Anesthesiology

At Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York’s top pediatric anesthesiologists care for young patients. ColumbiaDoctors pediatric anesthesiologists are highly skilled members of the OR team, specially trained to deal with the needs of infants, children, and adolescents. Ours is the only group of pediatric anesthesiology physicians in the tri-state area with a dedicated pediatric anesthesiology practice, and almost all are board certified in pediatric anesthesiology.

We are pioneers in research of pediatric anesthesia. ColumbiaDoctors pediatric anesthesiologists led the PANDA (Pediatric Anesthesia Neurodevelopment Assessment) study, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, published in June 2016 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which found that a single general anesthetic poses no cognitive risk to healthy children under age three, a critical time in brain development.

The lead researcher, Lena S. Sun, MD, chief of pediatric anesthesiology at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and a ColumbiaDoctors anesthesiologist, concluded, “Based on our findings, we can reassure parents that one exposure to anesthesia is safe for healthy young children.”

About 2 million infants and children in the US undergo anesthesia each year, roughly two-thirds for surgical procedures such as hernia repair, circumcision, and tonsillectomy—and others for diagnostic procedures, including imaging studies and endoscopies. Our experts provide the highest quality care for children needing anesthesia.

Among the Most Experienced Surgical Teams in the Nation

When your child needs surgery, the rule of thumb is to look for the most skilled, and the most experienced OR team. Our pediatric anesthesiologists work with children of all ages from newborns to adolescents, delivering anesthesia to nearly 10,000 patients a year.

ColumbiaDoctors pediatric anesthesiologists oversee anesthesia at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, which currently has eight operating rooms, serving a full range of pediatric surgical specialties, including pediatric cardiac surgery, pediatric neurosurgery, pediatric ENT, pediatric urology, and pediatric orthopedics. NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital has long been the top-ranked children’s hospital in the tristate area.

Our cardiac surgery program is the largest in New York and a major referral center for children with congenital heart disease. Our solid organ transplant team does the most pediatric liver transplants in the tri-state area. Our very active neonatal intensive care unit cares for newborns with surgical conditions. And our OR features the latest robotic equipment for pediatric surgical procedures. As a result, our anesthesiologists are among the most experienced in the nation.

In addition, we care for young patients in the Diagnostic and Intervention Imaging Suite and the Pediatric Endoscopy Suite.

Our overall approach is to provide family-centered care, and we believe parents are key players in the surgical process. We ensure that parents are with their children in the recovery room immediately after surgery/anesthesia to comfort and reassure their children as they wake up.