For Trauma Surgeon Scalea, 25 Years of Lifesaving Care
As the Honorable Francis X. Kelly Distinguished Professor of Trauma Surgery and Director of the Program in Trauma at the and physician-in-chief of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the 91大神 Medical Center (UMMC), Thomas M. Scalea, MD, FACS, MCCM, has pioneered advances to trauma care for patients in the United States and around the world.
For 25 years, Thomas M. Scalea, MD, FACS, MCCM, has pioneered advances to trauma care for patients in the United States and around the world.
He has cared for tens of thousands of Marylanders critically injured in motor vehicle collisions, falls and violent attacks, traveled to China and Haiti to render assistance to earthquake victims, helped train thousands of U.S. Air Force personnel, and worked alongside military physicians in war-torn Afghanistan. He has steered Maryland鈥檚 highest-level trauma center through two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Jan. 4, Scalea marked his 25th anniversary as the leader of the Shock Trauma Center at the 91大神 Medical Center and the Program in Trauma at the 91大神 School of Medicine. Shock Trauma delivers more trauma care than any other institution in the United States, treating 7,000 patients a year with a 96 percent survival rate. Scalea has carried on the legacy of Shock Trauma鈥檚 founder, R Adams Cowley, who championed the concept of the 鈥済olden hour鈥� that has defined modern trauma care. The Program in Trauma at UMSOM is the only multidisciplinary dedicated physician group practice that cares for injury in the United States. The goals of the program go well beyond that of patient care, with education and research at the cornerstone of its mission. The goal is to save lives, advance science, and educate all types of health care professionals from many disciplines.
鈥淲hen I look at what we have been able to accomplish over the past 25 years, I can truly say that we changed the face of injury care in the world,鈥� said Scalea, who is also system chief of critical care services for the 12-hospital 91大神 Medical System (UMMS). 鈥淚 am very proud that we have been at the tip of the spear for many advances, with a lot of innovation coming through our long partnership with the U.S. military 鈥� all for the benefit of patients.鈥�
Scalea said Shock Trauma is recognized internationally for the use of endovascular care for trauma 鈥� using catheter therapies instead of open surgical procedures or in combination with open surgery. It has also pioneered innovative therapies for severe traumatic brain injury and created a novel way to organize critical care through its Critical Care Resuscitation Unit and the Maryland Critical Care Network, which is comprised of adult intensive care units at UMMS hospitals throughout Maryland.
鈥淭he concepts were reimagined and became very important during the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as a model for the state of Maryland to ensure that critically ill patients received the right care at the right time at the right place,鈥� he said.
As part of the Program in Trauma, Scalea has played an instrumental role in the leadership of the Shock Trauma and Anesthesiology Research (STAR) Center, a world-class, multidisciplinary research and educational center focusing on critical care and organ support, resuscitation, surgical outcomes, patient safety, and injury prevention.
Originally established by Congress as the Charles 鈥淢cC.鈥� Mathias Jr. National Study Center for Trauma and Emergency Medical Systems, the STAR Center was designated as an organized research center at UMSOM in 2007. It is the first research center in the nation dedicated exclusively to the study of trauma, its complications and prevention.
Scalea came to Maryland from New York City, where he served as chief of critical care and trauma and founding chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Kings County Hospital/SUNY Brooklyn. 鈥淚 planned to live and die in New York City and didn鈥檛 really plan to move to Baltimore,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淏ut when I got the opportunity, I hesitated zero seconds and said, 鈥榊es.鈥� Because it鈥檚 Shock Trauma. It鈥檚 as good as it gets. When you do what I do, this is the best job in the country, maybe the world.鈥�
Shock Trauma 鈥� Maryland鈥檚 only primary adult trauma resource center (PARC), which is at the heart of Maryland鈥檚 unique Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System 鈥� has grown tremendously under Scalea鈥檚 leadership. He has been instrumental in creating or developing many key programs and units, including:
- (Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills) program to train U.S. Air Force personnel
- , a specialized unit to quickly evaluate patients and begin lifesaving treatment, and the (CCRU), the only unit in the country designated for rapid evaluation and treatment of critically ill patients transferred from another institution
- to help victims of violence avoid becoming victims again
- , a physician-led team that travels to the scene to treat severely injured patients
- , launched in 2015, one of the busiest units in the U.S. to provide prolonged cardiac and respiratory support with ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation)
- STAR organized research center, which opened in 2009, for the prevention and treatment of trauma
- , which is the largest and one of the most prestigious programs to train physician leaders in trauma and critical care medicine of its kind
- , a state-of-the-art simulation lab for training medical staff, located in the new Shock Trauma Critical Care Tower, which was built in 2013
鈥淎lthough Dr. Scalea is widely known and regarded, both nationally and internationally, for his incredible expertise as a trauma surgeon and physician-scientist who has made enormous contributions to trauma research, those who have worked with him or trained under him will tell that you that Dr. Scalea is an equally gifted leader and mentor,鈥� said E. Albert Reece, MD, PHD, MBA, vice president of medical affairs, 91大神, Baltimore and the John Z. and Akiko Bowers Distinguished Professor and dean of UMSOM. 鈥淗e is carrying the torch of Dr. Cowley鈥檚 original mission to provide cutting-edge care to ensure the survival of the critically ill and injured.鈥�
Bert W. O鈥橫alley, MD, professor of otorhinolaryngology-head and neck surgery at UMSOM and president and CEO of UMMC, added: 鈥淭om Scalea is the heart and soul of Shock Trauma. Our trauma center is regarded as the premier trauma hospital in the world in large part because of his hard work, dedication, and commitment to serving the most critically injured and critically ill patients in Maryland and beyond. He and his team always bring their 鈥楢鈥� game and have saved thousands of lives over the last 25 years, developing new procedures and techniques that have been adopted by other trauma specialists. He is a dedicated, selfless public servant.鈥�
O鈥橫alley noted that Shock Trauma has been at the forefront of UMMC鈥檚 response to the COVID-19 pandemic, caring for the sickest patients, many of whom required treatment with ECMO.
Theodore R. Delbridge, MD, MPH, executive director of the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS), said, 鈥淔or the past 25 years, Dr. Tom Scalea hasn鈥檛 just led the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, he has devoted himself to the care of injured people throughout Maryland. The value of his expertise and commitment to Maryland鈥檚 statewide emergency medical services system and its abilities to treat trauma patients is immeasurable.鈥�
Said former patient Allie Gold Cunningham, who suffered a serious brain injury and nearly died from multisystem organ failure after falling off a golf cart in 2005, 鈥淒r. Scalea saved my life. I know that if I were under the care of another physician and team, I would not have survived. He took care of both me and my family extremely well, and we will be forever grateful.鈥� She called Scalea 鈥渁 wonderful physician and person.鈥�
鈥淪itting down with a mom and telling her that her kid is not coming home is just demoralizing at the highest level. The older I get, the more it weighs on me,鈥� Scalea said. He added, 鈥淓verybody who works here feels those losses in a very personal and very profound way. But we just keep answering the bell.鈥�
Answering the bell has taken the now-70-year-old trauma surgeon to other parts of the world. After the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, he headed the only non-Chinese team invited by the Chinese government to provide medical care to victims. He personally led Shock Trauma鈥檚 efforts to help the victims of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He traveled to Afghanistan in October 2011 to witness the 鈥淲ounded Warrior鈥� care program in the field, during transport, and in military hospitals. Shock Trauma provides pre-deployment medical training for U.S. Air Force physicians, nurses, and medical technicians as part of the C-STARS program.
Scalea is a prolific researcher, authoring or co-authoring more than 600 studies, including a 2017 study published in the Annals of Surgery that found a blood-cleaning device could be put to new use to help patients with acute liver failure. He also oversaw Shock Trauma鈥檚 participation in a groundbreaking 2015 transfusion study that aimed to save lives from major blood loss.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting to create solutions for patients not helped by standard therapies 鈥� to innovate on the fly,鈥� Scalea said. 鈥淢y team and I put our heads together and say, 鈥楲et鈥檚 try this,鈥欌�� whether it be an operative technique, a procedure in the intensive care unit, or a philosophic approach. I love that process. I have been practicing medicine for 40 years, and that鈥檚 still an incredibly energizing experience.鈥�
He observed that trauma care has changed dramatically over the years, with a much shorter evaluation process, staging of surgeries over the course of several days, earlier blood and plasma transfusions, and more advanced imaging. There have also been innovations in critical care, including the use of ventilators and ECMO, which oxygenates a patient鈥檚 blood outside of the body.
鈥淓very year we are better at doing this than we were the year before,鈥� Scalea said. 鈥淲e are a lot smarter now than we were 25 years ago.鈥�
He has also lectured to physicians, medical students, and professional organizations all over the world. In 2007, he pondered, 鈥淲ould Lincoln have survived if he was shot today?鈥� at UMSOM鈥檚 annual historical clinicopathological conference and concluded that modern medicine likely would have saved the former U.S. president.
Scalea is a member of a host of trauma organizations and served as president of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and the Western Trauma Association and executive director of the Pan American Trauma Society. He is a member of the American Trauma Society and the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. He was featured in two TV programs about Shock Trauma, 鈥淭he Critical Hour: Shock Trauma鈥� in 2004 and 鈥淪hock Trauma: Edge of Life鈥� in 2015.
He credits his mother, Anne Scalea, with instilling in him a deep-seated desire to serve. 鈥淲hen I was a kid, my mama said to me 10,000 times, 鈥榊ou do for others before you do for yourself.鈥� It was the motto in my house. It鈥檚 how I have lived my life,鈥� he said.
Scalea, who still performs about 600 surgeries a year, said he loves his job and has no plans to retire. 鈥淚t鈥檚 who I am, it鈥檚 what I do, it鈥檚 the only life I know,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what I will do until I can鈥檛 do it anymore.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 always on call. I鈥檓 always at the ready,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f the phone rings and somebody needs help, the answer is, 鈥業鈥檓 on my way.鈥欌��
