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Earning the ASA Resident Distinction Award is a prestigious honor in the specialty as it indicates a superior level of service, leadership, advocacy and education that distinguish residents from their peers. Recipients of the award have surpassed the standards set for them and have excelled in numerous aspects within their communities. The Resident Distinction Award was created to help develop anesthesiology residents' professional citizenship, leadership and scholarship capabilities. Not only does this encourage personal growth within residents, but also allows them to experience some of the many benefits that the ASA maintains for their members.
Recipients of the award will receive the following:
The criteria required for earning the Resident Distinction Award designation demonstrates a candidate’s commitment to advancing the practice and securing the future of anesthesiology.
| The criteria for all candidates include the following elements: | |
| ✔ | ASA Resident Member |
| ✔ | ASA State Component Resident Member |
| ✔ | Unrestricted resident training license |
| ✔ | Two letters of recommendation from ASA Active members with FASA designation. A list of FASA recipients can be found here. |
| ✔ | Endorsement from your state component society – will be solicited by ASA on your behalf (except applicants from Texas) |
| ✔ | CV and optional bibliography |
| ✔ | Endorsement from Program Director |
The additional criteria enable the candidate to demonstrate their dedication in four areas: (1) Leadership, (2) Advocacy, (3) Scholarship, (4) Commitment to Lifelong Learning. Candidates must meet seven total requirements, with a minimum number as indicated below from each of the categories. Selected requirements must have occurred within the past five years.
| Leadership (two of the following) | |
| Involvement in hospital committees | |
| Involvement in interdepartmental committees | |
| Involvement in ASA or state component societies | |
| Service as a delegate to the ASA Resident Component House of Delegates or state component society’s House of Delegates | |
| Involvement in a leadership role or committee membership within any national medical organization | |
| Involvement in graduate medical education (GME) committees or medical school committees | |
| Selection as chief resident | |
| Advocacy (two of the following) | |
| Participation in local or national grassroots efforts | |
| Record or attestation of advocacy activity/outreach/correspondence | |
| Attendance at the ASA Legislative Conference or active participation in state legislative days/events | |
| Completion of an ASA advocacy module or state component advocacy module | |
| Scholarship (one of the following) | |
| Participation in scholarly activity resulting in presentation at an ASA or state component society meeting | |
| Publication in a peer reviewed international or national journal | |
| Publication in the ASA Monitor or in a state component journal/newsletter | |
| Commitment to Lifelong Learning (all the following) | |
| Complete 10 hours of education from ASA, either online or through meeting attendance | |
| Completion of professional development or ASA Leadership Academy module | |
Download dedication areas (PDF)
Residents are eligible for the ASA Resident Distinction Award after the start of the CA-1 year.
To confirm if applicants are eligible, residents must review the checklist mentioned above. For the additional criteria pertaining to Leadership, Advocacy, Scholarship, and Commitment to Lifelong Learning, applicants must describe their engagement for each selected requirement, with each description having a 250-word limit.
In addition to the general application, applicants are responsible for obtaining a letter of recommendation from their program director and two letters of recommendation from ASA members with FASA designation. Applicants must also receive endorsement from their state component society.
An application may be submitted at any time. The application will be forwarded to the ASA Committee/Application Reviewers for review and a final decision. The committee will notify the applicant of its decision within 4 weeks of submission.
PLEASE NOTE: Any application that takes longer than two (2) months to process from the date of submission will be removed from consideration. Any application removed from consideration can not be recovered and applicants must start a new application. This includes Program Director Endorsement.
LINK TO APPLICATION: Resident Distinction Award Application
2025 Recipients
Karan Sethi, MD, MBA
Sally Nagia, MD
Justin Cordova, MD
Last updated by: Residency Engagement
Date of last update: April 28, 2025
