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Jason W. Smith, MD, PhD, MBA, FACS
EAST President (2023)
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY
Dr. Jason Smith, the Hiram C. Polk Junior and Banerjee Professor of Surgery at the University of Louisville, is a board-certified surgeon and critical care physician focused on trauma, burn care and emergency surgery. He is currently the System Chief Medical Officer for UofL Health, and a Professor of Surgery and Physiology at the University of Louisville.
Dr. Smith joined the UofL faculty in 2008, after completing his residency at The Ohio State University. He completed his Ph.D. through the University of Louisville and his MBA at Indiana University. Dr. Smith has served as the Division Director of General Surgery at the University of Louisville Hospital and the Chief Medical Information Officer and Chief Medical Officer at University of Louisville Hospital previously.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as CMO, Dr. Smith led the UofL Health system through all changing protocols, collaboration with the state and competing hospitals, and developing a community outreach plan to provide testing and vaccines in underserved communities. In addition to his administrative and clinical duties, Dr. Smith runs a successful basic science laboratory evaluating novel mechanisms of resuscitation and has been funded by both the NIH and the Department of Defense. Dr. Smith holds numerous state and national offices in surgical and trauma organizations.
Outside of work Dr. Smith enjoys hiking and fishing with his kids, playing guitar, and has been known to race a car or two on his free weekends.
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Ben L. Zarzaur, MD, MPH, FACS
2023 EAST President-Elect (2023)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
Dr. Zarzaur is currently the Lichtfeldt Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Division of Acute Care and Regional General Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Dr. Zarzaur was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. He attended college at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. He went on to medical school at The University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham, Alabama. Following medical school, Dr. Zarzaur completed residency training in General Surgery at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. During his residency, Dr. Zarzaur spent two years exploring how the mucosal immune system is influenced by different types of nutrition support under the guidance of his mentor, Dr. Kenneth Kudsk. After residency, Dr. Zarzaur completed a Surgical Critical Care fellowship at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He stayed in Chapel Hill where he accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. While there, Dr. Zarzaur earned a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from the School of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill. In 2006 he moved back to Memphis and became an Associate Professor of Surgery at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
While in Memphis, Dr. Zarzaur was a medical team manager for an Urban Search and Rescue Team and has been deployed as part of disaster response. Dr. Zarzaur received a K23 Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of socio-economic disparities in quality of life and functional ability after injury. Dr. Zarzaur has also been the Principle Investigator of an 11 site multi-institutional study funded by the National Trauma Institute to determine long-term outcomes after blunt spleen injury in adults. In 2014, he was recruited to Indiana University School of Medicine as the Founder and Director of the Center for Outcomes Research in the Department of Surgery. While at Indiana University School of Medicine, he served as the Vice-Chair of Clinical Research as well as the Chief of Surgery and Trauma Medical Director at Eskenazi Health. Dr. Zarzaur joined the faculty in the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in 2019. Dr. Zarzaur’s main research focus is on how to improve the long-term outcomes of critically ill and injured patients. He is the PI on two R01s funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of collaborative care interventions at improving long-term outcomes in older injured patients. He is also funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of collaborative care interventions at preventing cognitive decline in patients who undergo emergency general surgery and who suffer delirium in the post-operative course. Dr. Zarzaur has published over 150 peer reviewed manuscripts.
In addition to his research interests, Dr. Zarzaur has also served as a member and leader in many local, regional, and national trauma organizations. He has served as the Chair of the Tennessee Committee on Trauma as well as the Chair of the Trauma Care Advisory Council. He was a member of the Indiana Department of Health Trauma Advisory Council and was a member of the National Committee on Trauma. He is a member of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the president elect of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Western Trauma Association, the Society of University Surgeons, and the American Surgical Association.
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Mayur B. Patel, MD, MPH, FACS
EAST Treasurer (2023)
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN
Dr. Mayur B. Patel is a Division Chief of Acute Care Surgery and Professor with tenure in the Section of Surgical Sciences and Department of Surgery at Vanderbilt. Dr. Patel graduated from Johns Hopkins, earned his medical degree at Vanderbilt, completed his general surgery residency at Duke, and finished fellowship in Acute Care Surgery at Vanderbilt.
Dr. Patel's research focuses on brain dysfunction and critical illness, as related to traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), long-term cognitive impairment, dementia, and other aspects of ICU survivorship. He is an active member of the Critical Illness, Brain dysfunction, and Survivorship (CIBS) Center and is an Executive Committee member. Since 2010, Dr. Patel has carried federal funding and has matured this to >$20M NIH Principal Investigator portfolio.
His publication record reflects over 130 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, book chapters, and editorials. He serves as an Associate Editor for the Sabiston Textbook of Surgery, Advanced Trauma Operative Management textbook, and the Journal of Surgical Research. He has mentored >60 undergraduate, pre-doctoral (MD and PhD candidates), post-doctoral trainees (F and K level resident and junior faculty), and motivated faculty (R level). Dr. Patel also leads as the Program Director for Vanderbilt's NIH T32 two-year Post-doctoral Research Fellowship: Interdisciplinary Training in Injury and Critical Illness.
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Nicole Fox, MD, MPH, FACS, CPE
EAST Secretary (2023)
Cooper University Hospital
Camden, NJ
Dr. Nicole Fox MD, MPH, FACS is a trauma surgeon and surgical intensivist at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. She serves as the medical director of Cooper’s ACS verified Pediatric Trauma Center and as the Associate Chief Medical Officer for the health system. Dr. Fox graduated from Franklin & Marshall College. She received her medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School along with a master’s in public health/health administration from the Rutgers School of Public Health. She is actively involved in national trauma organizations including the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) and the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST). Dr. Fox is currently the Secretary for EAST which is the second largest trauma organization in the United States. She is also a lead site reviewer for the American College of Surgeons Verification Review Committee.
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Deborah M. Stein, MD, MPH, FACS, FCCM
EAST Immediate Past President (2023)
R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center
Baltimore, MD
Deborah M. Stein MD, MPH, is currently a tenured Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the Department of Surgery and Program in Trauma and Director of Adult Critical Care Services for the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Stein has authored over 270 peer-reviewed articles and numerous book chapters. Her national service includes active participation in major trauma, critical care, and surgical societies including currently serving as the Past President for the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Vice-Chair for the Trauma, Burn, and Surgical Critical Care Board of the American Board of Surgery and immediate Past Chair of the Research Committee for the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma. She also serves as a Deputy Editor for the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery and is the Chair of the Certifying Exam Committee for the Trauma, Burns, and Surgical Critical Care Board. She's been a continuously funded investigator for the last 20 years and currently serves as PI for a PCORI-funded study. Dr. Stein’s research interests are in the fields of traumatic brain injury, hemorrhagic shock, and functional outcomes following traumatic injury. She has a particular interest in patients centered outcomes research.
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