Notable Alums
Specialty: General Surgery
Graduation Year: 1986
David Spain
David A. Spain, M.D. ’86, FACS, is the David L. Gregg, M.D. Professor and chief of Acute Care Surgery, and the General Surgery Program director at Stanford University.
He completed a general surgery residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, followed by a two-year fellowship in Trauma/Burns/Critical Care Surgery at the University of Louisville.
Since 2001, Dr. Spain has been at Stanford, where he has an active surgical practice in elective and acute care surgery. His research interests include trauma/surgical critical care, assessment of trauma system performance and post-traumatic stress disorder following critical illness and injury.
“The education and training I received as a medical student at Wayne State University was the foundation upon which I have been fortunate enough to build a successful academic career in surgery,” Dr. Spain said.
He is president of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma through 2020 and director of the American Board of Surgery through 2023. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons from 2017 to 2018 and president of the Surgical Critical Care Program Directors Society from 2014 to 2016. He holds R01 funding from the National Institutes of Health through 2021.
His awards include the General Surgery Chief Residents Award, Stanford (2010 and 2018); Teaching Award, Stanford/Kaiser Emergency Medicine Residency (2004 and 2008); and the Collins Teaching Award, General Surgery Residency Program (2005).
Dr. Spain is the editor of the new textbook, “Critical Care of the Surgical Patient.”
He completed a general surgery residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, followed by a two-year fellowship in Trauma/Burns/Critical Care Surgery at the University of Louisville.
Since 2001, Dr. Spain has been at Stanford, where he has an active surgical practice in elective and acute care surgery. His research interests include trauma/surgical critical care, assessment of trauma system performance and post-traumatic stress disorder following critical illness and injury.
“The education and training I received as a medical student at Wayne State University was the foundation upon which I have been fortunate enough to build a successful academic career in surgery,” Dr. Spain said.
He is president of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma through 2020 and director of the American Board of Surgery through 2023. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons from 2017 to 2018 and president of the Surgical Critical Care Program Directors Society from 2014 to 2016. He holds R01 funding from the National Institutes of Health through 2021.
His awards include the General Surgery Chief Residents Award, Stanford (2010 and 2018); Teaching Award, Stanford/Kaiser Emergency Medicine Residency (2004 and 2008); and the Collins Teaching Award, General Surgery Residency Program (2005).
Dr. Spain is the editor of the new textbook, “Critical Care of the Surgical Patient.”