Newswise — CHICAGO – Linda J. Mason, M.D., director of pediatric anesthesiology at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California, today was named first vice president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). Dr. Mason was elected at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2016 annual meeting in Chicago and will serve for one year.

“I am honored to be elected first vice president of ASA,” said Dr. Mason. “This is a critical time for the specialty of anesthesiology and I am committed to preserving patient safety, patient rights and the role of physician anesthesiologists as leaders in these important issues.”

As first vice president, Dr. Mason will serve as a member of the ASA Executive Committee which consists of the president, president-elect, first vice president and immediate past president. The Executive Committee expedites, executes and administers the policies adopted by the ASA House of Delegates and ASA Board of Directors.

Dr. Mason has served ASA in numerous roles, most recently as ASA secretary, chair of the Committee on Membership, ASA’s Section on Administration and Section on Board Administrative Affairs. She has been on the ASA Board of Directors since 2006.

Dr. Mason served as president of the California Society of Anesthesiologists from 2004-2005. She was president of the Association of Anesthesiology Subspecialty Program Directors from 2008-2009 and was a member of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Review Committee for Anesthesiology from 2010-2016.

Dr. Mason received her doctor of medicine and completed her anesthesiology residency at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine. She is board-certified in pediatric anesthesiology and is an editor for the American Board of Anesthesiology Pediatric Anesthesiology Exam. Dr. Mason is also professor of anesthesiology and pediatrics at Loma Linda University.

Dr. Mason has presented over 570 lectures and visiting professorships during her career. She and her husband, Traian Cojocaru, M.D., reside in Redlands, Calif.

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTSFounded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 52,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring physician anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of patients before, during and after surgery to provide the highest quality and safest care every patient deserves.

For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/WhenSecondsCount. Join the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2016 social conversation today. Like ASA on Facebook, follow ASALifeline on Twitter and use the hashtag #ANES16.