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Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., Ph.D.
Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., PH.D., director of the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, wants to be put out of work.
He says this tongue-in-cheek, of course. Kerby is a trauma surgeon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Level 1 Trauma Center, a former Air Force combat surgeon, and the Brigham Family Endowed Professor and director of UAB’s Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. While he might wish that his skills are not needed, he knows firsthand that traumatic injuries — those caused by blunt or penetrating forces like vehicle crashes, shootings, stabbings, falls and natural disasters — are not only a daily reality, they are also on the rise.
But that does not stop him from working toward the lofty goal of “zero preventable deaths” — and he will soon be pursuing this goal at an international level.
Kerby was recently confirmed by the American College of Surgeons as the next chair of the ACS Committee on Trauma. The COT is renowned for tackling global issues of trauma through education, advocacy, injury prevention measures and establishing standards of care. Kerby’s background and experience at UAB will provide him with a unique perspective as he steps into the role.
A veteran, a researcher and a surgeon
Kerby, a native of Missouri, received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He came to UAB to complete his general surgery residency and a postdoctoral research fellowship, earning his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular genetics in 1997.
Members of one UAB-based SOST team received the Bronze Star for their actions on deployment in the Middle East.He then served as an active-duty combat trauma surgeon with the Air Force, deploying in 2002 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Since returning to UAB in 2003, Kerby has served as a clinically active trauma surgeon. He was the chief of General Surgery at the Birmingham VA Medical Center from 2009 to 2014.
Kerby is a prolific researcher with a focus on trauma, critical care and emergency general surgery. From 2005 to 2015, he was the principal investigator for an NIH-funded trial focused on outcomes of prehospital interventional trials. The Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery is home to the UAB Center for Injury Sciences and an active investigative site in the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network.
Kerby was instrumental in establishing a unique military-civilian partnership with the United States Air Force Special Operations Command: the Special Operations Surgical Team, which has been based at UAB since 2010. The partnership allows active-duty Air Force personnel to train at a high-volume trauma center in a metropolitan area — an environment where they will see the same types of traumatic injuries they may see on the battlefield.
Firsthand experience of rising trauma cases
UAB’s Level 1 Trauma Center often sees the patients with the most severe injuries from Alabama and neighboring states like Mississippi and Georgia. UAB’s Trauma Center is the only adult Level 1 Trauma Center in the state of Alabama that has been verified by the ACS, meaning it has met a rigorous standard. The Trauma Center holds a 96 percent survival rate for its patients.
The patient load at the Trauma Center has been steadily on the rise, reflecting national trends of increasing injuries due to gun violence and car crashes. The center has already seen more than 6,300 patients in the last 12 months, reflecting a 36 percent rise in trauma evaluations since 2018.
UAB's Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery conducts Stop the Bleed training at schools and other community locations.“The Birmingham community is just like other large metropolitan areas in the country in that it is seeing a continuous rise in the number of patients injured by gun violence,” Kerby said.
In the past 12 months, UAB has treated nearly 1,200 patients with gunshot wounds — compared to the 604 patients with gunshot wounds they treated in 2013.
Initiatives and advocacy: Alabama and beyond
Kerby wants to work toward lowering these numbers. In his role as chair of the COT, he will focus on advocacy for injured patients and access to trauma care across the globe — two causes he has already championed locally in Alabama.
Kerby and the division embraced the national Stop the Bleed campaign. Born in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, the program trains people to perform live-saving measures in an emergency, even before first responders can arrive. Minutes matter — a person can bleed to death within five to eight minutes of a major vascular injury. Stop the Bleed teaches people how to apply a tourniquet, or use pressure to stop bleeding.
The division has taught Stop the Bleed courses and distributed kits with tourniquets to schools across central Alabama over the past four years. Kerby wants to see Stop the Bleed training become as commonplace as CPR training and bleeding control kits spread into the public domain available in the case of an emergency or mass casualty event.
And recently the division began a partnership with the Jefferson County Department of Public Health, the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention and community advocates to launch a Hospital-based Violence Intervention Program in Birmingham. The goal is to use mentors to meet survivors while they are still receiving inpatient care and connect them with resources they may need to hopefully break the cycle of violence.
Kerby is a vocal proponent of common-sense gun safety measures, speaking out in the media through interviews and composing Op-Eds. He understands guns are a polarizing topic.
UABs trauma center has seen a 36 percent increase in trauma cases since 2018.“We’re not talking about gun control — we’re talking about gun violence control,” he said. “There are simple interventions that don’t drastically impact the rights of gun owners but can decrease the unnecessary loss of life from firearm injury, from safer gun storage and education around gun safety to enhanced background checks.”
The first state trauma consultant to the Alabama Department of Public Health, Kerby provides guidance to the Alabama Trauma System and makes recommendations on improving the current statewide system of care.
Kerby is passionate about improving access to trauma care, an issue that affects patients internationally — and in rural areas in Alabama. He says Alabama needs to build on its current system, ensuring patients get the appropriate level of care for their injuries, as quickly as possible. He suggests Alabama could use four or five more trauma centers across the state to handle the load of patients.
“When asked, most citizens in the United States think they live in proximity to a hospital that provides trauma care, and this unfortunately just isn’t true,” Kerby said.
Kerby says the COT is currently developing a blueprint for a national trauma system of care that will hopefully be funded at the federal level. The COT also provides consultations with hospitals to review their trauma systems and to help them lobby for the resources they need.
Becoming chair at a pivotal time
Kerby will begin his role in March 2022, becoming the 21st chair of the COT during its 100th anniversary.
“We hope to use the COT 100th anniversary year as a platform to message some of the pressing needs around access to trauma care and the development of a national level system of care,” Kerby said.
“Dr. Kerby is an excellent choice for chair of the ACS Committee on Trauma,” said Herbert Chen, M.D., FACS, Fay Fletcher Kerner Endowed Chair and chair of the UAB Department of Surgery. “He has a proven trauma leadership record as director of the UAB Division of Trauma and Acute Care and also as the state of Alabama’s first trauma consultant. I look forward to seeing all that he will accomplish for this committee, the ACS and the field of trauma surgery.”