Read the 2025 Edition of CSA Vital Times!
From Los Angeles to Copenhagen: An Anesthesiologist’s Battle Against Polio Launches Critical Care Medicine
By Fahim Mahmud, MD The CSA Committee on the History of Anesthesia congratulates the 2nd place winner of the CSA 2026 History of Anesthesia Essay Contest: Fahim Mahmud, MD, author of “From Los Angeles to Copenhagen: An Anesthesiologist’s Battle Against Polio Launches Critical Care Medicine.” Dr. Mahmud, originally from Boston, is a CA-2 resident physician […]
Widening the Path: Why Celebrating Women in Anesthesiology and Medicine Changes the Future of Healthcare
By Rita Agarwal, MD, FAAP, FASA History is rarely made in a single, loud explosion. More often, it is forged quietly—one late night monitoring a critically ill patient under the glow of OR monitors, one courageous clinical breakthrough, and one mentor who decides that reaching the top means turning around to pull others up with […]
Safe Opioid Use
Information for Patients and Families on Safe Opioid Use The opioid epidemic is a crisis that impacts all communities and demographic groups. The CSA supports ensuring that patients who truly need opioids to treat their pain have appropriate access, while we work to expand knowledge about non-opioid medications, techniques, and resources available to the medical […]
Preparing for Anesthesia
Feeling nervous before surgery is normal. The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation’s Patient Guide answers the questions patients ask most, from the different types of anesthesia to side effects and what to expect when you wake up. How to Prepare for a Procedure Requiring Anesthesia Educación para pacientes: La anestesia y usted La Sociedad de Anestesiólogos […]
Role of the Anesthesiologist
Anesthesiologists Play a Critical Role, Before, During, and After Surgery Pre-op Diagnose underlying medical conditions and their impact on surgery, and determine whether the patient can safely undergo the procedure Intra-op Provide appropriate anesthesia levels to maintain life functions during otherwise painful surgical procedures; medically diagnose, treat, and optimize medical emergencies and surgical problems that […]
When Technique Outpaced Evidence: The Rise and Fall of Rectal Ether
By Austin Zheng The CSA Committee on the History of Anesthesia congratulates the 3rd-place winner of the CSA 2026 History of Anesthesia Essay Contest: Austin Zheng, BA, author of “A Story About the Discovery of Dexmedetomidine.” Austin Zheng, a third-year medical student at UCSF, is originally from Modesto, California. He studied neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy […]
Making the Extraordinary Routine: A History of Liver Transplant Anesthesia and Living Donation
By Alexander Moore The CSA Committee on the History of Anesthesia congratulates the runner-up for the CSA 2026 History of Anesthesia Essay Contest: Alexander Moore, author of “Making the Extraordinary Routine: A History of Liver Transplant Anesthesia and Living Donation.” Alex Moore, a fourth-year medical student at California University of Science and Medicine, was born […]
The CSA Committee on the History of Anesthesia congratulates the winner of the CSA 2026 History of Anesthesia Essay Contest: Kun Leng, MD, PhD, author of “A Story About the Discovery of Dexmedetomidine.”
Dr. Leng, a CA-2 research track resident at the University of California, San Francisco, is a budding physician-scientist and an avid surfer, tennis player, and utter amateur at golf. A Story About the Discovery of Dexmedetomidine By Kun Leng, MD, PhD An interview with Mervyn Maze, MB, CHB “Chance favors the prepared mind.”— Louis Pasteur […]
CSA Foundation Launches Research Grant Program with Inaugural Award Recipients
By Ronald D. Pearl, MD, PhD, FASA and Mark Zakowski, MD, FASA The California Society of Anesthesiologists’ Foundation for Education is pleased to announce the recipients of its inaugural Research Grant Awards. These grants fund research awards to support research projects concerning quality of care, patient safety by residents and fellows in California Anesthesiology training […]
