October 4, 2007
Jurkovich to lead trauma surgery group in 2008
Dr. Gregory (Jerry) Jurkovich, UW professor of surgery and chief of trauma service at Harborview Medical Center, has been selected president-elect of the premier academic trauma surgery organization in the United States, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST). He was elected to serve as president from 2008-2009 at the association’s annual meeting last week in Las Vegas.
The AAST, founded in 1937, has approximately 1,000 members in 30 countries. The organization hosts scientific meetings to exchange knowledge about research practice and training in the surgery of trauma as well as the design of research studies to investigate new methods of preventing, correcting and treating traumatic injuries. The Journal of Trauma is published by the AAST.
Jurkovich is a leading proponent of a new medical specialty — Acute Care Surgery — that combines trauma, surgical critical care, and emergency general surgery into a new training and practice paradigm. He has served on the AAST’s Acute Care Surgery Committee for the past four years.
Jurkovich’s research interests include injury prevention, system design and outcome studies; hypothermia in trauma; alcohol and trauma; nutritional support of the critically ill and injured; and modulation of the inflammatory response. He joined the UW faculty in 1988.
