Pediatric Anesthesia

The pediatric anesthesia specialty continues to expand, and we have had a notable year.

Pediatric Anesthesia Research

Anshuman Sharma, MD, chief of pediatric cardiac anesthesia, has been named the director of pediatric anesthesia research. In this role, he is working to expand our specialty’s engagement in research. He also initiated our annual George Gregory Lectureship, which in 2024 featured Dr. George Gregory himself. Dr. Gregory spoke about his discovery of continuous positive airway pressure for neonates with respiratory distress syndrome to a large audience of current UCSF faculty, trainees, and alumni.

Expanding our Footprint in Pediatric Pain

This year, we proudly announced a new outpatient pain clinic for our pediatric patients. Drs. Caro Monico and Jocelyn Wong are two pediatric anesthesia pain trained physicians who staff this clinic, which has locations at Bayfront and Walnut Creek. Our team can be consulted to develop peri-operative pain plans for patients with a history of challenging post-operative pain control or for patients with complex care needs who have concerns about recovery after surgery. Our physicians can also assist with common post-surgical pain issues like Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), medication weaning, and chronic post-surgical pain. Treatment planning may involve complex medication management and interventional pain procedures. We are excited about elevating the level of pediatric pain care at our hospital.

Cross-Bay Collaboration

In the fall of 2024, pediatric anesthesia had a group retreat, with the goal of strengthening our collaboration across all three pediatric sites (Mission Bay, Oakland, and Walnut Creek). This enormously successful event allowed our team to improve faculty relationships and better understand our shared mission and values.

Fellowship

In the summer of 2025, we will welcome our largest pediatric anesthesia fellowship class at UCSF to date, with four fellows. Increasing the size of our fellowship has been possible due to our increased clinical volume and clinical expansion. Fellows will work clinically at Mission Bay, Oakland, and Walnut Creek.

Marla Ferschl, MD
Executive Vice Chair of Pediatric Anesthesia
Chief, Pediatric Anesthesia