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Trauma, Emergency Surgery and Surgical Critical Care

Principal Investigators:
Hasan Alam, M.D.
Yongqing, Li, M.D., Ph.D.
George Velmahos, M.D., Ph.D.

The Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care has an ambitious plan for expanding its research efforts in the future. Dr. Velmahos is an established researcher with nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications and more than 20 books and book chapters. He will lead the Trauma Program of the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT) and in this capacity he will promote, develop, and coordinate trauma-related research. As Chair of the Multi-institutional Trials Committee of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and as a member of the Outcomes Subcommittee of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, Dr. Velmahos will coordinate multiple multi-institutional trials in which the Division will participate. At this point, three such trials are under development. Participation of residents in the laboratory is planned as these activities get underway. An international research fellowship program is now fully operational.

Collaborations with the MGH Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery are already taking place using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database. Two clinical outcomes studies are being developed using this database. One study compares the process and outcome of care before and after the implementation of a dedicated emergency surgery team. The second study intents to compare the accuracy of the NSQIP versus the National Trauma Databank (NTDB) in monitoring specific outcomes. Currently there are 22 active clinical projects including 3 multi-institutional prospective trials (sponsored by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma). In addition 9 fully funded basic science projects are ongoing.

Dr. Alam is the director of research for the division, and supervises all the basic science projects. He is an established researcher with 60 peer-reviewed publications, and is the PI on a number of active federal grants (including an RO1 grant from National Institutes of Health). His areas of interest include innovative strategies for the control of hemorrhage, designing and testing novel resuscitation fluids, manipulation of gene transcription to improve cell survival, characterization of post resuscitation immune mediated damage, and novel strategies such as induction of “suspended animation” for preserving life. The trauma research lab is located on the MGH campus. It is a state of the art facility fully supported by a team of PhD scientist and technicians. Surgical residents (1-2/year) are accepted every year for research fellowships.

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