2026 Presenters
Below, you’ll find biographies of our incredible speaker line up for the 2026 Trauma Symposium.
Dr. Elizabeth R Benjamin
Elizabeth R Benjamin is a Professor of Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and the Chief of Acute Care Surgery at Emory and the Trauma Medical Director at Grady Memorial Hospital. She completed her residency at UCLA and Trauma and Surgical Critical Care fellowship at the University of Texas, Southwestern/Parkland Hospital. Prior to joining the team at Emory and Grady, she was a Trauma and Acute Care Surgeon at the University of Southern California (USC), practicing at Los Angeles County Hospital, where she was also the Associate Trauma Medical Director, the Director of the Fresh Tissue Dissection Laboratory, and the Director of Quality Improvement.
Dr. Eileen Bulger
Dr. Eileen Bulger, MD, FACS is currently Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Trauma, Burns, and Critical Care at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA and the Surgeon-in-Chief at Harborview Medical Center. She served as the Chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma from 2018-2022 and Medical Director for Trauma Programs at the American College of Surgeons, 2022-2026. She also served as the President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma 2022-2023. Dr. Bulger is a strong advocate for injury prevention and disaster preparedness. She is currently the Chair of the Steering Committee for the National Healthcare Coalition for Firearm Injury Prevention and is a Medical Officer with the NDMS Trauma Critical Care Team.
Dr. Bulger also has an active research program. She previously served as co-Principal Investigator for trauma with the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium and as Principal Investigator of the Seattle Crash Injury Research and Engineering center. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Highway Transportation Administration, and the US Department of Defense. She recently led the development of a National Trauma Research Action plan for the United States and serves on the Board for the Coalition for National Trauma Research. Her research interests include resuscitation strategies for hemorrhagic shock, trauma system development, the prehospital triage and management of injured patients, the biomechanics of injury after motor vehicle crashes, modulation of the inflammatory response after injury, optimal management of necrotizing soft tissue infections, and the long-term outcomes of injured patients. Her current NIH funded research focuses on strategies to support patients after injury to reduce their risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dr. Sheldon Cheskes
Sheldon Cheskes is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at University of Toronto and serves as Medical Director for the Regions of Halton and Peel with the Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Medicine. An internationally recognized expert in CPR quality, defibrillation, and cardiac arrest resuscitation, he is a principal investigator for the Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (CanROC) and the DOSE VF trial studying advanced defibrillation strategies for refractory ventricular fibrillation.
Dr. Cheskes has published more than 200 manuscripts in leading medical journals, with research that has helped shape resuscitation practices worldwide. His current work also focuses on improving public access defibrillation through community responder programs and drone-delivered AED initiatives.
Dr. Maia Dorsett
Maia Dorsett, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center and an EMS physician with clinical and research interests in EMS quality improvement. She serves as Co-Chair of the National EMS Quality Alliance (NEMSQA) Measure Analysis and Research Committee, where she leads work evaluating national EMS quality measures, including those related to trauma. Dr. Dorsett also served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of EMS Physicians from 2022–2026 and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Registry of EMTs.
Dr. David Fischer
Dr. David Fischer, M.D., is a neurointensivist and Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. He obtained his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed neurology residency and neurocritical care fellowship at Mass General Brigham. He is interested in the detection, prediction, and promotion of consciousness recovery after acute severe brain injury. He is the founding director of the Recovery of Consciousness Via Evidence-Based Medicine and Research (RECOVER) Program at the University of Pennsylvania, a model that aims to provide specialized, comprehensive, and longitudinal care to patients with disorders of consciousness after brain injury. His research involves advanced neuroimaging techniques (such as functional magnetic resonance imaging) to detect signs of consciousness and predict future neurologic recovery.
Tracy Henry, MSc, BSN, RN
Tracy Henry, MSc, BSN, RN is a seasoned trauma nurse and healthcare professional with over 20 years of trauma care spanning both the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Department. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from St. Petersburg College in Florida, a Master of Science in Infectious Diseases and Global Health from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and a postgraduate degree in Forensic Death Investigation from the University of Florida.
Tracy currently serves as the Trauma Outcomes Specialist at Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC, where she focuses on improving trauma care through data analysis, performance improvement, and multidisciplinary collaboration. In addition to her hospital role, she also serves as a County Medical Examiner for three counties in North Carolina.
Dr. Chance Spalding
Dr. Chance Spalding is the Trauma Medical Director for Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus, Ohio. He has spent his career focusing on advancing treatments for non-compressible torso hemorrhage with a focus on trauma, obstetrical and general surgery patients. Dr. Spalding received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and has continued to combine his engineering background with trauma and critical care through education of graduate students at Ohio State University. He became the Chief Medical Officer of Prytime Medical in Boerne, Tx in 2023 and has continued to advance REBOA technology through clinical research, engineering advancements of catheter design and creation of clinical practice guidelines for use in both the civilian and combat settings.
Dr. Martin Zielinski
Martin Zielinski is Professor and Chief of Trauma, Bariatrics, and Acute Care Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, where he oversees adult trauma, emergency general surgery, bariatric surgery, and surgical critical care across multiple Baylor-affiliated hospitals in Houston, Texas. He earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Minnesota before completing his surgical residency at Mayo Clinic, where he later became the first Professor of Surgery in Mayo’s trauma division.
Dr. Zielinski’s clinical and research interests include leadership development, emergency surgical disease standardization, small bowel obstruction management, and hemorrhagic shock resuscitation. He has published more than 180 peer-reviewed manuscripts, authored numerous book chapters, and co-edited The Acute Management of Surgical Disease.
