Combined Pediatrics Anesthesiology Residency

Stanford Combined Pediatrics Anesthesiology Residency

Overview

The combined pediatrics-anesthesiology residency seeks applicants with outstanding clinical abilities who show potential to be leaders in their field (e.g., pediatric anesthesiology, pediatric critical care, pediatric pain management, or other fields). The program trains physicians to be outstanding in two independent 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 with the other PGY-1 anesthesiology residents in their class.
Along with all other local Stanford Anesthesia PGY-1 residents, 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 alternate back and forth approximately every 3 months between pediatrics and anesthesiology.
Residents continue their pediatric continuity clinics (one afternoon a month) while on anesthesiology rotations. During pediatrics rotations, one afternoon a month is devoted to anesthesiology study. During the PGY4-5 years, residents may select a subspecialty continuity clinic.
During the PGY-4 PICU rotation, residents are assigned a fellow role and manage the team with the guidance of the attending.
PGY-5s have the opportunity to be a chief resident where they participate in teaching, recruitment and program improvement efforts, in addition to supporting and advocating for junior 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 throughout the week and include morning report 4 days per week, Grand Rounds once per week, and noon conference 3 days per week.
Anesthesia conferences occur daily (Libero) while on the Multi-Specialty Division rotation with weekly teaching conferences for each categorical anesthesia year and anesthesia Grand Rounds occurring Monday mornings.

Exams

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 end of the PGY-2 year. It focuses on the scientific basis of clinical anesthesia practice and concentrates on content areas such as pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, anesthesia equipment and monitoring.
The ADVANCED exam for anesthesiology (Part 2) is taken in July after the end of residency and focuses on clinical aspects of anesthetic practice and emphasizes subspecialty-based practice and advanced clinical issues.
Residents are required to take each of the pediatrics and anesthesia in-training exams (ITE) 3-4 times over the 5-year program.

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 first year resident orientation and simulation experiences during academic half-days, PICU and NICU rotations, and PALS and NRP.

Social and Other Activities

Residents in combined program
- Are involved in residency recruitment including attending virtual dinners the night before interviews and hosting a virtual Q&A session for combined applicants after interview season.
- Get-together regularly for educational and social events. Residents are relieved from clinical duties several times a year to attend meetings focused on professional development and networking events, wellness, and residency program review.

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 Resources

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

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 Assistant Professor of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School
Gavin Hartman	Private Practice, Reno, NV
Adam Was	Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan 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 Department of Pediatrics Director of Pediatric Pain Clinic at Doernbecher Children's Hospital Director of Medical Student Education for Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at OHSU Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, OHSU (2018-2019)
Jewel E. Sheehan	Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University Clinical Instructor, Dept. of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University (2019-2020) Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2020-2021)
Andrew Giustini	Assistant Professor, Dept. of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2019-2020) Advanced Clinical Fellowship: Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2020-2021)
Aidan Tait	Clinical 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 of Anesthesiology, Seattle Children’s Hospital Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2022-2023)
Kara Furman	Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2022-2023) Advanced Clinical Fellowship: Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2023-2024)
Sean Miller	Fellowship: Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2023-2024)
Clarice Nguyen	Fellowship: Pediatric Anesthesiology, Stanford University (2023-2024)

Current Residents

PGY-5

Laura Tetri
University of Wisconsin
_{tetri@stanford.edu}

PGY-4

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

PGY-4

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

PGY-3

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

PGY-3

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

PGY-2

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

PGY-2

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

PGY-1

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

Financial Information

Stanford and the Department of Anesthesiology recognize that residents may face financial challenges living in a high-cost-of-living area and provides the following additional benefits to residents.

Anesthesiology

Housing stipend (PGY-2 through PGY-4 years) - annually $3600
Education and retreat stipends - annually $2275
In-Training ($175 annually) and ABA Basic ($875) Exams with an additional opportunity to be reimbursed up to $875 for the ABA Advanced exam (based on ITE performance)
Resident of the Month bonus of $100
FARM residents are paid an additional quarterly stipend
ABA membership reimbursed annually
Presentation of research at academic meetings - all travel expenses paid

Stanford Graduate Medical Education

Housing stipend - $7,200 annually
Education allowance - $2,000 annually – dependent on timely completion of annual HealthStream modules
Cell phone allowance - $1,000 annually
Food allowance - $10 per shifts that are 12 hours or longer
Cost of CA medical license ($456.50) and DEA ($888) application and renewals
One-time moving allowance - $3,000 for new residents

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.}

What is the NRMP Match data nationally?

2011: 4 approved programs offered 3 positions, which were filled by 3 of the 9 applicants.
2012: The number of positions expanded to 7 (all filled from the 16 applicants) at the same 4 approved institutions.
2013: 7 approved programs nationally
2014: Stanford (2), Children’s Hospital Boston (2), UC Irvine (1), Hopkins (2), North Carolina (1),
Pittsburgh (1), Medical College of Wisconsin (1)
2017: 7 programs, 9 positions offered, 1 unfilled program, 24 US senior applicants
2018: 6 combined programs, 7 positions offered, 0 unfilled program, 15 US senior applicants, 21 total applicants
2019: 5 combined programs, 7 positions offered, 0 unfilled programs
2020: 5 combined programs, 7 positions offered, 0 unfilled programs
2021: 5 programs, 8 positions offered, 0 unfilled
2022: 5 programs, 6 positions offered, 0 unfilled
2023: 5 programs (Stanford, Children's Hospital Boston, Johns Hopkins, Pittsburgh, Medical College of Wisconsin), 7 positions offered, 0 unfilled

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?

We recommend applying as if you were applying to each residency program separately with individual letters and personal statement. You can, of course, mention your interest in the combined program. This is because the faculty in each department will want the applicant to fully fit into their own residency program. Once both residencies invite you for an interview, we work with the applicants to facilitate dates.

What feedback did the current interns provide about the internship?

Photos

Society of Pediatric Anesthesia Meetup

2018 Resident Welcome Event

2023 Quarterly Meeting

2017 Annual Program Evaluation Dinner

Snacks and Hanging Out

Enjoying The Beautiful Bay Area

Find a doctor

Clinics & Services

Research Resources

Professional Training

Education Resources

Faculty Development

Residency Information

Fellowships

Clinical Fellowships

Postdoctoral Fellowships

Advanced Clinical Experiences

Stanford Summer Program

The Mentor

The Application Guide

Diversity Committee

Projects and Initiatives

Stanford Combined Pediatrics Anesthesiology Residency

Menu

Overview

Sample Schedule

Required Rotations

Pediatrics

Anesthesiology

Faculty Resources

Additional Contact Information

Pediatrics-Anesthesiology Combined Residents

PGY-5

PGY-4

PGY-4

PGY-3

PGY-3

PGY-2

PGY-2

PGY-1

Financial Information

FAQs

Photos