Dr. Linda Mason’s Estate-Plan Gift to Support FAER’s Future

Linda J. Mason, MD, FASA, FCAI

Linda J. Mason, MD, FASA, FCAI, is the Immediate Past President of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and has practiced pediatric anesthesiology for more than 41 years. She has served on the FAER board of directors and development committee and was a liaison with FAER as the President of the ASA.

“Research makes a difference,” Dr. Mason says, “and FAER supports residents, young faculty, and fellows to be able to start their research early in their careers. There is so much we don’t know about the long-term effects of our anesthetics on the developing brain in children. I want to see this topic continue to be supported with research opportunities.”

Dr. Mason generously supports both the present and future of FAER. She makes a charitable gift annually and has also arranged a bequest in her estate plan through a trust fund to support FAER well into the future.

“I wanted to be sure the money is there for future generations,” says Dr. Mason, whose hope it is to have a named fund for pediatric anesthesiology similar to the one for obstetrics named for “the Mother of OB Anesthesia,” Dr. Gertie F. Marx.

Married for 33 years to neurosurgeon Traian Cojocaru, MD, Dr. Mason is currently the director of pediatric anesthesiology and the fellowship at Loma Linda University—her alma mater. “Anesthesiologists are the leaders in research and new knowledge for the specialty,” she concludes, quoting the mission statement of the ASA. “Continuing to support FAER will ‘Advance the practice and secure the future’ for generations of anesthesiologists that will come after us.”