Vital Times 2020 - 94

HISTORY OF ANESTHESIA

The CSA Committee on the History of Anesthesia congratulates the winners of the 2020
CSA History of Anesthesia Essay Contest: Stephanie Ranz Gilbert, MD, and Tuyen Thanh
Nguyen, MS-4, co-authors of " An Interview with Dr. George Gregory. "
Both Dr. Gilbert and Ms. Nguyen are Bay Area natives. Dr. Gilbert, a CA-2 anesthesia
resident at UCSF, enjoys surfing on days off. Ms. Nguyen, a medical student at UCSF
who also matched there for anesthesia residency, is an avid hiker and camper. We are happy to share their essay with
you here.
Stephanie Ranz
Gilbert, M.D.

Tuyen Thanh
Nguyen, MS-4

It was a close competition this inaugural year, with several remarkable entries from across the state. A blinded judging
process was used to determine the winners. As a reward, Dr. Gilbert and Ms. Nguyen received a CSA Foundation
for Education prize of $1000. They were also invited to present their piece at the 2020 CSA Annual Meeting, but the
conference was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. Instead, they will give a virtual presentation on Saturday, June
13, during the upcoming CSA Resident Research Day.
The CSA History Committee looks forward to launching the 2021 CSA History of Anesthesia Essay Contest this summer.
Please stay tuned for an official call for submissions in August.

An Interview with Dr. George Gregory
Stephanie Ranz Gilbert, MD, and Tuyen Thanh Nguyen, MS-4

A Memorable Night
Late one night in 1968, the nursery's intensive care
anesthesiologist was called in to hand ventilate
another hypoxemic baby. This time, it was the child
of a faculty member known to him, and he was
dismayed to receive the first blood gas with a partial
pressure of oxygen (PaO2) of 30 mmHg. Since the
baby was premature, cardiac catheterization had been
recommended. The anesthesiologist hand ventilated
the infant through the procedure, but he feared
intubation was imminent.

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CSA Vital Times

He remembered his prior cases of neonatal
respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature
infants and felt frustrated as he thought: " This one
will go just like the others. Intubation only leads to
worsening hypoxemia and acidosis, and exposure to
high inspired oxygen concentration can lead to an
inflammatory response with morbid sequelae after
only 5 minutes. " 1 In fact, many of the babies treated
conventionally for hyaline membrane disease-
particularly the ones under 1 kilogram-had only a

Vital Times 2020

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