Sachin Jha, MD, MS, FASA

Sachin “Sunny” Jha, MD, MS, FASA, is an anesthesiologist and pain physician practicing at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He is also President of SJMD Solutions, through which he provides clinical and advisory services to hospitals, health systems, startups, and medical device companies. Board certified in anesthesiology, Dr. Jha serves as an examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology, is a Fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and holds certification in Regenerative Medicine. His clinical interests include pain medicine, perioperative care, quality and patient safety, and health system preparedness. Throughout his career, he has combined clinical practice with teaching, mentorship, quality improvement, and healthcare leadership, including service as a Physician Representative for The Joint Commission and ongoing quality and safety reviews for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Maximus. Earlier in his career, he served as an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Southern California, where he received a grant to establish an anesthesia technician training program, and at Houston Methodist Hospital, where he helped build a new anesthesiology residency program.

Dr. Jha has been deeply engaged in health policy and organized medicine, holding leadership positions in the American Medical Association and American Society of Anesthesiologists, among other organizations. He has authored 28 policy resolutions addressing issues including the opioid epidemic, electronic health records, and electronic cigarettes, and has served on the AMA Current Procedural Terminology Editorial Panel and Relative Value Scale Update Committee, which play important roles in defining and valuing medical services within the U.S. healthcare system. He has also served as a Team Mentor for the American Hospital Association’s High-Value Care Collaborative. Dr. Jha currently serves on the boards of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, Veterans Legal Institute, and The Suitcase Clinic Foundation, and has held previous board positions with organizations including the California Society of Anesthesiologists, Los Angeles County Medical Association, American Society of Pain and Neuroscience, and Illinois State Medical Society. He regularly engages with state and federal policymakers on issues affecting patients, physicians, and the healthcare system.

His work extends beyond medicine into global health, crisis response, national security, and public leadership. Dr. Jha is a Presidential Leadership Scholar and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has participated in the Secretary of Defense’s Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, Navy Embark, the Army National Security Seminar, and the Marine Corps Executive Forum, and has completed the Deloitte Physician Leadership Academy. Internationally, he has led medical training and healthcare capacity-building initiatives in the Kurdish region of Iraq and Ethiopia, advised senior government officials, worked with the World Health Organization in Geneva on tobacco control, and participated in health-related meetings at the United Nations General Assembly and UNESCO. He also assisted with disaster relief in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Jha helped stand up the Los Angeles Surge Hospital while continuing to care for patients on the front lines. He later co-founded #ThisIsOurShot, a national social media campaign designed to help healthcare professionals address vaccine misinformation, which generated more than two billion impressions. He is also a licensed private pilot and serves as a Captain in the Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary.

Dr. Jha has worked extensively at the intersection of medicine, technology, research, and industry. He has advised health technology companies, served on the Board of Advisors for a telehealth platform, contributed to the development of digital healthcare solutions, consulted on medical device product development and clinical training, and mentored health and technology startups through Techstars. He has also provided medical advisory expertise to major Hollywood productions. His academic and professional work includes 29 peer-reviewed print publications, 21 peer-reviewed online publications, 44 scientific abstracts, 65 lectures and presentations, and 45 media appearances, with research supported by four funded grants. His honors include 34 awards and recognitions, including the AMA Foundation Leadership in Medicine Award and national recognition from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians and the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. Dr. Jha grew up in Orange County, California, earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, and received his MS and MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School. He completed his anesthesiology residency at Rush University Medical Center and fellowship training in Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine at UCLA. Outside of medicine, he enjoys flying small aircraft, traveling, following the cinematic arts, and speaking conversational Spanish and Hindi.