James Wirthlin, MD

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: March 2021

Dr. James Wirthlin is a current CA-3 resident and an active-duty Major in the U.S. Air Force. Jim was born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT where he met and married his high school sweetheart, Sarah. He attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah receiving a B.S in chemical engineering. After graduation and commissioning as an officer in the USAF, Jim went on to attend medical school at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD.

During Jim’s previous military station as a flight surgeon in the 391st Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home AFB, ID, he flew in his favorite aircraft the F-15E Strike Eagle and has accumulated over 500 flight hours in 15 different military airframes during his career.

When choosing to train at WashU, the patient diversity and high volume of trauma were major factors, as he wanted to be proficient to handle any future case in peace or wartime. After graduation, he will stay on for a 1-year fellowship in regional anesthesia and acute pain and then return to the USAF Medical Corp as a clinical anesthesiologist.

Jim currently lives in Fenton, Missouri with his wife of 15 years and their 4 children. He is an avid water & snow skier, runner, and mountain biker. Jim is also a music enthusiast who loves to sing, play piano, and guitar. Jim speaks fluent German due to a 2-year church mission he served in Switzerland, and his current hobbies include RC scale jet and airplane flying, building scale models, and playing video games with his kids.