20th Anniversary at Shock Trauma

January 4, 2017

Twenty years ago on January 4, 1997, Thomas M. Scalea, M.D., the Honorable Francis X. Kelly Distinguished Professor of Trauma Surgery and Director of the Program in Trauma at the School of Medicine, and Physician-in-Chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center — joined our team.

Under his leadership, Shock Trauma has grown tremendously — from the construction of the cutting-edge Critical Care Tower to the expansion of hands-on training opportunities for physicians, nurses and medical students. Dr. Scalea’s unwavering commitment to trauma care, research and education correlates to his team’s ability to treat more than 8,000 critically ill and severely injured people — a remarkable 97 percent of whom survive -- every year. It is no wonder that the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center is the world leader in trauma medicine.

Dr. Scalea lives one mission: to give every patient a second chance at life. Most often, you will find him in the operating room or at the bedside, fully devoted to his patients and leading his team.

Through public health challenges and the growing complexity of trauma care, Dr. Scalea has enhanced and developed programs, processes and protocols that are recognized as best practices worldwide. He leads the most coveted and competitive fellowship program in the country for trauma care training, and is committed to providing time-sensitive critical care medicine to every patient in need of immediate care.

He has also been a prolific scientific investigator with competitive federal research funding. In addition to serving as a research mentor to other faculty, he has published 468 studies, 187 abstracts and editorials, 2 books and 75 book chapters on critical areas such as emergency medicine, shock trauma, trauma surgery, spinal cord injury and critical care.

We are grateful to Dr. Scalea for his commitment to the University of Maryland and are proud of his outstanding accomplishments and innovative leadership over the last two decades. We hope you will share in celebrating Dr. Scalea’s achievements and invaluable contributions to our patients -- and to all of us.

To make a gift to Shock Trauma in honor of Dr. Scalea’s 20th anniversary, please click here.