Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announces $5M TETF investment in UTHSC-H trauma research

“Trauma research and trauma medicine have not been major areas of interest to the components of the health care industry that typically invest in research,” said Texas Speaker of the House Tom Craddick. “Many of the significant advances in trauma care have been developed by the military for the care of wounded soldiers. We now have an opportunity to build on these advances in military medicine by developing ways to use them in the management of trauma in the civilian population.”

“We are bringing in an outstanding clinician and translational scientist with innovative approaches to injury treatment,” said Peter Davies, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president of research at the UT Health Science Center at Houston. “He will be building on his work with military patients—particularly burn victims.”

Holcomb said the UT Health Science Center at Houston is well positioned to translate scientific discoveries into patient care with the Clinical and Translational Sciences Center (CCTS) funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs).

“Translational science means taking research from the laboratory and early clinical trials and doing high-quality studies to take that last step that proves or disproves the concept,” Holcomb said.

Davies said Holcomb will be working closely with the informatics experts at The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston (SHIS) to develop intelligent trauma management systems that will provide clinicians with “real time information” on changes in critically injured patients.

Thrice recognized by the U.S. Army’s Greatest Invention Program, Holcomb was honored for the combat application tourniquet, the Chitosan Hemostatic Dressing and the Damage Control Resuscitation Concept. He received his undergraduate degree at Centenary College and medical degree from the University of Arkansas Medical School, Little Rock. He served as a surgical critical care fellow at the UT Medical School at Houston from 2001-2002.

Holcomb’s wife, Kelly Wirfel, is also a doctor of medicine and graduated from the UT Medical School Endocrinology Fellowship at Houston. The couple has a 7-year-old son, Ian, and 5-year-old daughter, Ryan.