The Section of Acute and Critical Care Surgery takes a bench-to-bedside approach to the study of injury, sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction.
Craig Coopersmith, M.D., who is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), studies gut apoptosis in sepsis and injury. Building on his prior collaborative work with Jeffrey Gordon, M.D. (Department of Molecular Biology), Coopersmith has created transgenic animals that selectively express antiapoptotic proteins in gut epithelial cells and has shown that such expression not only confers survival advantage in animal models of abdominal sepsis, but also in distant sepsis. Coopersmith also studies clinical strategies to improve outcomes in critical illness, and will soon report on an improved strategy for prevention of catheter-associated bloodstream infections.
Bradley D. Freeman, M.D., has been supported by the NIGMS to study genetic predisposition to illness and response to therapy. His focus is on polymorphisms of inflammatory genes and of genes that regulate coagulation. He has extended that interest into the ethical, social and legislative aspects of genetic testing, for which he has recently been awarded an R01 by NIGMS. He also studies strategies that continue to improve timing and method of tracheostomy.
Douglas J.E. Schuerer, M.D., has led the study and development of strategies for prophylaxis against venous thromboembolism in severe injuries. This effort, described in a recent report in the Journal of Trauma, has become the model for the hospital-wide DVT prevention effort. Schuerer currently studies error-reporting systems and has recently described a novel trauma rehabilitation outcome scoring system.
Alicia Kieninger, M.D. is an associate program director for the General Surgery Residency Program. Dr. Kieninger works closely with the program director on curriculum improvement in surgical education. Current investigations include the use of simulation in process improvement and evaluation of team function, as well as the development of a business of medicine curriculum to better prepare trainees for surgical practice.