HYDE PARK — The University of Chicago has picked University of Texas surgeon Selwyn Rogers to lead its new trauma center.
The university announced the appointment of Rogers early Thursday for the center that will open next year.
As founding director of University of Chicago Medicine’s trauma center, Rogers will build an interdisciplinary team of specialists to treat patients injured in life-threatening events such as car crashes, serious falls and gun violence, said Catherine Turco, a spokeswoman for the university.
He has 16 years of experience in trauma care and has most recently been a surgeon, professor and chief medical officer at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and a professor and surgeon-in-chief at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Rogers’ clinical and research work has focused on underserved patients, and he has written frequently about the impact of race and ethnicity on surgical outcomes.
“I was really struck that, night after night of trauma calls, the people that were disproportionately affected were young men of color,” Rogers said in a video introduction posted by the university. “I wanted to make an impact in that space, and that drew me to the idea that trauma can be addressed through a public health lens.”
He said he thinks trauma can be treated like a disease that spreads through a community.
Rogers said that idea was driven home for him when he treated a young man for a bullet wound in his neck and when he returned a month later to finish getting pieces of the bullet removed he also needed treatment for another gunshot wound to his abdomen.
“I felt so devastated because I was like, ‘How did I help him?,’” Rogers said. “I didn’t feel like I had made any difference.”
He said he will start his job listening to learn how trauma is experienced by people on the South Side.
Because of that interest, Rogers is getting a dual appointment as the director of trauma and also head of the Urban Health Initiative, the university’s community outreach arm for the medical center.
“In this position, Dr. Rogers will collaborate with faculty across the university and members of the community to help develop a multidisciplinary approach to trauma care and health disparities that will help us better understand and address the social factors that affect victims of violence and underserved populations,” said Derek Douglas, vice president for civic engagement at the university. “This will bring together resources of the medical center, university and community to develop novel approaches to achieving better outcomes for victims of trauma.”
Rogers will have to hit the ground running. One of his first jobs will be to determine how many staff members the new trauma center will need to treat the 2,000 patients expected in the trauma center’s first year.
The hospital’s new emergency room is expected to open in January 2018, with trauma services starting shortly after, in the spring.
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