Lena Napolitano

Lena is the Massey Foundation Professor of Surgery at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, Founding Division Chief of Acute Care Surgery [Trauma, Burns, Critical Care, and Emergency Surgery] in 2005, and Director of Surgical Critical Care, for the Department of Surgery.  Dr. Napolitano is certified by the American Board of Surgery in General Surgery as well as Surgical Critical Care.  She is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Chest Physicians, and a Master of the American College of Critical Care Medicine.  Dr. Napolitano holds leadership positions in numerous professional organizations in surgery, trauma and surgical critical care.

Dr. Napolitano was elected as a Regent of the American College of Surgeons in 2018 (24 members who formulate policy and direct the affairs of ACS).  She is the Associate Director of the Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation.

She served as Senior Director of the American Board of Surgery a member of the Trauma, Burn and Critical Care Board, and as Chair of the ABS In-Training Examination (ABSITE).  Dr. Napolitano was elected and served as Chair of the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons for 2 consecutive years (2012-13) and previously served as Secretary/member of the ACS Board of Governors Executive Committee.  She has served on the AAST Board of Managers, chaired the AAST Critical Care Committee, and served as Chair of the AAST Education Committee.  Dr. Napolitano served as a Steering Committee member of the U.S. Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group (USCIITG).

Dr. Napolitano is a Master of Critical Care Medicine.  She served as Chancellor of the Board of Regents of the American College of Critical Care Medicine (ACCM).  She is past-Chair of the Surgical Section of Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), and served as SCCM Congress Co-Chair in 2006, and as member of SCCM Council, the elected leadership of SCCM.   She served as Chair of the Committee on Perioperative Care for the American College of Surgeons (ACS) from 2003-2005.  She is an inaugural member of the ACS Committee on Surgical Skills Training for Practicing Surgeons.  She is past-Chair of the Multi-Institutional Trials Committee and a past member of the Board of Directors for the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.  She served on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management.  She is Past President of the Michigan Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Napolitano has also served as President and Past Secretary of the Surgical Infection Society.  She is a member of the Society of University Surgeons, the Association of Women Surgeons, and the American Surgical Association, among others.  She is Chair of the ACS Surgical Education and Self-Assessment Program (SESAP) ADVANCED and member of the Steering Committee of the ACS Fundamentals of Surgery Resident Curriculum Committee.  She serves as a member of the National Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) Technical Expert Panels for Respiratory and Infection, focused on reducing surgical complications in the United States.

She served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Council on Surgical and Perioperative Safety (www.cspsteam.org), a multidisciplinary coalition of 7 organizations whose members (over 250,000 representing over 2 million healthcare practitioners) are involved in the care of surgical patients.  CSPS Member organizations include American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA): American Association of Surgical Physician Assistants (AASPA); American College of Surgeons (ACS); American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA); American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses (ASPAN); Association of perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN); and Association of Surgical Technologists (AST).

Dr. Napolitano has a research effort in trauma and surgical critical care, and is Principal Investigator on a number of research grants focused on translational research.  She is a member of the Editorial Boards and reviewer for many academic journals, including Ann Surg, Surgery, CCM, J Trauma, Shock, Chest, NEJM, JAMA and many others.

Dr. Napolitano received the American College of Critical Care Medicine (ACCM) Distinguished Investigator Award in 2021 and the David Packard Award and Medal by the Uniformed Services University in 2011 for her research in Anemia and Blood Product Transfusion.  She received the 2002 Association of Women Surgeons Distinguished Member Award.  Additional honors include Surgical Critical Care Educator of the Year Awards in 1998, 1999, and 2000 and Surgery Teacher of the Year Awards in 1999 and 2001 from the University of Maryland.  She received the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Teacher of the Year Award in 2007 from University of Michigan and the William Coon Award in 2013 for general surgery resident education. She was the first woman surgeon to receive the Theodore McGraw Medal from the Detroit Surgical Association and The Academy of Surgery of Detroit in 2014.  In 2015 she was inducted into the League of Educational Excellence and received the Evan Newport Individual HOPE Award at the University of Michigan.  She was inducted into the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators in 2019. She has been a mentor to over 200 research and surgical critical care fellows.  Her research group has received numerous awards.  She has over 400 peer-reviewed publications, and 128 book chapters, and has been an invited lecturer at many national and international symposia and a Visiting Professor at many institutions over the course of her career.