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Dive into a world of insightful and engaging content with the California Society of Anesthesiologists' podcast, Vital Times! Tune in every second Tuesday of the month with your hosts Ludwig Lin, MD, and Rita Agarwal, MD, FAAP, FASA, to explore a variety of topics that are not only educational and experiential but also inspirational and entertaining. Whether you're looking to stay informed on the latest in anesthesia, learn from experts in the field, or simply enjoy some captivating stories, Vital Times is your go-to source. Join our community of listeners and enrich your knowledge and experience with every episode!
*Views expressed in the podcast are those of the individual guests and hosts.
48 Episodes
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if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Welcome to another episode of Vital Times. In January 2026 the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA) issued an updated joint communication regarding severe neurologic complications, including stroke and death, in healthy young adult (oldest reported so far is 36) and pediatric patients of Venezuelan ancestry following routine general anesthesia. There have been about 36 known or su...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! This episode of Vital Times features a conversation with clinician-scientists Dr. Jamie Sleigh and Dr. Elizabeth Whitlock, whose work focuses on delirium and perioperative brain health. They explore the emerging role of intraoperative processed EEG monitoring and its potential to improve postoperative neurological outcomes. This discussion highlights the evolving tools and evidence-based strategies anesthesiologists use to deliver sa...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Today’s episode features a truly special conversation with Dr. Diana Ramos, California Surgeon General, and Dr. Calvin Johnson, Professor of Anesthesiology—both dedicated advocates for improving maternal health. Dr. Ramos is a distinguished public health leader who earned her medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine at USC and completed her OB-GYN training at the LA County–USC Medical Center. She also holds a Master of Public ...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Welcome to another episode of the CSA’s Podcast Vital Times In September 2025, a landmark ruling by a California judge stated that nonphysicians could not use the term “Doctor” in a clinical setting. This was a ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by Three California-based nurse practitioners. They challenged California Business and Professions Code Section 2052, which makes it a misdemeanor for nonphysicians to use “Dr” in cl...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Dr. J.W. Beard, a UCSF-trained anesthesiologist and Chief Medical Officer of GE Healthcare’s Patient Care Solutions division, joins the Vital Times podcast to discuss his remarkable career journey. As a member of the Board of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, Dr. Beard shares how his background in anesthesiology uniquely prepared him for leadership in the medical technology industry, and offers insights into bridging clinical...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! The CSA and the Vital Times podcast are proud to recognize Dr. Ana Maria Crawford of Stanford University, recipient of the 2025 ASA Nicholas Greene, MD Award for Outstanding Humanitarian Contribution. In this episode, host Dr. Ludwig Lin speaks with Dr. Crawford about her decades-long commitment to advancing global health. To learn more about opportunities to get involved in global health initiatives and participate in Dr. Crawford’s...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Dr. Ludwig Lin of the CSA Vital Times Podcast sits down with Dr. Adjoa Boateng Evans, a former Stanford ICU and anesthesia attending and now faculty at Duke University School of Medicine to discuss her pioneering work in bringing Humanities and personal expression into academic anesthesiology. She shares how this approach can help healthcare professionals navigate the stresses of our profession and build resilience. What inspired her...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Dr. Jason Leong began his career as a night-shift nurse in the emergency department, quickly advancing to the role of charge nurse. Determined to further his impact in patient care, he went on to attend medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He then completed a combined Internal Medicine and Anesthesiology residency at Stanford University, followed by advanced training in Critical Care Medicine and Cardiac...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Welcome to another episode of Vital Times, the CSA podcast! I'm your host, Dr. Rita Agarwal, and today we’re revisiting an important topic: mentorship. We've discussed mentoring before, but its significance in the lives and careers of anesthesiologists makes it worth exploring again. Strong mentorship can have a transformative impact, especially for early career anesthesiologists. Yet, despite its many benefits, building effective m...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! In this episode of the CSA Vital Times podcast, host Dr. Ludwig Lin explores the role of Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants (CAAs). He speaks with anesthesiologists who have experience working alongside CAAs and navigating the legislative efforts to establish a CAA system in clinical practice. The episode also features a CAA who is a leader in education and practice management. This introductory conversation aims to familiarize Ca...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Catch this episode where *both* of the Vital Times podcast hosts, Drs. Rita Agarwal and Ludwig Lin, show up, and discuss how they fell in love with Anesthesiology, and podcasting.
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! We were all shocked by the murder of Brian Thompson the United Health Care CEO in early December. What was just as surprising was the comments deny, delay and depose written on the bullets. Once the alleged shooter was arrested, information started to trickle out that he suffered from low back pain and spondylisthesis. Speculation ran rampant that the problems with his back, inadequate treatment, or repeated insurance denials were in...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! For Black History Month, Dr. Ludwig Lin is honored to speak with someone who’s been through all of it. Dr. Marilyn Hill Harper, raised in the South, educated at a HBCU and then training in the Midwest, joined the prestigious UCSF faculty in the 1970s, at a time when both women and Black physicians were rare. Her story is ever relevant. To read the UCSF profile on Dr. Harper, click here.
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Host: Rita Agarwal, MD, FAAP, FASA Guests: Rakhi Dayal, MD, and Amber Borucki, MD Welcome to another episode of Vital Times, the California Society of Anesthesiologists’ Podcast with your host Dr. Rita Agarwal. Pain is the most common reason that people seek medical care and since the beginning of time, we have searched for better ways to treat pain. For many years opium and its derivatives were the mainstay of pain management, with ...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! There have been a lot of questions recently regarding the appropriateness of patients scheduled for care in an ambulatory surgical center (ASCs). It appears that sicker and more complex patients are being scheduled for care in an ASC, and many anesthesiologists are increasingly concerned about the safety of anesthetizing these patients in locations that may lack resources to escalate care if needed. In today’s episode we are going to...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Drs. Charles Hummel and Jason Cheng explain the origin story behind their involvement in founding the drive toward collegiality for a major healthcare system in California, Kaiser Permanente. Take a listen and be inspired by the immense possibilities when physicians join forces in the name of empathy and humanity.
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Your host Dr. Rita Agarwal is joined today by two outstanding guests who have an interest in preventing and treating women’s pain. Drs. Anita Gupta and Stephanie Cizek. At the California Society of Anesthesiologists’ Annual Meeting in Anaheim, in April 2024, there were several posters authored by Dr. Anita Gupta looking at the literature surrounding IUD insertion pain and potential treatments for that pain. Several months late...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Your host Dr. Rita Agarwal is joined by two wonderful guests to talk about climate change and what anesthesiologists can do about it. Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time with far reaching implications. There is evidence of the increasing numbers of deaths directly related to heat in the USA, but even more across the rest of the world. This doesn’t include deaths related to the consequences of climate change s...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! With ketamine being very prominent in the news recently, lots of questions arise about its use. Is it safe enough to be used the way it is? Why are patients being prescribed it? What are the safety guidelines, and are they being met? The California Society of Anesthesiologists’ Vital Times Podcast talks with anesthesiologists and pain specialists Drs. Amber Borucki, Rakhi Dayal and Rita Agarwal to talk this over. This is a must-liste...
if you have any feedback, please send us a text! Thank you! Cryoneurolysis has rapidly evolved and refined itself as a viable technology for postoperative and chronic pain. Its specifications mean greater efficacy for certain scenarios, and active research means its application is about to enter warp-speed. In this episode of Vital Times, we speak with Dr. John Finneran, of UCSD, who is actively conducting research trials with this technique. Get up to date and get inspired.
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