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OUR SPECIALISTS
Meet Your Anesthesia Instructors
Our experienced anesthesia providers ensure your comfort and safety throughout every procedure, delivering personalized care with precision and attention.
Michael Mielniczek, CRNA
Michael Mielniczek brings more than a decade of combined critical care and anesthesia experience to his role as co-founder and instructor of the Washington Dental Anesthesia Academy. His background includes three years caring for critically ill patients in the ICU, followed by extensive CRNA practice across hospital-based anesthesia, outpatient anesthesia, and office-based anesthesia, including dental anesthesia. During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked with Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians, directly participating in the care of critically ill COVID-positive patients, including emergent intubations, central line placement, and ventilator management. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Fitchburg State University and his Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesiology from the University of Scranton. His anesthesia background includes Level 1 trauma, high-acuity pediatric anesthesia, regional anesthesia, advanced airway management, and the care of medically complex and critically ill patients.
Michael currently focuses on mobile dental anesthesia with Elite Anesthesia, while continuing to practice occasionally in outpatient medical settings and within a large hospital system. Prior to working with Elite Anesthesia, Michael served as Chief CRNA at Lake Washington Anesthesia, where he helped oversee more than 40 anesthesia providers and over 19,000 annual procedures across multiple surgery centers. This leadership and clinical experience helped shape his approach to patient evaluation, medical clearance, anesthesia planning, and safety-focused decision-making. His current clinical focus includes general anesthesia in dental offices, point-of-care ultrasound, difficult IV access, and the development of evidence-based safety systems for anesthesia outside the traditional hospital environment.
As an instructor, Michael is passionate about making anesthesia education practical, clear, and directly useful for dental providers. He draws from his experience in hospitals, surgery centers, and hundreds of dental offices to teach real-world anesthesia decision-making across the spectrum of sedation and general anesthesia. His goal is to help dental providers feel more confident, prepared, and safety-focused when caring for patients who require sedation or anesthesia.
James Prince, CRNA
James Prince is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist and Chief CRNA at Elite Anesthesia (a mobile anesthesia group bringing hospital-level anesthesia services to dental offices in the outpatient setting). As a scholar-athlete football player at Stephen F. Austin, James earned his BSN in 2005, followed by nearly five years in the ICU at Parkland Hospital, a Level I trauma center, one year in surgical neurotrauma and four years in cardiopulmonary critical care. He pursued his CRNA training and master’s degree at the University of Miami, graduating in 2012, and spent the next decade delivering anesthesia across every specialty at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.
In 2021, James found his true passion in dental anesthesia, and in 2023 he helped launch Elite Anesthesia’s Washington market. Fifteen years into his anesthesia career, James remains as dedicated to the specialty as ever — so much so that he co-founded the Washington Dental Anesthesia Academy, an IV sedation training course built to close the knowledge gap for dentists and give them the expertise to practice safely and confidently.
When he’s not delivering anesthesia in dental offices, James is spending time with his family, watching or playing sports, traveling, and enjoying the outdoors with their Belgian Malinois.
Our story
James and Michael
Washington Dental Anesthesia Academy grew out of a need James saw firsthand in the Washington dental community: dentists needed access to high-quality anesthesia services, but they also needed education rooted in modern, evidence-based practice.
James originally brought Elite Anesthesia to Washington to help fill that gap. As demand quickly grew for his clinical expertise, calm bedside approach, and modern anesthesia model, he recruited Michael from his previous Chief of Anesthesia role to help build a team of exceptional clinicians focused on dental and oral surgery anesthesia.
Together, James and Michael have spent the last several years working side by side to raise the standard for anesthesia care in the dental setting. Their approach has always been grounded in safety, quality, humility, and a constant desire to keep learning and improving in the field they love.
Over the past three years, that work has grown rapidly. Elite Anesthesia has now provided anesthesia services in more than 240 dental and oral surgery offices, while James and Michael have also had the opportunity to teach at multiple study clubs and educate dentists across Washington. James was also invited to speak at the 2026 National Dental Association Annual Meeting, further highlighting the growing demand for practical, high-quality anesthesia education.
Through these experiences, one thing became clear: Washington dentists need more accessible, relevant, and clinically useful anesthesia education. Not just courses that check a box, but education that helps providers think critically, manage risk, improve safety, and apply what they learn directly to patient care.
That is why Washington Dental Anesthesia Academy was created — to bring modern, practical, evidence-based anesthesia education to the dental community, taught by clinicians who are actively doing this work every day.