Trauma surgeon Dr. Gary Vercruysse joins UA to lead burn program | Health

The University of Arizona Medical Center is welcoming in a new doctor, a trauma surgeon who will also run their burn-care program, Gary A. Vercruysse, MD.  He will be joining the Surgery Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery as an associate professor of surgery. 

Dr. Vercruysse has extensive experience in treating burns and traumatic injuries.  He was co-director of the Grady Memorial Burn Center and an assistant professor at Emery University in Atlanta before coming to the UA.  Dr. Vercruysse also served overseas in Balad, Iraq, as the chief of surgery at the U.S. Air Force Theater Hospital, and in Bagram, Afghanistan as a senior surgeon and director of the Craig Joint Theater Hospital. 

Not only is the UAMC getting a new surgeon and burn center director, but it is expanding it’s  Level I Trauma Center burn-care services, as Dr. Vercruysse will run an outpatient burn program at the UAMC South Campus.

“The burn program was the missing piece of our nationally recognized trauma center. Now patients from Southern Arizona can receive state-of-the-art burn care at UAMC,” said Rainer W.G. Gruessner, MD, professor and chairman, UA Department of Surgery, in a recent UA news release.

Dr. Vercruysse specializes in skin grafts, wound reconstruction and critical care management for adult and pediatric patients with acute thermal, chemical and electrical injuries, as well as with burn-related complications. His research interests include vasopressin deficiency as related to hemorrhagic shock, the economics of burn care and burn injury education. He will be involved in community service and outreach to promote burn awareness and prevention.

He received his medical degree and general surgery residency training from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in East Lansing. He completed a trauma and surgical critical care and trauma surgery fellowship at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland-School of Medicine, Baltimore, and a burn-care fellowship with Emory University at Grady Memorial Hospital.

The recipient of numerous awards and military honors, Dr. Vercruysse has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He is an ad hoc reviewer for The American Journal of Surgery and The Journal of Trauma.

“We are very fortunate to have recruited Dr. Vercruysse; he is truly a treasured commodity,” said Peter Rhee, MD, professor and chief, Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery. “His expertise is bonafide, his capabilities are vast and he is first and foremost a trauma surgeon.  He is just the person Tucson needed – a city of this size simply needs to have burn surgery capabilities. It’s all about providing services to the community.”