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By Jo Marie Gellerman, AHSC Office of Public Affairs
August 18, 2008

The University of Arizona department of surgery and University Medical Center welcome four new trauma surgeons to the southern Arizona community.

These new members of Tucson’s trauma team represent the continued growth and commitment by the UA College of Medicine and University Medical Center to provide the best emergency surgical care at Tucson’s only Level 1 Trauma Center, said Dr. Peter Rhee, UA professor and UMC Trauma Center medical director.

"We are excited about the new talent the department has been able to recruit to our team," he said. "In spite of the shortages of trauma surgeons in the U.S., we have been able to recruit these highly skilled surgeons because they see the endless potential for greatness in Tucson."

“These new faculty are four more steps toward our vision of building the best academic and clinical trauma center in the Southwest under Rhee’s leadership,” said Dr. Rainer Gruessner, professor and head of the UA department of surgery.

Dr. Randall S. Friese has been appointed associate professor of surgery in the section of trauma, critical care and emergency surgery.

He earned his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed his residency training at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He went on to complete a fellowship in trauma critical care and a master’s degree in clinical science at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he joined the faculty as a trauma surgeon for six years. Friese also served as a staff general surgeon in the U.S. Navy.

Recently, his research efforts on the effects of sleep deprivation during recovery from critical illness and injury, which is common in the hospital setting, as well as his research on the benefits of sleep promotion during recovery, have received worldwide recognition.

Dr. Terence O’Keeffe has been appointed assistant professor of surgery in the section of trauma, critical care and emergency surgery. He comes to the UA from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. O’Keeffe underwent his undergraduate training at Edinburgh University, Scotland.

Following an internship in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, he then went to Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland for his surgical residency and a fellowship in laparoscopic surgery. He completed a two-year surgical critical care and trauma fellowship at the Ryder Trauma Center at the University of Miami while studying for a master’s of science in public health degree.

His research interests include injury prevention and massive transfusion practices, motorcycle trauma and damage control surgery.

Dr. Julie L. Wynne, has been appointed assistant professor of surgery in the section of trauma, critical care and emergency surgery. Wynne completed her medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also received a master’s of public health degree from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Following her residency training in surgery at the University of South Alabama, she completed a fellowship in surgical critical care and trauma at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Wynne served as a trauma surgeon at Mercer University School of Medicine.

Her current interests are in the areas of chronic wound healing, surgical critical care and volunteer work with humanitarian organizations such as “Doctors without Borders.”

Dr. Craig A. Hurst, has been appointed assistant professor of surgery in the section of trauma, critical care and emergency surgery. Hurst is a graduate of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he obtained both a medical degree and a master’s degree in science. He completed residency in general surgery at the University of Ottawa and complemented this with a plastic surgery residency at the University of Utah.

Hurst went to Indiana University as the von Deilen-Curtis fellow in craniofacial and pediatric plastic surgery. For the past two years, Hurst has been an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery with the Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine.

Hurst specializes in congenital conditions affecting the craniofacial skeleton of children and adults, cleft lip and palate surgery, and the treatment of facial trauma.