Thomas Esposito, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S.
M.D., Georgetown University
M.P.H., University of Washington
Surgical Residency, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Boston

Interest: Injury epidemiology and prevention
Dr. Thomas Esposito heads the Injury Analysis and Prevention Program at the Loyola Burn & Shock Trauma Institute.  He also serves as medical director of the Injury Information System (trauma registry).  Dr. Esposito’s research interests revolve around the epidemiology of injury, trauma care outcome analysis, evaluation of injury prevention strategies and trauma systems. 
Past research has involved local, regional and national projects conducted with intramural and extramural funding.  These have included a national survey of surgeons on trauma care issues; preventable trauma death studies in the rural, pediatric and Native American populations; analysis of trauma system triage criteria; analysis of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) training; analysis of prior health system contacts as a harbinger of subsequent fatal injury in American Indians and development of injury prevention training tools for medical students and other health care providers.
Proposed future projects include:  Analysis of alcohol use as a the functional triage criterion for hospital admission and resource utilization; analysis of the need for immediate availability of neurosurgical services at trauma center, survey of health care providers on injury prevention issues; survey of health care providers on the effect of resident work hour restrictions; efficacy of routine chest x-ray and rectal exam in trauma patients; comparison of factors associated with malpractice suits and suit rates for trauma and non trauma patients; development of a training tool for health care providers dealing with increasing awareness and screening for alcohol use problems in the Emergency Department.