Resident Life

A Note from the Chiefs

UCLA is a great place to start your anesthesia career. The complexity of patients and the variety of cases will allow you to become an excellent clinician. Your CA-1 year will allow you to develop the fundamentals of anesthesia while incorporating difficult cases to challenge yourself. Most CA-1 residents in our program become very comfortable with renal tranplants and Whipple procedure by the end of the year. The CA-2 and CA-3 year is the time to learn about the anesthetic subspecialities. The cardiac rotation is unique in that there is great exposure to adult and pediatric cases, and the transplant volume is excellent. The OB experience is shared between UCLA and Long Beach Memorial to give two perspectives on OB anesthesia: the academic experience and a higher volume private practice style environment. The goal of any anesthesia residency is to prepare you for just about any case you will see when you complete the program. Our residents are excellent clinicians across all anesthetic subspecialities, and they are very comfortable to complex patients.

Residency is much more than work. Los Angeles is a dynamic city where you can hike in the Santa Monica mountains, surf in Malibu, or catch a concert at the Hollywood bowl. Food lovers can dine on Ethiopian food on Fairfax to mouth watering sushi on Sawtelle to the most hip Cal-American cuisine on Abbott Kinney. Whether your taste is for high class shopping on Melrose or just enjoying a trip to the beach with loved ones, there are ways to enjoy your life outside of the hospital. There is nothing like leaving the hospital post-call to the warm sunshine that graces our city almost everyday of the year.

Residents are the strength of any residency program. Our program boasts incredibly intelligent and interesting people with diverse backgrounds and different perspectives. At UCLA, we are privileged to work with so many admirable people and to have the opportunity to learn so much from our peers.

We may be biased, but we believe UCLA is the best anesthesia residency program. Come see for yourself!

Ellen Choi, M.D. and Prince Neelankavil, M.D.

Chief Residents 2009-2010
UCLA Department of Anesthesiology