Since 1991 I have been working as a Trauma Attending and was appointed Medical Director of the Puerto Rico Trauma Center (PRTC) in 1999. I have directed my efforts towards having a new earthquake resistant hospital, improve the prehospital care of the polytraumatized patient and have Puerto Rico certified as a Level 1 Trauma Center. Being certified as ATLS Instructor in 1989, I have been devoted to the education of the management of the polytraumatized patient, trying to prevent further damage during the acute management of these patients. I also began recruitment of new Trauma Surgeons in order to have enough available for the next few decades for the care of trauma patients in Puerto Rico for the next generations. Fortunately, this group has been increasing. Among other contributions in developing Trauma awareness, I founded Fundación Asistencia al Centro de Trauma (FACT), a non-profit organization whose main goal is to provide assistance to the Trauma Center in the form of donations of materials and equipment and provide continuous education to professionals in the medical field in areas related to trauma emergencies. Among our achievements, are the creation of the Rehabilitation Unit program of the PRTC, the acquisition of the REBOA catheter, and the implementation of the vascular effort to use TEVAR under the guidance of Dr. Fernando Joglar, to avoid the mortality associated with aortic ruptures. I am also implementing the percutaneous approach for surgical procedures like PEG, PT, bronchoscopies, etc. Besides that, I work on the prevention of deaths associated with traumatic diseases, since 95% of these are preventable. I have been able to work on this through the lecture entitled: Terrores en las Carreteras.

My main goal is to optimize the management of Trauma patients, as it is the leading cause of death in people under 44 and I truly hope everything continues to come together to improve such management. If only one life were to be saved after all these efforts of many years, with the assistance of our Trauma Faculty and residents, house staff, nurses, and therapists during their daily Trauma rotation, I would understand that I have accomplished my highest and most desired dream.

Specialty and Subspecialty Certifications:

National Boards of Medical Examiners

Certification number:  288153 – 4/15/87

Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery

Certification number:  37842 – 12/15/92

Diplomate of the Surgical Critical Care Board

Certification number:  1393 – 10/21/94

Re-certification in General Surgery-American Board of Surgery

Certification:  37842 – 10/18/03 and 12/12/13

Re-certification in Surgical Critical Care-American Board of Surgery

Certification:  1393 – 10/28/04 and 9/27/14

Elective Certifications:

Faculty member (Instructor) of the Advanced Trauma Life Support – April 1989

to present

Faculty member (Instructor) of the Total Nutritional Support (TNT) Program

FELANPE-ASPEN January 1998 to present

Instructor of Instructor for the ATLS course- Minnesota COT Annual

Convention- since 1996

Faculty Member (Instructor) of the Advanced Clinical Nutritional (ANC) Course

since April 1999

Invited Faculty Member (Instructor) Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS)

Course – since September 1999

Faculty Member (Instructor) of the Nutritional Support in the Intensive Care Unit

(NUCI) -since August 2003

Certified Instructor for the Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) –

since March 2007

Faculty Member of the Fundamental Critical Care Course (FCCS)

– since September 2014

Licensure:

Puerto Rico Medical License # 9076 – April 27, 1988

Professional Society Memberships:

Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS)

Fellow Critical Care Medicine (FCCM)

Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP)

Fellow of the College of Chest Physicians (FCCP)

Member of the P.R. Chapter of the American College of Surgeons

Member of the Society of Critical Care (SCCM)

Member of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST)

Member of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST)

Member of the Panamerican Trauma Society

Member of the Puerto Rico College of Physicians and Surgeons

Member of the Puerto Rico Society of Critical Care (PRSCC)

Member of Puerto Rico Society of Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition (PRSPEN)

Professional Society Activities:

ACS – Puerto Rico Chapter

– Instructor of the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)

– Director and Coordinator of ATLS course

– Credentials Committee

Panamerican Trauma Society

Member Education Committee

Vice-president Critical Care Subcommittee

Puerto Rico Society of Critical Care

– Member of the Executive Committee

Puerto Rico Society of Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition (PRSPEN)

– Instructor of the Total Nutritional Support (TNT) Program

FELANPE-ASPEN

– Member of the Convention Organizational Committee

– Instructor of the Advanced Nutritional Support (ANC)

Educational Course