Mallory Williams, MD, MPH

2007-2008

Chief of the Division of Trauma and Critical Care; Associate Professor, General Surgery, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC

Dr. Williams has authored 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts, textbook chapters, and commentaries. His awards include a Harvard University Presidential Scholarship (2008), the Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center Surgery Resident of the Year (2004) and Teacher of the Year (2006) in recognition of his commitment to an academic approach and an excellent pedagogy.   He has also been awarded the teacher of the year award by both the residents and medical students at the University of Toledo College of Medicine.  His research efforts have been recognized by several surgical societies. He has won the Gordon Johnston Research Award (2003 & 2004) from the Detroit Surgical Association, The Raymond Alexander Resident Research Award (2002) from the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, and the Best Resident Manuscript Award (2007) from the New England Surgical Society. His passion is in the education and mentorship of future diverse clinician-investigators, and the development of health policy that positively impacts underserved populations. His current research interests include better understanding health care delivery in safety net hospitals and improving communication and team dynamics in high stress health care delivery areas such as the trauma care unit, intensive care unit, and operating room. He is co-principal investigator of a Susan G. Koman Grant examining “Patient Navigation and Breast Cancer Outcomes in Louisiana.”

Dr. Williams has authored clinical outcomes data on both thoracic and abdominal trauma.

Dr. Williams is a proud cum laude graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA in 1993, where he served as a Presidential Scholar, NIH MARC Scholar, and Ford Foundation Scholar. He received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD in 1999. He completed his general surgery residency as the Chief Administrative Surgery Resident at Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center in 2006. He also served as a NIH Research Fellow from 2003 to 2005. He completed his surgical critical care fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Williams is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery.

In 2008 The Honorable Governor Bobby Jindal appointed Dr. Williams to serve the state of Louisiana as a board member on the Louisiana Emergency Response Network (LERN). As a LERN board member Dr. Williams played an active role in the strategic planning for the Louisiana trauma system. He is currently Vice Chair of the Ohio Chapter of the Committee on Trauma. 

Dr. Williams is committed to mentoring a diverse physician work force and serves as the Vice Chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma.  Dr. Williams is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserve Medical Corps and served with distinction during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a trauma surgeon with the 345th Combat Support Hospital. Dr. Williams was recruited to the University of Toledo Medical Center to lead the Division of Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery.  He is currently President-elect of the Toledo Surgical Society. He also  serves as the current President of the Reede Scholars, Incorportated, a nonprofit organization of alumni from the Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy who are committed to health care policy that produces quality, equity, and access for disadvantage populations.

2011

2010

2009

Measuring Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Trauma Center Outcomes: Toward a More Perfect System

Trauma centers are essential health care facilities for optimizing outcomes for acutely injured patients.  The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACSCOT) conducts the review process known as verification to insure that trauma centers are capable of caring for the most seriously injured patients.  Injured patients experience superior outcomes when cared for in verified trauma centers.  However, racial disparities in outcomes for specific injuries exist.  We wanted to know if there are also regional racial and ethnic disparities in trauma center mortality?  This is an important policy analysis because large proportions of minority populations live in specific regions of the nation.  The majority of blacks live in the southeast while most Hispanics live in the southwestern portion of the United States.  Therefore racial and ethnic disparities in these regions could disproportionately affect these minority groups.  Measuring racial and ethnic disparities in these regions and briefing political leaders and stakeholders can help reevaluate of the trauma center credentialing process and direct funding to eliminate these disparities.  We utilized version 7.0 of the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) of the ACSCOT to evaluate injured patients 16-40 years of age with no documented complications and with at least a systolic blood pressure of 40 mm Hg on arrival to a level I or II trauma center.  Multivariate logistic regression was used to compare the severity-adjusted mortality of each region of the country and for each racial group within the region.  Region, age, race, insurance status, injury severity, number of surgeons, time to initial surgery, and trauma center level were all adjusted for in the logistic regression model.  The adjusted odds ratios of the Midwest (1.26), West (1.32), and Northeast (1.53) regions demonstrated higher overall mortality when compared to the Southern region.  The adjusted odds ratios of Southern blacks (1.18), Western blacks (1.36), and Western Hispanics (1.53) all demonstrated higher overall mortality when compared to whites in their region.  The adjusted odds ratios of Northeastern blacks (0.72) demonstrated a lower mortality when compared to whites.  There are racial and ethnic disparities in trauma center mortality in all regions of the United States.  We propose specific policy recommendations for measurement, surveillance, and process improvement.