Recent News

Region III of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma (COT) held the annual Resident Paper Competition at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, in Baltimore on December 7, 2024. Individuals from Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia presented their research on current topics in trauma.

Following many excellent presentations from across the Region, the judges selected the winners. Amanda Soo Ping Chow, MD, from the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital/Washington Hospital Center was awarded first place in the Clinical Research/Investigation category. Her paper was titled: “Fibrinolytic Activation and its Association with Mortality After Traumatic and Thermal Injury”.

She has completed two years of general surgery training at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital/Washington Hospital Center and is currently a Burn Research Fellow at Medstar’s Firefighters’ Burn and Surgical Research Lab. Her research interests include work in shock, and coagulopathy. At the completion of general surgery training, she is interested in pursuing a career in trauma, burn, and critical care.

The first place award for Basic Laboratory Science category went to John J. Kessler, II, MD, from the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. His paper was titled: “Plasma microRNA Biomarkers for Multi-Organ Injury Prediction After Blunt Trauma”.

He is currently a General Surgery Resident at the University of Maryland and a post-doctoral research fellow in the Center for Shock, Trauma, and Anesthesiology Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he is examining the relationship between traumatic injury, microRNA, and patient outcomes. He plans to undergo Fellowship training and then continue his career as an academic surgeon with particular focus on traumatic and atraumatic vascular disease.

David T. Efron, MD, FACS, Region III Chair, American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma presented the winners with their plaques. Congratulations to all who presented. The two winners will be representing Region III and presenting at the national Paper Competition during the March ACS meeting.