Sapna Kudchadkar started her pediatrics residency at Johns Hopkins planning to be a general pediatrician. Then she began her rotations in the pediatric intensive care unit and operating rooms — and found her calling.

“I loved the high acuity, how everything was constantly changing, how you had to make decisions in the moment but still had to have a very broad understanding of pediatric medicine. That really appealed to me and my personality,” says Kudchadkar.

During her nearly 20 years at Johns Hopkins since then, Kudchadkar completed a residency in anesthesiology, fellowships in pediatric anesthesiology and critical care medicine, and a doctorate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; joined the faculty in anesthesiology and critical care medicine and in pediatrics; and directed the pediatric critical care clinical research program — all while developing her own research path.

In January, she took on an important new role: vice chair for pediatric anesthesiology and critical care medicine (pediatric ACCM) and anesthesiologist-in-chief of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Continue reading: A Vision for Growth in Pediatric Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine