R Adams Cowley

Who was R Adams Cowley?

R Adams Cowley, "Father of Trauma Medicine," was an American surgeon considered a pioneer in emergency medicine and the treatment of shock trauma. He was the founder of nation's first trauma center at the University of Maryland, 1958, after the US Army awarded Dr. Cowley $100,000 to study shock in people. The trauma unit consisted of two beds. Many people called the four bed unit the "death lab." Dr. Cowley was the creator of the "The Golden Hour" concept, the 60 minutes following injury when definitive care is crucial to a trauma patients survival. He was a leader in the use of helicopters for medical evacuations of civilians, beginning in 1969, founded the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Founded the nation's first statewide EMS system, called MIEMSS by Executive Order of Maryland's Governor Mandel, 1972, and founder of the National Study Center for Trauma and EMS enacted by Congress in 1986 and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

He is also known for being one of the first to perform open-heart surgery and invented both a surgical clamp that bears his name and a prototype pacemaker that was used by Dwight D. Eisenhower.