We are pleased to announce that Dr. Kristina Sullivan has been selected as the new UCSF Anesthesia Residency Program Director, effective July 1, 2019. In addition, she has also been appointed as the Associate Chair for Anesthesia Education in the UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care.
Dr. Sullivan grew up in the Seattle area and graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in Biology. After medical school at Georgetown University, she completed an internal medicine residency at Stanford, followed immediately by anesthesia residency at UCSF. After two residencies, Dr. Sullivan then completed two fellowships - critical care medicine and cardiac anesthesia, both at UCSF. She was eagerly recruited to our faculty in 2007.
Dr. Sullivan was drawn to an academic career by the constant pursuit of teaching and learning. In the earlier years of her career, she was focused on becoming a highly effective teacher in the classroom and at the patient’s bedside. Since 2008, Dr. Sullivan has served as the director of the anesthesia internship, and one year later also assumed the role of associate residency program director. In addition to her residency program contributions, Dr. Sullivan has been a leader in our medical student programs, including serving as clerkship director to the Parnassus Integrated Student Clerkship Experience (PISCES) longitudinal anesthesia clerkship. Based on her excellence in these roles, she was selected in 2014 for membership in the prestigious UCSF Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators. Dr. Sullivan has been academically productive during her time on faculty, achieving the rank of Professor. Earlier this year, she was chosen as the Sol Shnider Endowed Chair for Anesthesia Education, one of the very few education-related endowed chairs among US anesthesiology departments.
We are grateful to the residency director search committee, ably led by Dr. Marla Ferschl, for their commitment to the residency program and the future of our department.
The UCSF Anesthesia Residency Program is a huge source of pride for our department, and has a well-earned reputation for producing outstanding clinicians who have become leaders in the field. The web site Doximity has rated UCSF the top anesthesiology program in the country for the past two years. We are indebted to Dr. Manuel Pardo for his superb leadership of the residency since 2009. During his time as program director, the residency program developed a new internship year, innovative pathways for training in critical care medicine (The Critical Care Scholars Track) and research (The Research Scholars Track), residency “houses” to facilitate mentorship, and the Anesthesia Education Day – a novel approach to clinical didactics and physician well-being. Dr. Pardo has held the position of Vice Chair for Education since 2006, a role he will maintain after the transition in program director takes place in 2019.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Sullivan to her new roles, and thanking Dr. Pardo for his service and leadership.