Description
Donald Dean Trunkey, M.D., discusses his career as trauma surgeon, shares his impressions of prominent American surgeons, and describes changes in surgical education and practice from the 1960s to present. He recounts how he became interested in pursuing a medical career, how he came to the University of Oregon Medical School to take a rotating internship under the surgeon Dr. J. E. Dunphy, and then his residencies during the late 1960s and faculty experiences beginning in the 1970s. He comments on the administration of Oregon Health Sciences University and the OHSU Hospital and his own actions as a department chair. He talks about his contributions in the development of trauma surgery nationally, having served as Chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma during the 1980s. He ends by reflecting on the trends away from general surgery and toward specialization.