Anesthesiology is among the most varied, challenging, and rewarding of the medical specialties. Initially focused upon "giving anesthesia," anesthesiologists now engage in a wide range of activities. The practice of Anesthesiology is, in reality, the practice of acute perioperative medicine with the understanding that anesthesiologists perform important procedures, convert monitoring data to patient care and recognize the subtle relationships between drug action and patient pathophysiology. Anesthesiologists care for extremely ill patients who are undergoing complex procedures. We also care for patients who suffer with acute and chronic pain and for patients who require extended critical care. We interact with families and develop relationships with our patients through our pain clinics and intensive care units.

The Anesthesiology Residency Program at Emory began after World War II under the direction of Dr. William H. Galvin. The present residency program, started under Dr. John E. Steinhaus in 1958, grew into the independent Department of Anesthesiology and became the first residency program at Emory University to include all of the hospitals within the medical complex. Dr. Steinhaus continued his leadership until 1986 when Dr. John Waller began his tenure as Chair of the department. Dr. James Zaidan became Chair of the department in 2001.

Emory's Anesthesiology Program includes forty-eight residency positions, sixteen in each of the clinical anesthesia years. At the outset of the program, residents become familiar with the hospital and the anesthesia service through a series of lectures and opportunities to observe faculty and senior residents in routine anesthetic administration. New residents administer anesthesia to selected patients under the immediate supervision of faculty members. During the first few months of training, residents learn techniques of airway management, monitoring of vital functions, artificial ventilation, and basic anesthetic management. More experienced residents attain further skills which enable them to assume increasing responsibility in clinical assignments.

The Emory University Anesthesiology Residency offers unparalleled opportunities for you to share knowledge with our internationally known teachers and researchers and to experience and manage comfortably every conceivable clinical anesthesia situation. The most specialized equipment and surgeries are routine at Emory. Since we offer all of the ACGME fellowships, you can continue working with us while you obtain the finest post-residency experiences.

Over the course of your residency, you will experience every type of practice setting you will encounter in your job. The practice settings include a fast moving practice at Crawford Long, a tertiary referral center at Emory University Hospital, a county hospital at Grady, pediatrics at one of the nation's largest children's hospitals, outpatient surgery at the ambulatory surgery center and finally the Veterans Administration Medical Center.

The Department of Anesthesiology is active in all phases of academic practice leading to outstanding graduates who render superb clinical care. We encourage our residents' political activity in the Georgia and American Societies of Anesthesiology, and we pay for residents' memberships in a number of important societies. Faculty members are nationally active in a number of areas. We are represented on many national committees and several of our faculty are board examiners. Other faculty members are current and past presidents of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, the Association of Cardiac Anesthesiologists, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American Board of Anesthesiology, the Association of University Anesthesiologists, and the Georgia Society of Anesthesiologists. Dr. John Steinhaus and Dr. John Neeld, a graduate of the Emory program, served as Presidents of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Our department places our graduate residents in jobs and fellowships of their choice in every area of the country. Overall our residents easily find the most desirable jobs and fellowships of their choosing.

Our Office of Career Development maintains a national network of alumni in 40 states who help our residents locate practice opportunities. We pride ourselves on our personal touch and our ability to design an individual program to allow you to reach your personal educational goals. Your faculty preceptor will serve as your advisor, advocate and friend to acquaint you with your surroundings, mentor your progress in the program and assist you with career development. The Chair of the department and the other faculty members maintain an open-door policy that allows you to express your opinions as an important member of the team. Our graduates tell us that this approach has been invaluable in helping them to develop their full professional potential.

We invite you to explore the Anesthesiology Residency Program at Emory University. Visit our campus and talk with our faculty members. Quiz current and former residents about their experiences. We are confident you will discover a high-caliber program that deserves your strong consideration.