💜 We showed up. We always do.
Two days ago was International Women’s Day. I was in Chicago for the Spring ASA Board of Directors meeting, surrounded by incredible physician leaders who flew in from across the country to do exactly what we do: show up, do the work, and hold the line for our patients and our specialty.
I want you to know that CSA was in that room.
🌎 I know the ground feels unsteady right now.
Federal funding questions keeping you up at night. Workforce pressures that look different depending on where you practice — academics, private, community. Scope of practice battles that never fully go away. A legislature that requires us to be present and strategic even when the path forward isn’t perfectly clear.
I hear you. I feel it too. And I want you to know that none of it is happening without CSA paying attention, staying at the table, and fighting for you.
💡 Our board retreat two weekends ago — I’m still thinking about it.
We spent a day and a half doing something that is genuinely hard for anesthesiologists: sitting still long enough to ask ourselves the uncomfortable questions. Not about our patients — we do that naturally. About ourselves, as an organization.
Are we building the next generation of leaders, or are we hoping they find us? Are we communicating in ways that actually reach people, or are we sending emails into the void? Are we holding each other accountable, or letting things fall through the cracks between board meetings?
The answers were honest. Some things we’re doing really well. Some things we need to do better. And the fact that we could sit in a room together and say that out loud — that’s a sign of a healthy board. Not every organization can do that.
The frame that stuck with me most: the responsibility we have to this organization is the same responsibility we have to our patients. You don’t hand it off. You don’t assume someone else will handle it. You show up, you take ownership, and you do the work. That is who we are.
⭐ A moment I want to share from Chicago.
Being in that ASA board room this weekend reminded me why it matters that we show up at every level — local, state, national. Anesthesiologists need to be at those tables. Not asking for a seat. Already sitting in it.
I also want to take a moment to recognize Dr. Christine Doyle, our California Director to the ASA Board, who is running for ASA Vice Speaker of the House of Delegates this October. Dr. Doyle has been a steady, principled, and tireless voice for California anesthesiologists on the local, state, and national stage. If you have the opportunity to support her candidacy, please do. She is exactly the kind of leader we need representing us at ASA.
💗 On International Women’s Day — one more thing.
I looked around those rooms this past weekend — in Chicago, and at our retreat — and I saw women leading. Setting the agenda. Asking the hard questions. Holding space for the people around them while also holding the line. Dr. Doyle is one example. There are so many others in this organization, and I see you.
If you are earlier in your career and wondering whether there is a place for you here — there is. We talked at our retreat about making that pathway more visible, more welcoming, and less dependent on knowing the right person at the right moment. That work is underway. I hope you’ll stay close and get involved. If you don’t know how to — just ask!
We need you. The specialty needs you.
📌 THE BOTTOM LINE: CSA is your organization. We are in Sacramento. We are at the national table. We are having the hard conversations so that you don’t have to fight those battles alone. That has always been the promise, and it is one I take seriously every single day.
Thank you — truly — for the privilege of leading this organization.
With gratitude,
Christina Menor, MD, MS, FASA
President, California Society of Anesthesiologists
ASA Delegate | North Hollywood, CA
