ASA Committees are Advancing Real DEI Solutions

Engagement is stronger when every member’s voice is heard. ASA strives to meet the interests, maximize the contributions, and advance the professional development of all members. We recognize that there is important work still to be done, we are on the path to greater equity and a more inclusive society and specialty. While all committees and editorial boards are expected and empowered to uphold ASA’s DEI goals, the Committee on Professional Diversity, the Committee on Women Anesthesiologists, and the Ad Hoc LGBTQ+ Committee work in collaboration with the Ad Hoc Committee on DEI Strategy.

Ad Hoc Committee on DEI Strategy, led by ASA’s First Vice President

• Provides strategic guidance to member leadership and staff on organizational DEI activities, ensuring alignment with goals and principles.
• Integrates DEI into the ASA strategic plan.
• Maintains a line of sight for all activities and tactics supporting and delivering on agreed upon DEI strategies across the organization, to understand and communicate progress.
• Coordinates, collaborates, and interacts with DEI-focused committees to understand and encourage their efforts, including Committee on Professional Diversity, Committee on Women Anesthesiologists, and LGBTQ+ Ad Hoc Committee.

Committee on Professional Diversity

This committee promotes membership and supports members of diverse backgrounds which include gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, etc. The Committee’s work strengthens the organization and the specialty and, importantly, enhances patient care. This committee…

• Facilitates more equitable participation and diverse leadership in ASA activities.
• Addresses issues that affect members’ professional development and career satisfaction.
• Promotes an environment that encourages personal well-being and contentment as caring physicians, productive professionals, and responsible family members.

Committee on Women Anesthesiologists

Promoting membership of, and support for, women anesthesiologists through leadership development and mentoring resources, strengthening the organization and the specialty, and, importantly, enhancing patient care is this committee’s mission. This committee…

• Identifies leadership and mentoring opportunities for women in anesthesiology that ASA can develop.
• Provides an online and in-person forum for networking and mentoring.
• Provides resources for women in anesthesiology regarding ASA and other leadership opportunities (ASA committee structure, state component societies, academic and private practice leadership).
• Assists component societies in developing and establishing a structure for women anesthesiologists at the state level.
• Develops education programs of interest to ASA’s women members.
  • ‘Guide to Family Planning for Trainees’ (PDF) developed by the 2025 MSC DEI Working Group in collaboration with the ASA Committee on Women Anesthesiologists.

Ad Hoc LGBTQ+ Committee

This ad hoc committee seeks to assist ASA in creating safe and inclusive workplaces where every LGBTQ+ physician anesthesiologist and resident can bring their full authentic self to work in order to enable them to do their best work every day for their patients and organizations, as well as ways to improve health care disparities in the perioperative sector that impact the LGBTQ+ community. This ad hoc committee seeks to…

• Explore how LGBTQ+ anesthesiologists identify and interface with the ASA.
• Understand how ASA can best provide professional resources for LGBTQ+ physicians at all levels of their professional career.
• Examine and recommend revisions to ASA policies and procedures having potentially negative consequences for LGBTQ+ physicians.
• Excavate the impact of barriers to healthcare organizations and anesthesiologists providing gender affirming care and LGBTQ+ related care.