Pediatric Anesthesia

The pediatric anesthesia specialty is growing rapidly. In January 2023, our department started providing anesthesia services at Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. In July 2023, Dr. Taran Sangari joined UCSF to lead pediatric anesthesia at this site. 

At Mission Bay, our footprint has also increased with additional OR and non-OR anesthesia locations being added to our services. 

Our fellowship in pediatric anesthesia continues to be a highlight of our specialty. This year, we will be increasing our fellowship size in the match to 4 fellows, to better meet the educational opportunities available at our sites. We continue to be a very popular resident rotation as well, consistently being ranked as one of the favorite resident rotations during the CA-2 year. 

Our pediatric QI efforts this year have centered around reducing the carbon footprint of anesthesia. This year’s fellow-led QI project aims to reduce fresh gas flows during inhalational induction, as well as the use of nitrous oxide. We additionally are working to minimize propofol waste by providing weight-and time-based algorithms for propofol infusions. 

This year, we appointed Dr. Jocelyn Wong as the cross-bay director of pediatric regional and perioperative pain medicine. Dr. Wong joined our faculty in 2022 and has fellowship training in pediatric anesthesia and pain medicine. In her role, Dr. Wong is working to enhance the pain and regional services provided to pediatric patients on both sides of the bay and establishing guidelines and protocols for both institutions. 

Dr. Atsuko Baba was recognized with the UCSF exceptional physician award. Dr. Odi Ehie was accepted into a Master of Education Program at UC Berkeley. Dr. Jina Sinskey received a R25 grant from the NIH to further her work in physician well-being and burnout. Dr. Irfan Kathiriya received a Saving Tiny Hearts Society Grant. Dr. Denise Chang was honored with the Maxine Papadakis award for faculty professionalism. We also celebrated Dr. Maurice Zwass's retirement. Dr. Zwass served on faculty at UCSF for 35 years and left a strong legacy! 

Marla Ferschl, MD 
Vice Chair of Pediatric Anesthesia