A Wayne State University professor has earned the highest honor bestowed by the world's leading organization of critical care physicians.
Robert Wilson, M.D., professor of Surgery, and member of the Wayne State University Physician Group, was named a Master of Critical Care Medicine by the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
"This is really quite a privilege," said Dr. Wilson, who also serves as director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Hyperbaric and Wound Care Medicine at Detroit Receiving Hospital. "One of the big things -- and I don't quite know how to say this -- is that people listen to me with more attention."
The prestigious designation is awarded to physicians who have been Fellows of the American College of Critical Care Medicine for at least five years and who have distinguished themselves with national and international professional prominence through personal character, leadership, eminence in clinical practice, outstanding contributions to research and education in critical care medicine, and years of exemplary service to the society and the American College of Critical Care Medicine.
The society received 24 nominations for the honor; only 14 physicians received the designation.
Dr. Wilson has worked his entire professional career at Wayne State University. In 1968, he was named an associate professor of Surgery. In 1971 he became director of the WSU program in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, a position he maintain through 1989. In 1971, he was named a full professor, and from 1980 to 1996, he was chief of Surgery at Detroit Receiving Hospital and director of the surgical intensive care units.
He has served as assistant dean of the WSU School of Medicine and as chair of the Michigan Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Wilson has made breakthroughs in critical care medicine, and has written extensively on sepsis, critical care and trauma.
"The honorary title of MCCM is not an end unto itself," Clifford Deutschman, M.S., M.D., president of the SCCM, wrote to Dr. Wilson. "Rather, we hope that this distinguished group of critical care practitioners and researchers will help us meet the challenge facing critical care and lead us in this millennium. The MCCM designation implies that you will continue to advance technical and cognitive aspects of multi-professional critical care and serve as a role model for younger critical care practitioners and researchers."
Dr. Wilson is scheduled to be conferred with the designation at the at the combined American College of Critical Care Medicine Convocation/Society of Critical Care Medicine Awards Presentation during the SCCM 42nd Critical Care Congress on Jan. 21, 2013, in Puerto Rico.