Established May 21st, 2009
Background: Since 1978, the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (COT) has held an annual Resident Papers Competition. This competition brings together surgical residents and fellows from across the country and internationally to present cutting-edge clinical and basic science research related to the surgical specialty of trauma and critical care. The competitors at this prestigious competition represent the best clinical or basic science papers selected from the 16 geographic Regions that make up the COT. The military training programs (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Veterans Administration) make up Region 13 for this competition.
The Army traditionally selects two outstanding papers – one basic science and one clinical – to represent the service at the Region 13 competition. This selection process takes place during the annual Gary P. Wratten Army Surgical Symposium under the direction of the Army representative to the COT.
Eligibility: Eligible papers for consideration of this award must meet all criteria specified by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma guidelines. The research must be original and related to the field of trauma and /or surgical critical care and will be primarily the work of an Army surgery resident in training or fellow. The work should not be published in any format prior to the national ACS COT competition, and the presenting resident or fellow should have first author status on the final publication. The submitting trainee must submit and present the paper at the annual Gary P. Wratten Army Surgical Symposium to be eligible for selection.
Selection: All presentations eligible for consideration for this award will be identified prior to presentation by the Army COT Chairperson or his representative. Each presentation will be scored by a panel comprised of representatives from each Army Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University. Individual presentations are judged based on their scientific merit, relevance and importance to trauma, originality and individual work, quality of presentation, and ability of the presenter to answer questions relevant to the presentation. The most outstanding clinical paper and the most outstanding basic science paper from the eligible submissions will be selected by the panel for this award and to represent the Army at the Region 13 Resident Paper Competition.
Award Citation: By unanimous vote of the Program Committee of the 2009 Gary P. Wratten Army Surgical Symposium and the Program Directors of each Army Graduate Medical Education program in General Surgery, we establish this named award in honor of Colonel David Graham Burris, Chairman of the Norman M. Rich Department of Surgery, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Throughout his long and distinguished career, Colonel Burris consistently set an example of excellence as a physician, surgeon, and Army officer. His leadership and achievements in the field of trauma surgery and research set the example of excellence that the winners of this award would do well to follow. His dedication as a leader at the Uniformed Services University and as a mentor to countless students, residents, and staff physicians will ensure that his legacy of scholarship and professionalism will live on for generations. We dedicate this award in the name of our honored leader, colleague, mentor, and friend, Colonel David Burris.