Sakura Kinjo

Dr. Sakura Kinjo is an anesthesiologist who specializes in regional anesthesia (injections to relieve or prevent pain in a specific part of the body) and acute pain management. She has served as the UCSF Orthopaedic Institute's anesthesia medical director since it opened in 2009.

In her research, Kinjo is particularly interested in pain management. For the past several years, she has focused on the relationship between perioperative pain (pain experienced immediately before, during and immediately after a surgical procedure) and cognitive dysfunction in older adult patients. Her studies include perioperative cognitive changes experienced by patients who have sleep apnea. She is collaborating with her colleagues at UCSF to implement a care pathway for surgical patients with sleep apnea, including by using cutting-edge technology in the perioperative setting.

Kinjo earned her medical degree at the University of the Ryukyus School of Medicine in Japan. She completed a residency in anesthesia at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and a fellowship in pain medicine at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. She joined UCSF in 2005.