Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing
University of Wyoming
Dept. 3065; 1000 E. University Avenue
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-4312
Fax: (307) 766-4294
Email: uwnursing@uwyo.edu
UW College of Health Sciences Commencement
Saturday, May 16, 2015
8:30 a.m.
Arena Auditorium, UW Campus
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Publicity Release from the University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences:
UW Distinguished Alumnus Dr. Brent Eastman, renowned trauma surgeon and Evanston native, will speak at the College of Health
Sciences Commencement on Saturday, May 16, at 8:30 a.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.
A general, vascular, and trauma surgeon and a long-established leader on the issue
of trauma and emergency surgical care, A. Brent Eastman, M.D., FACS, is chief medical
officer and corporate senior vice president of Scripps Health and N. Paul Whittier
Chair of Trauma for Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.
Scripps Health is a nonprofit integrated health care system in San Diego County with
five acute-care hospital campuses, home health care services, and an ambulatory care
network of clinics, physician offices, and outpatient centers.
Dr. Eastman served as president and chair of the Board of Regents of the American
College of Surgeons, the largest scientific and educational organization of surgeons
in the world.
As a boy growing up in Evanston, Wyoming, Dr. Eastman witnessed the aftermath of
the devastating wreck of two passenger trains in a blizzard. Those trains carried
surgeons returning from the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress, who immediately
began treating the wounded. This inspired him to be a surgeon.
Dr. Eastman earned his bachelor’s in zoology and physiology from UW in 1962 under
Dr. Floyd Clarke. During his time at UW, he was elected ASUW president. He went on
to earn his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, where
he completed his general surgical residency and served as chief surgical resident.
He is one of the co-founders of San Diego County’s trauma system, regarded worldwide
as a model. Before San Diego’s trauma system was developed, the percentage of preventable
trauma deaths in the region’s hospitals stood at 22 percent. Since the system was
deployed in 1984, the percentage of preventable deaths has declined to approximately
1 percent. Eastman was chair of the Committee on Trauma for the American College of
Surgeons from 1990 to 1994 and has been active in helping develop trauma systems all
over the world, including U.S., England, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Mexico,
South Africa, India, and Pakistan.
Dr. Eastman has authored or co-authored multiple publications and articles related
to trauma. He served on the Institute of Medicine committee that in 2006 published
the landmark report, “The Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System.”
In 2009, Dr. Eastman delivered the Scudder Oration, the signature speech on trauma
care, at the annual American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress.
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Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing
University of Wyoming
Dept. 3065; 1000 E. University Avenue
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-4312
Fax: (307) 766-4294
Email: uwnursing@uwyo.edu