ASA’s ‘Doctors Back to School’ Program Empowers the Next Generation

The annual American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) meeting (held this year in Philadelphia, PA) is a time for learning, connection, and networking, and now, thanks to the work Odmara Barreto Chang, MD, PhD, and others on the ASA Committee on Professional Diversity have been doing for the last 8 years, a chance to give back. Barreto Chang has served on the ASA Committee on Professional Diversity since 2017. Now chairing the committee, she shares that the ASA Doctors Back to School (DBTS) event, traditionally held the Monday after the conference, is one of her favorite events of the year. The DBTS program aims to provide early exposure to students underrepresented in medicine to help instill the idea that “I too can do it; there are doctors who look like me, and I belong in this space too. As one of our anesthesiologists said, ‘You cannot become what you cannot see.’ One of the most powerful things we can help with is building confidence with the idea that they, too, have a space in this field, and despite the many barriers they may face on this path, they can and will achieve their goals if they are dedicated.”

This year, Barreto Chang and the ASA Committee on Professional Diversity partnered with North Philadelphia to Lindley Academy Charter School at Birney for its 8th year of the Doctors Back to School. There was an overwhelming response of volunteers, and the group had ultrasound, airway/intubation, vitals/CPR, and epidural stations in each of the 6 classrooms, with 180 students getting hands-on experiences. The students were enthusiastic about the mannequins and equipment and were eager to get a hands-on opportunity to intubate and to use ultrasound to see pictures of the inside of the body.

Barreto Chang notes that ASA DBTS is open to the entire ASA community – from faculty members to residents, fellows, and even medical students. Members of the UCSF community, including Anesthesia Department faculty member Vanessa Henke, MD, UCSF medical student Victoria Liu, and former T32 Fellow (now at Washington University of St. Louis) Roberta Teixeira Tallarico, MD, PhD, participated this year. Barreto Chang happily reported that Sara Zhou, a UCSF medical student who participated in the program last year, matched with our residency program and will be joining our department as a CA1 in 2025!