Peter Meong Rhee (born September 18, 1961) is an American surgeon, medical professor, and military veteran.[1] During his 24 years in the United States Navy, Rhee served as a battlefield casualty physician in Afghanistan and Iraq.[2]
Formerly a Professor of Surgery and the Chief of Trauma, Critical Care, and Burn and Emergency Surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine until 2016, he then served as the Chief of Surgery at the Marcus Trauma Center at Grady Memorial HospitalinAtlanta, Georgia. Currently he is the Director of the surgical ICU at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He was a tenured Professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona until 2016. Now he is Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda Maryland, Morehouse School of Medicine and is a tenured Professor of Surgery at the New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. He rose to national prominence when he served as the attending physician to U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords of Arizona, as well as other victims, following the 2011 Tucson shooting.[2]
As the Director of the Navy Trauma Training Center at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, Rhee became involved in an interbranch disagreement between the Army and Navy regarding the adoption of new hemostatic agents designed for battlefield treatment of severe bleeding. While the Army had adopted blood-clotting bandage called HemCon, the Navy and Marines instead opted for a different product called QuikClot. After testing HemCon at the Navy Trauma Training Center, Rhee concluded in December 2005: "I've tried every one of these products, many times, on many different kinds of wounds. For big-time bleeding – and that's what we're really worrying about here – HemCon doesn't work."[10] Though Rhee preferred QuikClot, he expressed reservations over its commercialization in 2003 because of the potential for misuse by untrained consumers.[9]
InJanuary 2011, Rhee became the subject of national media attention as the attending trauma physician for U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, who had been shot in the head near Tucson.[12][13] Rhee was out jogging at the time of the shooting and had to rush three miles home and go to the hospital.[1] Rhee also held press conferences to update the public on her condition.[12] Upon observing that Giffords was still able to squeeze a doctor's hand, which most gunshot victims are unable to do, he became confident of her chances.[1] Rhee remarked, "She has a 101 percent chance of surviving. She will not die."[14]
In his memoir TRAUMA RED: The Making of a Surgeon in War and in America's Cities, Rhee recalled that "challenging, exhausting, exhilarating, frustrating, heartbreaking, satisfying, bloody, bloody, bloody day at the office," and the path that led him there. From his youth in South Korea and Uganda—where he once watched his surgeon father remove a spear from a man's belly—to frontline surgery in Iraq and Afghanistan, to trauma centers on the urban battlefields of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.[17]
"It took a long time to be convinced that I should write this book," Rhee stated. He felt that the book would be looked upon as being egotistical by his professional peers. He states that he wrote the book to document from the medical provider point of view what actually happened when the Congresswoman was shot in the brain and so that others could learn what a trauma surgeon is.
On October 13, 2011, Rhee and his wife attended the State Dinner for the Korean President.[19]
On May 12, 2012, Rhee delivered the commencement speech to the University of Arizona Class of 2012.[20] The theme of the speech was "Today is a Good Day." He spoke primarily about his experiences traveling, why today is a good day, and how to look at things optimistically.
In April 2012, Rhee was selected as the Hometown Hero for the Thunder and Lightning over Arizona open house at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Rhee was able to fly with the Thunderbirds in an F-16 Fighting Falcon Jet.
Rhee's areas of research interest include hemorrhagic shock; suspended animation for trauma; hemostatic agents; resuscitation immunology and formulation of resuscitation fluids; traumatic brain injury; transfusion and coagulopathy; trauma training; and advanced portable electronic medical devices including those for communication and documentation. His national interests include improved trauma treatment on Indian reservations, improved gun control and prevention of gun violence, suicide prevention and finally improved disaster preparedness. He is a founding member of the Tactical Combat Casualty Care Committee (TCCC) and his research interests have continued to focus on saving combat casualties. He has served on numerous National steering committees and national trauma research committees including the Defense Health Board's Subcommittee on Trauma & Injury, as well as the Federal Drug Administration's blood products advisory committee, the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium's protocol review committee and the drug safety and monitoring board.
Gushchin, Vadim; Stegalkina, Svetlana; Alam, Hasan B.; Kirkpatrick, John R.; Rhee, Peter M. (May 2002). "Cytokine Expression Profiling in Human Leukocytes after Exposure to Hypertonic and Isotonic Fluids". Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection & Critical Care. 52 (5): 867–871. doi:10.1097/00005373-200205000-00008. PMID11988651.
Koustova, Elena; Stanton, Kathleen; Gushchin, Vadim; Alam, Hasan B.; Stegalkina, Svetlana; Rhee, Peter M. (May 2002). "Effects of Lactated Ringer's Solutions on Human Leukocytes". Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection & Critical Care. 52 (5): 872–878. doi:10.1097/00005373-200205000-00009. PMID11988652.
Wright, Franklin L.; Hua, Hong T.; Velmahos, George; Thoman, Dave; Demitriades, Demetrios; Rhee, Peter M. (January 2004). "Intracorporeal Use of the Hemostatic Agent QuickClot in a Coagulopathic Patient with Combined Thoracoabdominal Penetrating Trauma". Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection & Critical Care. 56 (1): 205–208. doi:10.1097/01.ta.0000074349.88275.c4. PMID14749593.
Rhee, Peter.; Eifert, Sandra.; Talon, Eric; Stanton, Kathy; Koustova, Elena; Ling, Geoff; Burris, Dave; Kaufmann, Christoph; Mongan, Paul; Rich, Norman; Taylor, Michael; Sun, leon (March 2000). "Induced Hypothermia During Emergency Department Thoracotomy: an Animal Model. Journal of Trauma Injury and Critical Care. 48:439-450". Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection & Critical Care. 48 (3): 439–450. doi:10.1097/00005373-200003000-00011. PMID10744281.
Rhee P, Eifert S, Talon E, Anderson D, Stanton K, Koustova E, Ling G, Burris D, Kaufmann C, Mongan P, Rich MN, Taylor M, Sun L. (2000). "Induced Hypothermia During Emergency Department Thoracotomy: an Animal Model". Journal of Trauma Injury and Critical Care. 48:439–450.
Seoul, South Korea
United States of America
United States Navy
Captain
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Navy Commendation Medal
