​Resident and Fellow Humanitarian Service Award

The ASA Resident and Fellow Humanitarian Service Award, sponsored by the ASA Resident Component and ASA Committee on Global Health, recognizes one resident or fellow who has done outstanding work that promotes humanitarian involvement and that achieves several objectives, including attracting more residents and fellows to consider global health and humanitarian opportunities during training and encouraging academic departments to permit residents and fellows in their programs to do such work and encouraging careers that include global health and health equity.

Award Description
The award recognizes one anesthesiology trainee who has made a significant contribution to global anesthesia care through organized humanitarian outreach activities, in the US or abroad. Activities can be in-person and/or virtual components. Eligible candidates must be a resident in anesthesiology or fellow at the time of nomination, and an ASA resident/fellow member in good standing. 

Nomination Process
Nominations may be submitted by a residency or fellowship program director on the behalf of a current resident or fellow. Only one nomination may be submitted by a program director per year. Nominations shall consist of a completed nomination form (available in early summer), letter of support from the training program director, the candidate’s CV, and a one-page description of the candidate’s record of service and contribution. Up to two additional letters of recommendation may be included in the nomination materials.

Nomination Deadline
The deadline to submit a nomination is July 25, 2025.

Criteria for Nominee Consideration
The recipient will be selected by a committee of representatives from the ASA Resident Component Governing Council, ASA Committee on Global Health, Committee on Residents and Medical Students, and ASA Charitable Foundation Board of Directors. The award will be presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY^® annual meeting during the ASA Resident Component House of Delegates (HOD) Meeting.

The ideal nominee will demonstrate the following characteristics:

• Involvement: The nominee must have been involved in outreach by donating time or talents to professional work for charitable clinical, educational or other worthwhile activities related to anesthesiology, in program(s) directed at under-served populations within or outside the United States. Virtual work is recognized as a valuable contribution.

• Service: The work for which the recipient is recognized must have been performed on a completely voluntary basis, not as a requirement for completion of training.

• Significance: The range and scope of the work must be significant, and the outreach efforts must be sustained over time.

• Leadership: The nominee must have shown leadership in initiating, developing and implementing key elements of the outreach program(s).

• Role Model: The nominee must have served as a role model for other physicians or trainees to participate in outreach activities.

Recognition
The ASA Resident and Fellow Humanitarian Service Award winner will be recognized at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® annual meeting during the ASA Resident Component House of Delegates (HOD) meeting. The award recipient will receive reimbursement of travel expenses up to $1,500 and an award plaque.

Past Recipients

2024: Yalda Toofan, MD, Cedars Sinai Medical Center

2023: Jakob Gamboa, MD, University of Colorado

2022: Tolulope Kehinde, MD, MBA. Mayo Clinic Minnesota

2021: Samuel Percy, MD, Children's Hospital Colorado

2020: No recipient identified

2019: Nathaniel Tighe, MD, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

2018: Andrea Murray, MD, UT Southwestern Medical

2017: Benjamin Cloyd, MD, MIPH, University of Michigan

2016: Colby Simmons, DO, MBA, University of Colorado School of Medicine

2015: Meghan Prin, MD, Columbia University Dept. of Anesthesiology