Rita Agarwal MD, FAAP, FASA If it feels like practicing medicine and anesthesiology has gotten harder over the past few years, that’s because it has. Many of us are seeing more patients, generating more work, and navigating increasingly complex administrative demands — and taking home less or the same as we were 2 years ago. […]

CSA’s Annual Report – Vital Times is now available!

National Anesthesiologists Week, January 25–31, is a great opportunity to highlight the critical role anesthesiologists play in patient safety and access to care. We encourage you to join the celebration by posting on social media throughout the week, share the CSA content we’ve provided, amplify our messages, and tell your own story about why physician-led […]

Victoria Liu, BS and Bernadette Wilks, MBBS Implementing perioperative best practices remains challenging when many patients, often due to logistical, social or medical barriers, are unable to attend their preoperative appointments. These gaps are especially pronounced among older adults who already face significant social and structural obstacles to accessing hospital-based care. At the same time, […]

By Shubhika Jain, MD Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a national non-profit that is focused on increasing the number of students going into STEM fields. It provides a curriculum that is informed by current industry and knowledge demands while focusing on computer science, engineering, and biomedical science. It has significantly grown over the years […]

Mary Morales, MD Each September and October, we celebrate Women in Medicine and Hispanic Heritage Month. It’s a time to reflect on history, celebrate progress, and look ahead with optimism for continued growth and excellence. For me, this season offers a moment of personal reflection on the journey that brought me into medicine. I am […]

Charley Yan, MPH1, Mary Morales, MD2, and Naileshni Singh, MD3 Changes in healthcare funding at the federal level will have countless effects in each state, and particularly California.  With the passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill (2025), Medicaid (in California, known as Medi-Cal) will have short falls that will affect patient care and hospital […]

Join CSA’s Day of Contributing on August 19 On Tuesday, August 19, the California Society of Anesthesiologists (CSA) is holding a Day of Contributing to power our Issues & Advocacy Fund – the engine behind our legislative and public awareness campaigns. Your contribution fuels: This Year’s Challenge: CSA fought against legislation that sought to expand […]

By Victoria Liu, BS and Odmara L. Barreto Chang, MD, PhD  Photo courtesy of University of California, San Francisco The Growing Financial Burden in Medical Training  Medical education has always required a great deal of personal and professional sacrifice, though it increasingly comes with a steep financial burden as well. According to the Association of […]