Spotlight
Health: Harvard Surgeon Leads Trauma Network
| USF Health
Dr. Jim Hurst, chief trauma medical director of the USF/HCA Trauma Network and USF professor of surgery.
Photo by Eric Younghans | USF Health
Trauma surgeon Jim Hurst began his medical career as a ship's surgeon.
On the USS Saratoga and USS Forrestal, Dr. Hurst was the only surgeon on board. He had to be ready to handle any medical emergency for a crew of nearly 3,000 — from a routine case of appendicitis to a plane crash on the flight deck.
"It's a pressure cooker," he says. "You mature rather quickly."
But the early training served him well.
After a career that has included a stint at USF, work in Cincinnati and part of the faculty at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Hurst is back in Florida.
Dr. Hurst was named the chief trauma medical director of the USF/HCA Trauma Network and a USF professor of surgery. USF and HCA joined forces in November to announce their new partnership. The joint initiative will enable five HCA hospitals in underserved areas to provide trauma care.
"The ability to attract Dr. Hurst is a great example of USF Health's move to national prominence," says Dr. Stephen Klasko, dean of the USF College of Medicine and CEO of USF Health. "By expanding our trauma program with HCA, and along with Tampa General Hospital, accounting for one of the largest trauma programs in the country, we can now analyze outcomes throughout the state and improve trauma care for all of Florida's citizens."
Most recently, Dr. Hurst was acting chief of surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a visiting professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School.
"The chance to be part of building five new trauma centers in the state and working with people I'd sort of grown up with, personally and professionally, seemed like a lot of fun," Dr. Hurst says.
The new trauma network will increase public safety across the state. Currently, about 38 percent of Floridians live in areas not served by a trauma center.
"Those individuals who have access to a well-functioning trauma center get back to society, get back to work, get back to their families faster," he says. "This is going to decrease morbidity and mortality."