The completion of this text would not have been possible without a number of special people. The authors have given their time and expertise to prepare, revise, and re-revise their chapters to attain the overarching vision for this textbook. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet (and learn from) so many talented and enthusiastic practitioners and teachers, as well as work with so many of my close friends, colleagues, former attendings, and mentors. I would like to express my utmost gratitude for their quality contributions; their work has resulted in what I believe is one of the best anesthesia texts out there.

My Publisher, Brian Brown, Senior Product Manager, Nicole Dernoski, and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins/Wolters Kluwer Health provided me with mentorship, a team of high-level professionals, and invaluable resources. I would like to thank them for providing me with this tremendous opportunity to expand the highly successful 5 Minute Consult Series.

Thank you Drs. Patricia A. Kapur, Randy Steadman, Sam Wald, Rima Matevosian, Susan Chan, Jordan Miller, Aman Mahajan, Barbara Van de Wiele, Phil Levin, Victor Duval, Nir Hoffman, Carsten Nadjat-Haiem, Keren Ziv, Eric Hsu, Kenneth Kuchta, Michael Ferrante, Michelle Braunfeld, Zhuang Fang, Swati Patel, Mitchell Lin, Michael Sopher, Ali Salehi, Siamak Rahman, Parisa Partownavid and the UCLA Department of Anesthesiology for teaching me to think critically, being patient, and serving as role-models. Your efforts, dedication, and love for teaching and your patients have had far-reaching influences on me.