Dr. Leila Pang Retires

Best wishes are being extended to Dr. Leila Pang on her retirement after serving 40 years at Columbia University. Dr. Pang retires as the Ngai-Jubilee Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Anesthesiology and as attending anesthesiologist and pediatric pain physician at NYPH/CHONY.

In honor of Dr. Pang’s contribution to the department, and institution at large, a special farewell reception was hosted by Chairman of the Department Dr. Ansgar Brambrink. During the reception Dr. Pang was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the department.

Several members of her team and of the department also paid tribute to Dr. Pang reflecting on her influence as a clinician, professor, mentor and leader.

The reception was attended by members of the department, university and Dr. Pang’s family.

Dr. Pang completed her medical degree at State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, in Brooklyn in 1970 and began her internship in pediatrics at Presbyterian Hospital.  She completed residency and two fellowships in anesthesiology and in pediatrics before she joined the Department of Anesthesiology as Assistant Professor in Anesthesiology and Pediatrics in 1976. 

Dr. Pang began her rise through the ranks of academic professorship, her clinical and teaching talents were a growing influence on the department.  She was named Anesthesiology Residency Program Director in 2002 and Vice Chair for Resident Education in 2004. Since beginning her term, as residency program director, Dr. Pang has increased our resident complement by 63%.

In July of every year for more than four decades, Dr. Pang met each new cohort of residents for clinical orientation in the operating room. Her trainees and their patients have been the beneficiaries of her skill and experience in anesthesia and in intensive care for children and infants undergoing transplantation, and those with chronic pain, cancer, congenital abnormalities, problems with airway management and apnea, and cardiothoracic and vascular disease. 

Dr. Pang has been an invited lecturer and presenter on these clinical topics as well as on educational and programmatic best practices at national symposia and societies and at other institutions.  She has held significant offices in national subspecialty societies, and she has published numerous articles, reviews, book chapters, and abstracts. 

Since 2002, Dr. Pang also has been a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Children of China Pediatrics Foundation, which provides multispecialty medical treatment and surgery to children in Chinese orphanages, increasing their chances for adoption. 

Dr. Pang’s career represents the quintessence of a medical calling:  A generous and humane physician who is a sharp clinician, a rigorous educator, an insightful, reflective administrator, and a wise mentor.  We are profoundly grateful that she has shared her extraordinary career with us and wishes her all the best on this new and exciting phase of her life’s journey!