THOMAS SCALEA

R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland Medical System

Thomas M. Scalea, M.D., serves as physician-in-chief of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, system chief for critical care services for the University of Maryland Medical System, director of the Program in Trauma and The Honorable Francis X. Kelly Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He oversees 70 physicians from seven academic departments, a nearly 100-bed hospital with more than 300 nurses and a total staff of approximately 450.

Scalea received his bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Virginia in January 1974 and his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia in 1978. He completed his surgery residency in Syracuse and a fellowship in trauma and critical care at New York Medical College. In the mid-1980s, he became director of critical care and trauma at King’s County Hospital in Brooklyn, where he built nationally recognized services. In 1991, he founded the Department of Emergency Medicine at King’s County Hospital and SUNY Brooklyn, achieving ACGME-approved residency status within three years.

Since becoming physician-in-chief of the Shock Trauma Center in 1997, Scalea has dramatically expanded the program. Patient admissions have increased from approximately 5,800 to more than 7,700 annually while he decreased length of stay by 15% through innovative protocols including daily discharge planning rounds. He expanded services to include emergency general surgery and a region-wide critical care program spanning nine ICUs with more than 100 beds. Scalea established a Department of Research headed by Dr. Robert Rosenthal with six codified divisions, and investigators from Shock Trauma now present regularly at major national meetings. Under his direction, trauma became a requirement for all third-year medical students and is described as one of the best experiences during medical school. He created an EMS coordinator’s office with three full-time employees and established the GO Team, a physician-led rapid response unit consisting of an anesthesiologist, surgeon, critical care medicine specialist and certified registered nurse anesthetist available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Despite leading one of the most technologically advanced trauma centers in the nation, Scalea considers his greatest challenge maintaining his humanity in an increasingly technology-reliant health care industry. He refuses to leave the hospital until all work is done, spending many evenings talking to patients and their families. He makes rounds at night when families are present, sitting and listening while often discussing subjects unrelated to healthcare needs. While his days are consumed by administrative responsibilities and operating room duties, Scalea reserves early mornings and evenings for patients and their families. He meets patients on what is arguably the worst day of their lives and prides himself on caring for their body, psyche and soul.

Baltimore magazine named Scalea a “Top Doctor” in the specialty of Trauma-Emergency Medicine in 2020. Despite his administrative responsibilities, he remains an active clinical surgeon whose continued commitment to night call reflects his patient-centered philosophy.