At Stanford, we aim to train future leaders in the field of Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine. We have developed a robust educational and experiential program for fellows to gain as much knowledge and clinical exposure as possible in 12 months. Some highlights of our program include:

Regular weekly didactic lectures: 2-4 fellow-level lectures per month covering basic and advanced RAAPM topics given by multiple award-winning faculty.

POCUS and TTE: POCUS and TTE instruction are built into the curriculum in the fall, by nationally sought-after instructors. Fellows have the option to pursue an ASA Diagnostic POCUS Certificate, paid for by the department.

Ultrasound and cadaver workshops: Fellows both learn and teach alongside faculty at hands-on workshops throughout the year

High-fidelity simulation sessions: Fellows undergo 4-5 simulation sessions per year with our simulation specialist faculty. After about 2 minutes, you forget it's a simulation!

Focus on well-being: Jody is trained as a well-being faculty facilitator and leads 4-5 fellow wellness sessions covering topics such as communication techniques, values self-assessment, and a highly lauded book club at the end of the year. We do regular group check-ins and provide personal, departmental and hospital-level support and resources.

Research and mentor support: Fellows are paired one-on-one with faculty mentors based on interests prior to starting fellowship. This allows fellows to meet their research goals in time for ASRA submission. 

World-class faculty: Our faculty trained all over the world, and bring their experiences to Stanford for a breadth of knowledge and a variety of approaches to perioperative pain control. We have a consistently strong showing of instructors and lecturers annually at ASRA and other international meetings.

Incredible residents: Where would the regional team be without our super-strong Stanesthesia residents? Fellows work closely with residents throughout the year - always a pleasure to teach and learn from the best!

Elective opportunities: We support a wide range of elective choices. Fellow electives have included global health (both international travel and remote collaboration), pediatric regional, OB, POCUS, research, and adult chronic pain. In 2024 one of our fellows will be participating in the selective ASA Anesthesiology Policy Research Rotation in Political Affairs in Washington, D.C.

We seek candidates who will be successful at Stanford and take advantage of the many opportunities our program offers. Our fellows are hardworking, excellent communicators, and engaged learners. They are open to trying new approaches to pain control, whether that means a newly described block, a novel approach to catheter placement, or a new protocol for starting inpatients on buprenorphine. We embrace a growth mindset and a team-based approach to perioperative pain management.

We train future leaders in the field of regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine - any anesthesiologist who is interested in the pursuit of knowledge and experience in regional anesthesiology is encouraged to apply!

2025 dates have not been set, but are likely to resemble the dates from 2024: SF Match applications opened January 2024. Stanford's application deadline was March 4, 2024. Stanford interview dates were April 1-3, 2024. Match Day was June 13 (Jody's birthday!), 2024.

Yes! Stanford RAAPM joined SF Match in 2024. This allows applicants to apply through a centralized system, with a Match Day in June.

More info about the match:

2022 was the first year for the subspecialty of RAAPM in a match system. Not all RAAPM programs are a part of SF Match. Please check program websites carefully, or reach out to programs to ensure you don't miss application deadlines for non-match programs. Each program in SF Match can choose its own application and interview dates between January and June. Overall the match process allows for a less stressful interview experience, for both programs and applicants. In addition, it allows for interviews to take place later in the academic year. In 2022, 97% of match applicants were matched into a fellowship position.

Check out the Regional Anesthesia SF Match website for more information.

Applicants must be a graduate of a US ACGME-accredited anesthesiology residency program and eligible for a Medical Board of California License. 

International applicants: please see the Stanford GME website for visa information.

We have 5 RAAPM fellowship positions per year: four begin August 1, and one begins January 1. The January 1 fellow has the option of working as an attending at Stanford in the months between completing residency and beginning fellowship. 

Update: for our 2026-27 class, the January 2027 start date has been accepted by an internal candidate as a match exception, meaning all applicants who match at Stanford for 2026-27 will begin August 1, 2026. 

If you are applying and have more questions about this process, feel free to contact us for more information.

We follow AAMC guidance which currently recommends all virtual interviews and no in-person second look visit days. We understand that some applicants may want to visit the hospital and/or city to learn more as they are considering programs. This is not required and does not factor in how the program will rank applicants. To promote equity of experience for all applicants, some of whom cannot travel to visit programs, we intentionally do not have you meet with program leadership if you choose to visit. We are always happy to connect applicants with specific faculty members, current fellows or graduates of the program upon request.

Early: Wake up, walk/drive/bike/e-bike to Stanford, set up catheter kits. An organized flurry of consenting patients, managing block staffing, and placing first case preop blocks ensues. Fellows spend about half the year on the core Stanford regional team (7:10am OR start), 10-12 weeks at the VA (7:45-8am OR start), and the rest on other core rotations and elective blocks.

7:10am: Team breakfast and teaching!

8:30am: Set up for the next round of blocks. Round with the acute pain team to follow up POD#1 patients with nerve catheters.

Most of the day involves setting up for and performing blocks, managing consults from ICU, ED, and surgical floors, and planning/coordinating tomorrow's schedule. Team lunch happens as well!

4:00pm: If it's a Tuesday, it's time for lecture, a check-in with Dr. Leng, or a simulation session with Drs. Sultan and Harrison.

5:30pm: If it's the 4th Tuesday of the resident block, we head to Vina Enoteca, a lovely Italian restaurant nestled between Stanford Hospital and Stanford Shopping Center, for dinner and journal club.

6:00pm: The Stanford service is covered by a resident or fellow daily until 6pm - distribution of this coverage depends on team staffing and resident OR call. Each fellow on service usually covers 1-2 days a week depending on staffing.

About 6 months are spent on the Stanford regional anesthesia team, which is a team that places blocks and sees acute pain consults in multiple locations around the Stanford main hospital and the Stanford outpatient surgical center (in Redwood City). On any given day, the Stanford team often consists of 2-4 residents, 1-2 regional attendings, 1-3 fellows, 1-2 NPs, anesthesia techs, and occasional rotating fellows from other subspecialties. There are always more than enough blocks to go around, which is why the team is so large and welcomes externally rotating fellows. 

3 months are spent at the VA Palo Alto, running the regional and acute pain medicine team, alongside 1-2 NPs and an attending.

Other rotations include 2 weeks in orthopedic surgery ORs, 2 weeks of a "neuraxial" rotation allowing time to supervise spinals and epidurals throughout the hospital, 2 weeks of adult chronic pain and 2 weeks of pediatric chronic pain.

Fellows have 1 month of elective time, which we try to keep as flexible as possible to allow for electives that will serve your future professional goals. 

During the 10 VA weeks throughout the year, fellows take home call. This consists of answering calls from floor nurses regarding nerve catheters. Fellows cover weekend VA regional home call 6 weekends throughout the year, which involves rounding on inpatients and calling patients with catheters at home. Fellows do not cover airway or OR call.

Each fellow on the Stanford service covers the service until 6pm on average 1-2 days/week. This can be combined with lecture or JC days if fellows prefer.

We recognize the early morning nature of regional life! There is no evening or weekend call beyond these weeks.

We follow ABA and Stanford hospital guidelines for vacation time: 20 days of personal leave plus sick days as outlined by the Stanford GME policy. Fellows can schedule individual days or weeks off, as we try to keep things flexible. Fellows are asked for vacation requests prior to starting fellowship and may add days throughout the year. Blocking vacation in advance has historically been a good way to secure specific dates, before team staffing is done.

We ask fellows to coordinate days off to accommodate the following: maintaining at least one fellow on the Stanford regional service, and avoiding vacation during the VA weeks (as those count toward the ACGME acute pain requirement). Trades among fellows are allowed and encouraged! 

Stanford RAAPM fellows are allowed to moonlight both within Stanford Hospital and outside of Stanford, as long as hours are reported to our program and abide by ACGME guidelines. In recent years, we have connected fellows with colleagues at Santa Clara Valley hospital in San Jose and Kaiser Santa Clara for moonlighting opportunities - both locations pay competitive hourly rates.

Stanford Hospital approved internal moonlighting for anesthesiology fellows in April 2025. Fellows may work attending anesthesiology shifts outside the area of their fellowship subspecialty once details are finalized, likely to begin in fall 2025.

Yes, the Stanford housestaff voted to unionize with CIR/SEIU in 2022. Contract negotiations between CIR/SEIU and Stanford Health Care were complete, with a contract ratified in December 2023. 

Please see the Stanford Health Care housestaff negotiation website for updates.

About 30% have gone into academia, many at Stanford or the Palo Alto VA. About 30% have gone to one of many Kaiser hospitals, some to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (a Stanford-affiliated teaching hospital), and the rest to other private practice groups. In graduate surveys, 100% of respondents have noted they would recommend this fellowship! 

Our graduates have said that while a fellowship wasn't necessary to get their first (or subsequent) job, it positively changed what their job looks like from day to day, even 5-10 years after completing training. You want to think about what will bring you job satisfaction in the next 30+ years of your career. For many of us, regional and acute pain fellowship training has granted us positions with a bigger variety of clinical cases, a mix of clinical work in and out of the OR, and the ability to address complex clinical and hospital-level challenges not learned during residency.

Stanford graduates in private practice hold leadership roles, making group-wide decisions about regional anesthesiology and coverage of acute pain patients. As RAAPM-trained experts, they often lead workshops for their anesthesia groups, develop nerve block and pain protocols with surgical colleagues, and bring new pain-relief techniques to their teams.

Having trained at an ACGME-certified fellowship helps identify our graduates as subspecialty experts and offers a leg up in the lean years of anesthesia hiring. Since the dawn of the Stanford regional fellowship, our graduates have been highly sought after by both private and academic groups looking to bolster their regional expertise. 

Don't take my word for it! Direct quotes from our recent fellows:

"See and do as much as you can - the year is short and goes by quickly!"

"Define your own success in fellowship."

"Be open to genuine conversations/suggestions, even if you don't agree at first. This is your last opportunity to push boundaries under the guidance of someone who has walked your path before. Take advantage."

"Learn to love the small curvilinear probe for infraclavs."

"Make time to spend with each other to share stories."

"Rely on your co-fellows, they are your family and the best part of fellowship."