Dr. Vicente H. Gracias is currently the senior vice chancellor for clinical affairs for Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS), professor of surgery and chief of acute care surgery at RWJMS. He is fellowship trained and board certified in general surgery, trauma surgery, and surgical critical care. He also serves as the director of both the adult and pediatric trauma centers at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH).

Dr. Gracias received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and his MD from the University of Utah School of Medicine. He completed residency training in general surgery at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Metro Group Hospitals, and a fellowship in trauma/surgical critical care at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) Medical Center. Dr. Gracias continued his career at Penn, rising quickly to associate professor of surgery and chief and medical director of surgical critical care services.

In 2009 Dr. Gracias was recruited to Rutgers RWJMS to lead the creation of a new surgical specialty: acute care surgery. Five years later, access to trauma at RWJMS/RWJUH has improved dramatically. Critical care service lines have grown from one to three and multi-disciplinary faculty members from internal medicine, anesthesia, and surgery have created a successful coordinated approach to enhanced quality-driven patient care. Outpatient service lines have also been conceived, designed, and deployed for wound care, hyperbaric medicine, and traumatic brain injury. Two fellowships in surgical specialties were formed and verified and the first pediatric trauma center in the history of New Jersey was established.

Dr. Gracias’ research focuses on specialty areas of acute care such as penetrating cervical trauma and hemodynamic monitoring, in which he has published extensively and lectured internationally. Currently, he is the principal investigator of an FDA-approved neutraceutical intervention trial for shock and sepsis in surgical patients. His textbook in acute care surgery has achieved international success and has been published in Russian.

Dr. Gracias has also held a number of significant national leadership positions and has had unique opportunities to help shape policy within multiple institutions across the country. He has served as the chair of the Surgery Section for the Society of Critical Care Medicine and board member of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. He currently is treasurer for the EAST Foundation, sits on the advocacy committee for the American College of Surgery, and is an invited thought leader for White House expert panels. Dr. Gracias is dedicated to global health as well and has served as Vice President of the Pan American Trauma Society.