2022 Scudder Oration on Trauma

A Century of Commitment to Optimal Trauma Care Lessons Learned and Opportunities for the Future

Ronald M. Stewart, MD, FACS, currently serves as the chair of the department of surgery at UT Health and is a trauma surgeon at University Health in San Antonio, TX.

He served as the national Chair of the ACS Committee on Trauma (COT) from 2014 to 2018, and medical director of Trauma Programs for the ACS from 2018 to 2022.

During his tenure, the ACS COT fostered and promoted an inclusive, collegial dialogue centered on how best to reduce firearm injury, death, and disability. This approach has led to a common narrative and strategy focused on understanding and addressing the root causes of violence while simultaneously making firearm ownership as safe as reasonably possible. This common narrative serves as a foundation for pragmatic steps to reduce the burden of firearm-related injury, death, and disability.