Anesthesiology Intensive Research Residency (AIRR)

Inaugurated in July 2012, AIRR (formerly the Research Scholars Program) is a research intensive 5-year residency whose purpose is to produce independent and innovative investigators in anesthesiology.

UCSF Anesthesia has a longstanding history and commitment to producing premier anesthetic investigators. Importantly, research enabled by UCSF investigators lead to practice changing discoveries, whether it be in the use of mean alveolar concentration (MAC) for volatile anesthetic gases, continuous positive pressure in neonatal resuscitation (CPAP), or the Severinghaus electrode used in arterial blood gas machines to name but a few. 

UCSF Anesthesia’s commitment to developing physician investigators is manifold and takes form through the department’s Pathway to Scientific Independence (PSI). The PSI is an approximately fifteen-year departmental commitment to develop independently funded anesthetic physician investigators starting from the level of an intern physician. Concretely, the goal of the PSI is to train and retain future research faculty in the department. At present over 90% of PSI graduates are part of the academic faculty at UCSF or other major research institutions.

Pathway to Scientific Independence overview.

 

The first step in the PSI is the AIRR program. AIRR is intended to rigorously prepare candidates for academic careers as independent clinician-scientists. The purpose of the AIRR program, first and foremost, is to train clinically exceptional residents, followed closely by developing the AIRR Scholar’s outstanding research programs. AIRR graduates perform at the top of their clinical practice engaging in a broad spectrum of specialties including ICU medicine, liver transplant, chronic pain medicine, trauma, complex spine, and more. Acquiring these clinical skills starts with AIRR scholars completing their intern year at UCSF where they will also have their first research elective: ReSPIRE.

ReSPIRE is a month-long elective during December where AIRR Scholars are exposed to different faculty in the department, meet with potential mentors, and have unstructured time that allows them to think deeply and develop potential research ideas they may wish to pursue. The purpose of ReSPIRE is to set up the AIRR Scholar for success when they start pursuing research time during CA2 year.

AIRR Year Research Time
Intern Year 1 Month (ReSPIRE)
CA1 Year 0 Months
CA2 Year 6 Months
CA3 Year 6 Months
CA4 Year 12 Months

 

AIRR Clinical and Research Time Allocation

During research blocks, AIRR Scholars receive 80% protected time for research, with the remaining 20% allocated to clinical responsibilities. This typically involves approximately one day per week in the operating room (OR) and participation in the general call pool once or twice per month (usually weekends). Scholars may request specific clinical days to accommodate experimental needs—this time may be consolidated (e.g., two consecutive days) or distributed (e.g., every Friday), offering flexibility based on research demands.

CA1 Year – Foundational Clinical Training

The CA1 year is fully clinical, allowing AIRR Scholars to develop a strong foundation in anesthesiology. During this year, scholars will:

  • Participate in the Annual Anesthesia Research Day
  • Meet quarterly with AIRR faculty mentors
  • Take and pass the ABA BASIC Examination

CA2–CA3 Years – Integrated Research Training

In CA2 and CA3 years, AIRR Scholars complete a total of six months of dedicated research time each year. These months are self-selected during the annual scheduling process. During each research month, scholars are responsible for scheduling four clinical days and will take call as assigned by the chief residents. Additional responsibilities include:

  • Ongoing participation in the Annual Anesthesia Research Day
  • Continued quarterly mentorship meetings with AIRR faculty
  • Taking and passing the ABA ADVANCED Examination at the end of CA3

CA4 Year – Full-Time Research Focus

The CA4 year is entirely dedicated to research. AIRR Scholars will:

  • Prepare and submit a grant application (e.g., to FAER, StARR, or other relevant funding programs), with guidance from their primary mentor and AIRR faculty. Typical grants applications are shown below.
  • Take the ABA APPLIED Examination to complete board certification

CA4 Grant Applications

Board Certification Timeline

Importantly, participation in the AIRR track does not delay board certification. Scholars complete all ABA examinations—including BASIC, ADVANCED, and APPLIED—on the same timeline as residents in the traditional four-year program.

AIRR Scholar Funds

Finally, each scholar will receive an annual research allowance throughout their residency (CA-1 through CA-4 years), which can be used flexibly for training-related expenses, including course fees, conference travel, and laboratory supplies. This support may also be applied toward tuition for a Master’s program in Public Health or Global Health. These funds are not considered salary and are therefore not subject to taxation. Unused funds roll over each year and can be retained beyond graduation from the AIRR program, provided the scholar remains in good standing and continues at UCSF as faculty. Please note that funds are not transferable to institutions outside of UCSF.

Research Topics and Mentors

Scholars may pursue research on diverse topics relevant to anesthesiology and the perioperative sciences, including: perioperative outcomes, critical care, immunology, neuroscience, pain, health services, computational science, genomics, and health equity. Research mentors can be chosen from within the Department of Anesthesia or from other departments. Learn about potential research mentors and research groups. Scholars engaging in health equity research have additional access to mentorship through our Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia. 

Outcomes

Most graduates of AIRR are now academic faculty with research-intensive careers. Alumni of the program have been successful in receiving extramural research grants, including FAER Research Fellowship Grants and Mentored Research Training Grants; IARS Mentored Research Awards; and NIH K08, K23, R01, R03, and Loan Repayment Program Grants.

Current and Former PSI Members

Name PSI Stage Clinical Focus Research Type Research Topic(s)
UCSF Faculty        
Alex Perez* Assistant Professor, UCSF General Basic, Translational CRISPR target specificity; anesthetic effects on gene networks
Orestes Mavrothalassitis* Assistant Professor, UCSF Critical Care Clinical Use of vasodilators in septic shock
Won Lee* Assistant Professor, UCSF Obsterics Clinical, Health  Health disparities in the perioperative setting
Danielle Williamson Assistant Professor, UCSF Critical Care Clinical, Translational Altitude adaptation and hypoxia
Erica Langnas* Assistant Professor, UCSF General Clinical, Health Services Opioid prescribing patterns
Odmara Barreto Chang Assistant Professor, UCSF Neuroanesthesia Clinical, Translational Cognitive impairment after surgery
Andrew Bishara* Assistant Professor, UCSF General Clinical, Computational Deep learning to predict patient outcomes
Gregory Chinn* Assistant Professor, UCSF General Basic Neonatal anesthesia neurotoxicity; early life cannabis exposure
Paul Su* Assistant Professor, UCSF Chronic Pain Basic, Translational Mechanisms of acute and chronic postsurgical pain
Michael Bokoch* Associate Professor, UCSF Liver Transplant Clinical Liver transplant anesthesia research
Catherine Chen* Associate Professor, UCSF General Clinical, Health Services Healthcare overutilization during perioperative period
Wei Zhou Associate Professor, UCSF Neuroanesthesia Basic Mechanisms of general anesthetics
Xiaobing Yu Associate Professor, UCSF Chronic Pain Basic, Translational Neuropathic pain mechanisms after tissue injury
Zhonghui Guan Associate Professor, UCSF Chronic Pain Basic, Translational Basic mechanisms of pain
Jonathan Pan Associate Professor, UCSF General Basic, Translational Tissue injury mechanisms after CNS trauma
Liz Whitlock* Associate Professor, UCSF General Clinical Geriatric Anesthesia; long-term perioperative cognitive outcomes
Irfan Kathiriya Professor, UCSF Pediatric/Cardiothoracic Basic, Translational Genetic pathways for congenital heart defects
Jeff Sall Professor, UCSF Neuroanesthesia Basic, Clinical Brain development and altitude physiology
Arun Prakash Professor, UCSF General Basic, Translational Lung injury in trauma; lung ischemia reperfusion injury
Other Academic Institutions        
Paul Riegelhaupt* Associate Professor, Weill Cornell Neuroanesthesia Basic Anesthetic mechanism of action
Ben Alter* Assistant Professor, U. Pittsburgh Chronic Pain Basic Genomic change in  Pain
Private Practice        
Michael Wu* Attending, Private Practice Critical Care Basic, Translational Neuroscience, Inflammation
Manch Lee* Attending, Private Practice Regional Anesthesia Basic Mechanisms of Pain

Table of PSI, position, clinical practice, research domain. Asterisks indicate Graduates of Research Scholars Program/AIRR

FAQs

A: No, AIRR Scholars complete their board certification on the standard 4-year timeline. 

A: The CA4 year is a fully research fellowship year. This year is part of the scholar’s ACGME residency and therefore enables the scholar to have a year of research without having to use a year of their NIH early investigator status. Early investigator status is the first ten years after the terminal clinical training for physicain-scientists. This ultimately enables the Scholar to develop their research program and get preliminary data to allow for the submission of a competitive mentored grant (FAER MRTG, IARS Award, NIH K Series). The year window is specifically designed with the idea that wet lab scientists, clinical scientists, and/or computational scientists will benefit from this extended time window in terms of experimental progress, IRB approval, and dataset acquisition. Ultimately, we see AIRR as a finishing program, where after finishing AIRR the Scholar will be in a position to apply for independent grants. In this sense the CA4 year plays a critical role in enabling that transition.

A: No.

A: We do not have absolute requirements for the program. However, successful AIRR Scholars demonstrate clinical excellence in medical school combined with a robust and longitudinal commitment to research. Ultimately, AIRR is looking for future anesthesiologist-investigators and seeks candidates who we think will be outstanding clinicians as well as scientists.

A: There are typically 2-4 AIRR slots per year. AIRR is a program that is matched into and is a rankable program on NRMP.

A: No, in fact we encourage extra-departmental mentors if that is what is needed to achieve research success. The Department places a high value on innovation in anesthesiology and part of this emphasis is in being open to having new ideas and approaches from outside anesthesia. Consequently, AIRR and the Department give full support to mentors from outside the Anesthesia Department. However, we do encourage at least one co-mentor or secondary mentor from within the Department of Anesthesia. 

A: In total the Scholar gets 25 months over 5 years. Typically the split is: Intern = 1 month, CA1 = 0 months, CA2 = 6 months, CA3 = 6 months, CA4 = 12 months.

A: Absolutely not. Current and former AIRR Scholars found the balance of research and clinical time in training allowed them to develop excellent clinical and research skills simultaneously.

A: The clinical fellowship would occur after the CA4 year. The Scholar would identify their fellowship interest to AIRR faculty during CA2 year and efforts would be made to enable the Scholar to stay at UCSF for fellowship training. The fellowship training would be developed so that research electives in fellowship are back loaded such that the Scholar could use research time in fellowship to dovetail with an appointment to the UCSF T32 after fellowship graduation.

A: The expectation is that the AIRR Scholar applies for one of these grants.

A: The department has robust research support in the form of grant writing and administration management, shared general lab space, clinical research coordinator cores, biostatistics core, animal facilities, and robust computational resources.

A: No.

A: Questions should be directed to Dr. Gregory Chinn, the director of resident and fellowship research. His email is [email protected]. Or Dr. Alex Pérez, co-director of AIRR, his email address is [email protected].