Rotondo to Chair National Trauma Committee
Dr. Michael Rotondo
GREENVILLE, N.C. — Dr. Michael F. Rotondo has been appointed chair of the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons.
He is professor and chair of surgery at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University and director of the Center of Excellence for Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at Pitt County Memorial Hospital.
Rotondo will serve as the 18th chair of the committee, founded in 1922. His term will be from March 2010 until 2012, and he can be reappointed to another two-year term. He follows a long line of luminaries in American surgery who have changed the face of care of the injured.
“The Committee on Trauma is one of the most well-recognized and prestigious components of the American College of Surgeons – the largest organization of surgeons in the world,” said Dr. Paul Cunningham, dean of the Brody School of Medicine, trauma surgeon and committee member. “To be recognized as the 18th chair of the committee is evidence of the personal commitment, dedication and effective work and service that Dr. Rotondo has provided in support of the organized deployment of regional and national trauma and acute care surgery services.”
Rotondo is a pioneer in damage-control surgery, in which surgeons stop patient bleeding, stabilize the patient, then perform additional surgeries later, rather than repairing all trauma damage in one prolonged operation. The development of the damage-control approach has been heralded as one of the most significant advances in trauma care in the last century.
Rotondo has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, a master’s degree in cardiovascular physiology and a medical degree from Georgetown University. He completed residency training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and a fellowship in traumatology and surgical critical care at the University of Pennsylvania, where he eventually served on the faculty for 10 years. He was recruited to ECU and PCMH as chief of trauma in 1999 to advance the Trauma Center. He subsequently became chair of the ECU Department of Surgery.
“The position of chair of the Committee on Trauma for the American College of Surgeons carries with it both great opportunity and daunting responsibility,” Rotondo said. “I could never have imagined being afforded this great honor.”
Rotondo is a former president of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma and has served in leadership roles in the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma.
Dr. W. Randolph Chitwood Jr., senior associate vice chancellor for health sciences and former chair of surgery at ECU, called Rotondo a national leader and said his work to establish a trauma network in eastern North Carolina is a national model. “This appointment recognizes him as the top trauma surgeon in this country,” Chitwood said. “Dr. Rotondo typifies the type of leadership that befits any excellent medical center, and we congratulate him. We are fortunate that Mike represents us and all of our constituents in North Carolina.”
Dr. Wayne Meredith, chair of surgery at Wake Forest University and a past committee chair, said: “The position of chair of the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons is one of the most important responsibilities in the field of trauma. We are fortunate to have recruited Dr Rotondo to this position. He exhibits enormous leadership, vision and integrity.”