Director of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
Babak Sarani, MD, FACS, FCCM is the Founder and Chief of the Center for Trauma and Critical Care at GW Hospital and a Professor of Surgery and Emergency Medicine at the GW University School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
A fellow of the American College of Surgeons and Society of Critical Care Medicine, Dr. Sarani is also a member of Board of Directors of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and the Society of Critical Care Surgeons. Previously, Dr. Sarani served as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, PA and Reading Hospital, in Reading, PA from 2005-2011. While there, he implemented and served as the Medical Director of the Surgical Rapid Response Team at the University of Pennsylvania and was the interim Trauma Medical Director at Reading Hospital.
Dr. Sarani received his medical degree from George Washington University and was an elected member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and the Phi Sigma Biological Sciences Honor Society. He completed his internship and residency at George Washington University and received subspecialty training as a fellow in Trauma and Critical Care Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, in Pittsburgh, PA.
In addition, Dr. Sarani serves as a mentor to medical students, surgical residents and trauma/critical care fellows and has received numerous invitations to lecture on topics related to trauma surgery, critical care, and rapid response systems in the United States and Europe. Dr. Sarani's commitment to teaching is evident in the numerous teaching awards he has received from GWU, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pennsylvania. He founded and served as the first moderator of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma TraumaCast podcast and holds several organizing roles in scientific meetings. His research interests include diagnosis and management of coagulation disorders following trauma, nutrition support in the ICU, delirium in the ICU, and optimal design of rapid response systems.
Podcast: What is a Level 1 Trauma Center?
Babak Sarani, MD, FACS, FCCM, explains what the designation of a Level I Trauma Center means to patients in need of emergency care. He discusses the staffing, equipment and procedures that go into providing care for the most critically injured patients.
Dr. Sarani's research has been published in the Journal of Trauma, Critical Care Medicine, Resuscitation, Injury, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, Diseases of the Colon & Rectum, Surgical Infections, Surgical Endoscopy, Archives of Surgery, The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety, Anesthesia and Analgesia, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Disasters, Journal of Critical Care, Journal of Surgical Research, Archives of Internal Med, The Journal of Laryngology & Otology, Journal of Surgical Education, European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry, Journal of Vascular Access, The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety, Current Problems in Surgery, Southern Medical Journal, and Critical Connections. He has also authored two modules of care of the trauma patient in Up to Date, a clinical decision support resource.
Learn more about the Center for Trauma and Critical Care >
Watch Babak Sarani, MD, discuss trauma surgery at GW Hospital.