While Todd enjoys a successful career in anesthesia, at heart he is a musician and a professional girl dad. His interests span from improvisational music fan and baseball to practice fast-pitch softball catcher and Number 1 soccer, dance, and gymnastics fan.

Todd resides in Montgomery, Alabama with his wife, Jill, three daughters, and the world’s oldest living dachshunds.

DR. ULF BRONAS, PhD, FSVM, FAHA
Basic Sciences Lecturer

Dr. Bronas joins Valley as a Basic Science Lecturer. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing. He has taught advanced physiology, pathophysiology, and biophysiological measures to graduate student nurses for 15 years.

Dr. Bronas has developed integrative nursing practice and pharmacology courses, and taught advanced ECG interpretation. He is sought after speaker and regularly lectures in the medical school and during grand rounds. He has been a visiting and adjunct professor at the College of Nursing at the University of Minnesota, Vanderbilt University, and Michigan State University.

Dr. Bronas has been recognized for his teaching and mentoring of graduate nursing students and junior faculty members. Dr. Bronas has received the Berger Excellence in Teaching award and the Excellence in Teaching award from the Graduate Student Nurse Organization.

Lee Ranalli, DNP, CRNA
Lecturer

Dr. Ranalli joins Valley as a Lecturer. Lee graduated from the Kaiser Permanente School of Anesthesia in 2010 and moved back to his home state of Arizona, where he served multiple years as a Chief CRNA. Following this period he decided to pursue his passion for education and has accumulated over 10 years of faculty experience. Dr Ranalli has had the opportunity to lecture at multiple CRNA conferences throughout the country. He ultimately received his DNP from the university of Alabama in 2018.

Lee has been an active member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology and former President of the Arizona Association of Nurse Anesthesiology. He also serves on the Arizona State Board of Nursing's Advanced Practice Advisory Committee and Scope of Practice Committee. Dr. Ranalli has authored multiple journal publications and is a contributing co-author for the Obstetric Anesthesia chapter within the textbook Nurse Anesthesia.

Outside his professional life, Lee enjoys spending time with his wife and two boys, where they enjoy travelling to national parks, playing sports, and visiting with extended family.

F. Scott Imus, Ed.D., MSN, CRNA
Lecturer

Dr. Imus joins Valley as a Lecturer. Dr. Imus has been practicing as a CRNA for over 17 years in a wide array of clinical areas. He currently provides anesthesia services for a plastic surgeon in the Phoenix area as well as a surgery center doing a variety of cases. Dr. Imus has been in education for over 10 years where he has served as Associate Program Director at Midwestern University, where is is now an Associate Professor with tenure. Dr. Imus lectures on a vast variety of topics in Anesthesia Pharmacology and in Principles and Pathophysiology of Anesthesia.

Prior to his education career Dr. Imus served in the US Airforce and US Coast Guard. He was awarded the Agatha Hodgins Memorial aware - as the Outstanding Graduate Nurse Anesthetist, from the Wake Forest Anesthesia Program in 2008. He received his Doctor of Educational Leadership Curriculum and Instruction in 2017 and he received his Master of Science in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2008.

Dr. Imus lives in North Phoenix with his children and wife, who is also a CRNA and the current AZANA President. Dr. Imus and his wife enjoy caring for underserved communities through mission trips 2-4 times per year, mostly in South America. When not teaching or providing anesthesia Dr. Imus enjoys travelling across the U.S. and around the world.