Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today we celebrate and honor Mexican heritage and culture.
Cinco de Mayo commemorates May 5, 1862, when Mexico defeated Napoleon III’s French forces at the Battle of Puebla, repelling an attempt to establish French imperial rule. It is often mischaracterized as Mexico’s Independence Day — that day belongs to September 16, 1810, when Mexico won its freedom from Spanish rule. Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of resilience against overwhelming odds.
In honoring Mexican heritage and culture, I want to highlight a name every anesthesiologist knows — even if they don’t know the face behind it.
❤️🩹Dr. J. Antonio Aldrete (1937–2025), born and raised in Mexico City, developed the Aldrete Scoring System in 1970 as a standardized method for assessing patients emerging from anesthesia, inspired by the Apgar score. That tool — used in every PACU in America — was conceived by a Mexican physician who immigrated to the United States and saw a gap that needed filling. Before publishing in English, he first published his work in Spanish in the Revista Mexicana de Anestesiología.
His contribution is a reminder that the infrastructure of safe anesthesia care has Mexican physician roots.
As we celebrate today, let us also reflect: Latinos and Hispanics represent 39% of California’s population, yet only 6% of physicians — including in our specialty. The legacy Dr. Aldrete built deserves a pipeline worthy of it. CSA is committed to that work.
¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
Christina Menor, MD, MS, FASA
President, California Society of Anesthesiologists
ASA Delegate | North Hollywood, CA