Basil A. Pruitt Jr., M.D., FACS, a clinical professor at the Health Science Center and a world-renowned burn surgeon, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award Dec. 4 from AMSUS, the Society of Health Professionals.
AMSUS, whose purpose is to assist in the advancement of military medicine, was chartered by Congress in 1903. It held its annual continuing education meeting in San Antonio Dec. 1-4.
Dr. Pruitt earned his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. He began his surgical residency at the Boston City Hospital, but in 1959 he was drafted and began a lifelong affiliation with the Army’s burn center when he was assigned to the U.S. Army Surgical Research Unit at Fort Sam Houston.
Following a tour in Vietnam, where he served as chief of professional services at the 12th Evacuation Hospital and chief of the trauma research team, Dr. Pruitt returned to the burn center, now called U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research. He was commander and director there for 27 years. Dr. Pruitt retired from the Medical Corps in 1995 and now serves as a consultant to the institute.
Dr. Pruitt has served on 11 editorial boards, including associate editor and editor of the Journal of Trauma for 37 years and retains the title of editor emeritus. He also has served on the NIH Surgery, Anesthesia, and Trauma Study Section; the V.A. Merit Review Board for Surgery; and the Shriners Hospitals Research Advisory Board.
William L. Henrich, M.D., MACP, president of the Health Science Center, will also the meeting on “Academic/VA/Military Synergy: Teaming to Make Lives Better.” Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Byron C. Hepburn, M.D., director of the Health Science Center’s Military Health Institute, will moderate a panel on “The Journey of an Injury.”
Other Health Science Center presenters will include:
- Alan Peterson, Ph.D.., “It’s All About the Blast: Psychological Health Consequences of Combat Blast Exposure.”
- Julianne Flynn, M.D., “VA Care and the New Normal in Military City USA: Innovative Collaborations with DoD and Community.”
- Erin Finley, Ph.D., “Utilization of VA, Military and Community-Based Care Among Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans with PTSD.”
- Global Health category, posters, “A Whole New World: New Perspectives in Global Health,” Andrew Muck, M.D.
- Psychological Health category, posters, “Stability of Health Trajectories Among Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans: Insights from Central Nervous System Medications,” Mary Jo Pugh, Ph.D.