Combined Pediatrics Anesthesiology Residency

Stanford Combined Pediatrics Anesthesiology Residency

Overview

Our mission is to train exceptional physicians who excel at the intersection of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology. We are committed to delivering the highest standard of care to patients across pediatrics and anesthesiology settings with particular expertise in perioperative medicine, pain management, and critical care. Our combined residency program is dedicated to nurturing a diverse community of compassionate, skilled, and forward-thinking physicians. These leaders will pioneer advancements and promote excellence in all aspects of medicine.

The combined pediatrics-anesthesiology residency seeks applicants with outstanding clinical abilities who show potential to be leaders in their field (e.g., pediatric anesthesiology, PICU, pediatric pain management, or other fields). Graduates are board-eligible in both specialties.

The structure of our program consists of:

PGY-1	12 months of pediatrics internship
PGY-2	12 months of anesthesiology
PGY-3 through PGY-5	6 months per year devoted to each specialty, alternating approximately every three-months through senior level rotations

For the Combined Program in Pediatrics and Anesthesiology, the ERAS application material should be sent to the Combined Program in Pediatrics and Anesthesiology. Candidates will interview at both programs over 2 days. The NRMP code for the Stanford combined pediatrics-anesthesiology program is 1820726C0. If you are interested in also applying to the categorical programs in either Pediatrics or Anesthesia, please also apply through those ERAS programs.

Residents in this combined program are fully included members of both departments including advising, mentoring, research opportunities, and resident colleagues, etc.

Sample Schedule

_{Number of 4 Week Rotations Per Year}

HOSPITAL	PGY-1	PGY-2	PGY-3	PGY-4	PGY-5
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital	11	2*	5	8*	6
Stanford University Hospital	1	7	6	3	6
Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care	0	2	1	1	1
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center	1	2	1	1	0
Valley Childrens Hospital (Fresno)	0	0	1	0	0

*Pediatric anesthesia, pediatric cardiac anesthesia, & adult obstetric anesthesia rotations are at Packard

PGY-1 Year

Participate in once-a-month online module: the Stanford Successful Transition to Anesthesia Residency Training (START) program along along with the other anesthesia interns.
Along with all other local Stanford Anesthesia interns, combined residents also participate in the monthly simulation sessions (STARTplus) which are typically on the third Tuesday of each month from 1-5pm.

PGY-2 Year

PGY-3-5 Year

Residents in combined program alternate back and forth approximately every 3 months.
During PGY-3, residents continue their primary care pediatric clinics throughout the year.
During PGY-4 and PGY-5, residents have the option to attend subspecialty clinics, including pediatric preop clinic and pediatric pain clinic.
While on pediatrics rotations during years 3-5, residents have approximately one afternoon a month of anesthesia time to go to anesthesiology lectures, the operating room and/or work on anesthesia-related academic or scholarly pursuits.
Residents attend pediatrics retreats and class dinners for senior residents.

Didactics

Residents are encouraged to attend teaching conferences for both departments regardless of their current rotation when possible. They are expected to attend all teaching conferences offered by their current rotation.
Pediatrics conferences include morning report, noon conference, and Grand Rounds.
Anesthesia conferences occur daily (Libero) while on the adult OR rotation. Residents have protected education days once a month while on anesthesiology rotations. Anesthesiology Grand Rounds occur every Monday morning.

Exams

Residents take each of the pediatrics and anesthesia in-training exams (ITE) 4-5 times over the 5-year program.
Residents in the combined program are eligible to take written exams for both specialties. For anesthesiology, the BASIC Exam (Part 1 of the written boards) is taken at the start of PGY3 year. It focuses on the scientific basis of clinical anesthetic practice and concentrates on content areas such as pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, anesthesia equipment, and monitoring.
The ADVANCED exam for anesthesiology (Part 2) is taken after end of residency and focuses on clinical aspects of anesthetic practice and emphasizes subspecialty-based practice and advanced clinical issues.
The general pediatrics boards are offered in October annually and taken after completion of residency.

Vacation

Simulation

Stanford University has a state-of-the-art simulation center. Residents participate in simulation programs provided by both departments. Anesthesia Crisis Resource Management (once per year) and EVOLVE (twice per year) take anesthesia residents through various crisis scenarios in the operating room. Residents also participate in neonatal resuscitation and obstetric anesthesia simulation during the obstetric anesthesia rotation.
Pediatric simulation experiences include procedure day during intern orientation and simulation experiences during academic half-days, PICU and NICU rotations, and PALS and NRP.

Social and Other Activities

Residents in the combined program are involved in residency recruitment (e.g. Zoom dinners prior to interview days, senior residents participate in Pediatrics interviews).
Quarterly meetings are held 4 times per year for all combined residents to engage in educational and social events (e.g. review of the residency program, for resident wellness, and professional development).

Required Rotations

Pediatrics

5 months in-patient rotations (may be general pediatrics, mixed or a single subspecialty)
5 months supervisory experience
3 months PICU, 2 months NICU, 2 weeks CVICU
7 months subspecialty rotations with a mix of inpatient and outpatient experience
3 months ER
1 month acute care illness
1 month normal newborn
1 month adolescent medicine
1 month behavioral/developmental pediatrics
40% of pediatric time is in ambulatory settings
Weekly pediatric continuity clinic during pediatrics rotations & once/month during anesthesia rotations. PGY-4 and PGY-5 years, residents may elect to participate in a pediatric subspecialty clinic or continue their pediatric primary care clinic to meet this requirement.

Anesthesiology

Two one-month rotations in each of obstetric anesthesiology, pediatric anesthesiology, neuroanesthesiology, and cardiothoracic anesthesiology
Two months (minimum) in an adult ICU in addition to the requirements for training in neonatal and pediatric critical care medicine
Three months of pain medicine – one month in acute perioperative pain, one month in chronic pain, and one month of regional anesthesia/peripheral nerve blocks
Two weeks in a preoperative evaluation clinic
Two weeks providing anesthesia for diagnostic or therapeutic procedures outside the surgical suites
No single subspecialty, excluding critical care medicine may exceed six months total
Minimum clinical experiences as defined by the anesthesiology program requirements
Rotations are not “counted” twice. Thus, rotations are not considered by the program to meet the requirements for training in pediatrics or anesthesiology simultaneously

Faculty Leadership

Tammy Wang, MD
Anesthesia Associate Program Director

Dr. Wang is a pediatrician and an anesthesiologist and is board certified in both specialties. She was a resident, chief resident and then a pediatric hospitalist at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland for a number of years before completing residency in Anesthesiology and fellowship in Pediatric Anesthesiology at Stanford. She works at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital where she is Clinical Director of Pediatric Anesthesiology, specializing in perioperative medicine as a member of the Anesthesia Resource and Pre-Anesthesia Resource teams. Her interests also include resident education, advocacy and wellness, patient safety and quality improvement. She and her husband enjoy raising their two rambunctious boys, family vacations, and exploring the many cuisines the Bay Area has to offer.

Email Dr. Wang

Lindsey Rasmussen, MD
Pediatrics Associate Program Director

Dr. Rasmussen is the Associate Medical Director in the PICU and Medical Director of Pediatric Neurocritical Care. Dr. Rasmussen completed her pediatrics residency at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC and her pediatric critical care fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She joined the team at Stanford in 2018 from the University of Louisville with clinical and research interests in inflammation following traumatic brain injury, outcome prediction after cardiac arrest, and neuromonitoring in the pediatric intensive care setting. She loves a good coffee shop and enjoys meeting with trainees to discuss career goals, residency challenges, and life in general. Outside work, Dr. Rasmussen is an enthusiastic traveler and live music aficionado. She enjoys time with her family, two very active kids, friends, hiking bay area trails, and the vast culinary options of San Francisco.

Email Dr. Rasmussen

Additional Contact Information

Carrie Rassbach, M.D., M.A.Ed
Program Director, Pediatrics Residency
Email: crassbac@stanford.edu)
Marianne Chen, MD
Program Director, Anesthesiology Residency
Email: mcchen8@stanford.edu

Residents are formally assigned to a coach from Pediatrics and an advisor from Anesthesiology when they begin their clinical training.

Pediatrics-Anesthesiology Combined Residents

Alumni

ALUMNI	After Residency
Mary Lyn Stein	Associate Program Director and Chair Scholarly Activities Committee- ACGME Pediatric Anesthesiology Fellowship - Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Assistant Associate Program Director - ACGME Combined Residency in Pediatrics and Anesthesiology - Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital Associate in Perioperative Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital Instructor of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Boston Children’s Hospital (2016-2017)
Gavin Hartman	Private Practice, Reno, NV
Adam Was	Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Advanced Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology Fellowship (2022-2023) Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, University of Michigan (2018-2019)
Erin Conner	Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University with dual appointment in the Department of Pediatrics Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, OHSU (2018-2019)
Jewel E. Sheehan	Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2020-2021) Clinical Instructor, Dept. of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University (2019-2020)
Andrew Giustini	Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University Fellowship: Advanced Clinical Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2020-2021) Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2019-2020)
Aidan Tait	Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2020-2021)
Michael O'Hara	Private Practice Anesthesiology, Portland, Maine
Allison Nye	Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2021-2022)
Elena Brandford	Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seattle Children’s Hospital Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2022-2023)
Kara Furman	Assistant Professor, Dept of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University Fellowship: Advanced Clinical Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2023-2024) Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2022-2023)
Sean Miller	Private Practice Cardiac Anesthesiology, Bangor, Maine Fellowship: Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2023-2024)
Clarice Nguyen	Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2023-2024)
Laura Tetri	Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2024-2025)

Current Residents

PGY-5

Sravanthi Puranam
Warren Alpert of Brown University
_{spuranam@stanford.edu}

PGY-5

Jeffrey Yu
Indiana University
_{jeffsyu@stanford.edu}

PGY-4

Alexandra Csortan
University of Central Florida, College of Medicine
_{acsortan@stanford.edu}

PGY-4

Brendan Wesp
Georgetown University School of Medicine
_{bmwesp@stanford.edu}

PGY-3

Kelly Aluri
Stanford University School of Medicine)
_{kxyzhang@stanford.edu}

PGY-3

Juan Pablo Forero
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
_{jforero@stanford.edu}

PGY-2

Mustafa Shakir
University of California Davis, School of Medicine
_{mshakir@stanford.edu}

PGY-1

Ryan Gilbert
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
_{rdg21@stanford.edu}

PGY-1

Olivia Vukcevich
University of California, Riverside
_{ovukc001stanford.edu}

Benefits

Information about benefits can be found on the Graduate Medical Education (GME) webpage.

FAQs

Does the combined residency force the resident into 1 or 2 specific subspecialty paths?

This issue was addressed in a previously published article, and an excerpt is below:

“I believe combined training leaves many doors open in each of the separate fields within pediatrics and anesthesiology. The ability to explore new, divergent career options was the ultimate reason for my application to combined programs… Combined training holds the promise of adding flexibility and divergent daily work for physicians who value those attributes. Fields such as pediatric sedation and pain services or novel fields yet to fully emerge could be an ideal match for dual-trained physicians. Additionally, there is the possibility of mixing tracts in unique ways such as pediatric critical care and pain medicine or pediatric anesthesiology and hospitalist care. It is easy to imagine a dual-trained physician working one-on-one with a patient in the preoperative clinic one day, the operating room the next, and rounding with a multidisciplinary team in the recovery room, ward, or intensive care unit in the same patient’s hospital stay…there will be a growing subset of applicants excited by the opportunity to use different parts of their “minds and hands” more often and interact with a broad group of colleagues.”

_{Sanford EL. Pediatrics-Anesthesia Combined Residency Training: An Applicant's Perspective. Anesth Analg. 2013;116(6):1386-8.}

For application process itself, is there a preferred number of letters of recommendation and distribution between anesthesiology letters, pediatrics letters, or letters from other specialties? What is the process for coordinating the application process between the two departments?

Your application should reflect in interest in both specialties with at least one anesthesia letter and one pediatrics letter. Applications will be reviewed separately by each department initially and interview offers and rank lists for the combined program are done after each program reviews the applications.

Pediatrics and Anesthesiology: How to Apply

What feedback do interns provide about the internship?