We are thrilled to share that site champions have been designated at our five primary hospital sites. Given that Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine currently has 250 faculty, 104 residents and almost 140 certified registered nurse anesthetists, the champions are a crucial link between the council and each clinical site, working to bring improvements to our department one hospital at a time.
Faculty, trainees and staff in the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine are encouraged to connect with their site champion, to help shape the impact of CBB programming and provide feedback.
Meet Dr. Sarah Brown, site champion at Seattle Children’s Hospital
When asked what it means to be a Site Champion, Dr. Sarah Brown said it means being intentional about creating connections and opportunities for people to share what helps them feel valued and connected—and what does not.
“I don’t think we should assume we already know what makes people feel that they belong. We need to hear both positive and negative experiences, particularly from people whose experiences may differ from our own,” Brown shared. Brown believes creating meaningful change includes looking beyond traditional community-building activities to address some of the stressors that affect clinicians’ daily experience, including administrative burden and ‘invisible work.’
While Dr. Brown has a few ideas she wants to focus on, there are two she would like to achieve as site champion. “I’m interested in how everyday microaffirmations, small acts of recognition, inclusion, and support, can build the psychological safety and trust that help teams perform at their best.” Brown is also interested in the judicious use of AI to offload some of those administrative tasks. She knows that some challenges to professional fulfillment cannot be solved within the walls of the hospital and is taking unconventional approaches to deal with those challenges.
After seven years at Seattle Children’s, Brown and has a strong sense of what makes her site unique. “Pediatric anesthesia at Seattle Children’s is inherently collaborative, requiring close partnerships across disciplines while caring for children with extraordinarily complex needs. That creates tremendous teamwork, expertise, and shared purpose, even as the size and pace of our site can make it challenging to maintain connections across roles and clinical areas.” She plans to build on that foundation as site champion so people feel recognized by their colleagues, connected to the larger community, and empowered to have a voice about ways to improve site and departmental outcomes.
Pictured above: Dr. Sarah Brown and her dog on a hike.
Community Building & Belonging Council highlights
Volunteer opportunities: Contact apmcbb@uw.edu if you would like to volunteer!
- Doctor for a Day: The ABCs of Airway
- December 12, 2026, 9:00AM – 2:00PM
- Edmonds College postbaccalaureate program – We’re looking for a few more faculty, CRNA, and trainee volunteers to mentor a postbaccalaureate student who is interested in a career in healthcare. Junior faculty and trainees are highly encouraged to volunteer!
Check out upcoming events and resources!
Register for Harborview Behavioral Institute’s 7th Annual Re-imagining Behavioral Health Conference September 24 (10am) and September 25 (1pm)
Did you know the University of Washington has free tools and resources for employees?
- Adobe Acrobat Pro is available at no cost to UW employees as of July 1. Employees should continue to request access through the existing process.
- Adobe Creative Cloud pricing is now significantly reduced. The suite includes applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, Acrobat Pro, and more.
- Canva for Design is an online platform that helps UW faculty, staff, and students easily create professional, on-brand designs. It offers UW-branded resources, tools, and templates for various communication and outreach needs. Using Canva ensures consistency in UW’s visual identity and saves time with ready-to-use templates. UW faculty, staff and students are eligible for UW Canva.
- Lucidchart is a cloud-based tool for creating flowcharts, organizational charts, network diagrams, and more. It supports real-time collaboration, integrates with live data, and offers AI-powered automation.
