David Pinaula joined the UNMC Department of Anesthesiology in June as an instructor and collaborator on the department’s education innovation efforts. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Pinaula brings a rare combination of technical expertise, a passion for education and career experience that runs from medieval literature to cutting-edge AI.
Pinaula joins the department after three years at Emory University, where he worked at the intersection of technology and education. There, he served as technical lead for the Anesthesia Research Group for Education Technology project (TARGET), a consortium-based initiative aiming to transform how anesthesiology residents engage educationally. Now based at UNMC, Pinaula said the goal is to make education more accessible, personalized and efficient across a national network of medical institutions.
“The TARGET Project is designed to give residents a precision-guided learning experience,” Pinaula said. “It accounts for where they are in their programs, the cases they’ve seen and the resources they’ve used, to surface the most relevant educational material right when they need it.”
The tool will leverage AI in its early iterations by using large language models trained in medical terminology to return more accurate and context-sensitive results. In future versions, Pinaula hopes to predict what content an individual resident might need based on their unique clinical journey.
Pinaula is working closely with Nick Markin, MD, department vice chair of education and innovation, as well as IT and other clinical partners at UNMC, to bring this platform to life.
“We want to remove the noise and improve the signal,” he said. “In a field where timely information can directly impact patient outcomes, it’s critical that our residents can access exactly what they need, when they need it.”
Pinaula’s path into academic medicine is anything but conventional. He began his career as a high school and middle school teacher after earning degrees in English literature and starting a PhD program at the University of North Carolina. “It’s always surprising for people to learn that before 30 years in technology, medieval literature was my vocation.”
His interest in technology started as a hobby, specifically learning Perl programming to analyze texts for his dissertation. “That skillset soon became highly sought-after as the internet emerged, prompting a pivot from academia to programming,” he said.
From there, Pinaula launched a technology company and ultimately found his way back to education through roles at organizations like the American Board of Anesthesiology, where he served as manager of software development (2009 to 2013) before taking on the role of chief information officer from 2013 to 2022.
“I’ve always been drawn to work that has meaning,” he said. “It’s not just about writing code, it’s about making something that helps people do their jobs better, especially in a field like medicine where time and accuracy matter so much.”
Looking ahead, Pinaula said he is excited about what he calls the “homebuilder’s thrill,” building something new from scratch, from servers and software to training and adoption.
“There’s so much energy and curiosity in this department,” he said. “The team is open to innovation, eager to improve both the big-picture and day-to-day operations. That kind of mindset keeps it interesting.”
Pinaula said the eventual goal is for the TARGET platform is to serve as a model for other institutions, especially where resources are limited but the need for high-quality, curated, ‘just-in-time’ learning is high.
When he’s not designing digital learning tools, Pinaula said he enjoys traveling with his wife, discovering new restaurants, playing guitar and spending time with friends and family.