Wellstar Trauma Symposium 2024

Dr. Abney-Roberts graduated with her BSN from Vanderbilt University in 1982 and began a career in OB Nursing. She has since received her MSN in 1986 from Medical College of Georgia and her DNP in 2014 from Augusta University. She worked as a staff nurse from 1984-2002 in Labor and Delivery and transitioned into an Educator/Quality and Safety role in 2002. Interests besides critical care obstetrics and writing protocols include educating health professionals in other fields including Perianesthesia, Emergency Medicine and Critical Care about caring for Pregnant and Recently Delivered patients. She serves on several state and national committees.

Kevin L. Allen Jr. MD, FAAP is Assistant Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine as well as the Child Protection Team Medical Director at the Medical College of Georgia/Wellstar AU Health since 2018.

In April 2021, Callie Andrews was named Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (SVP & COO) for Wellstar Kennestone and Windy Hill Hospitals.  Callie is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of both facilities.  She fosters effective collaboration between corporate, clinical departments, medical staff leadership, and other affiliated services to ensure an integrated approach to providing high-quality and compassionate care for our patients and patients. 
 
Callie brings over 18 years of experience in executive leadership roles within the healthcare industry, including five years at Wellstar Cobb Hospital, where she began as COO and was promoted to SVP and Hospital President.
 
Callie is a Fellow for Baldrige Executives and the American College of Healthcare Executives. She has a strong passion for community health and is a board member of the Cobb County Community Foundation and SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center. She also serves on the Board of the Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives and is past President and Regent. In 2021 Callie was honored as a Women of Influence by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Mostly recently, she was awarded the ACHE Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award. 
 
Callie earned a Master’s Degree in Health Administration and a Master’s Degree in Business from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as  an undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Georgia.   
 

Dr Ashong serves as the assistant program director for the Emergency Medicine residency at Wellstar Kennestone as well as a core faculty instructor for the Ultrasound curriculum for the residency.  He is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Residency where he served as a Chief Resident.  Outside of medicine, he enjoys spending time with his wife and soon to be 3 year old daughter, Isabel. 

Avi Bhavaraju is a dedicated surgical educator deeply committed to education, mentorship, and career development, and is a fervent advocate for advancing surgical education and shaping the next generation of general surgeons. 
After completing his General Surgery residency at Atlanta Medical Center and a two-year Acute Care Surgery fellowship at Vanderbilt University, he returned to Atlanta and began his career at Kennestone Medical Center, helping develop and grow the trauma center here at its inception. He then successfully developed a career as an academic acute care surgeon at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas before returning to Kennestone in December 2023. 
Avi brings with him a wealth of clinical and leadership experience in both the academic and community settings, and is committed to providing exceptional care to every patient he sees, maintaining the fundamental philosophy of treating every patient like they are your own family member. He has a passion for advancing trauma care and education locally, regionally, and nationally. His clinical interests include hemorrhage control, management of shock, principles of resuscitation, rural trauma, trauma system development, and critical care.

Dr. Bruggers has been in Atlanta at Wellstar Kennestone and Atlanta Medical Center for the last 10 years and focuses on orthopaedic trauma surgery in her practice. She takes care of both acute fractures and patients who have chronic fracture issues including deformity correction and nonunion. In her spare time she likes to travel and scuba dive. 

David M. Cearley, MD. Associate Professor and Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedics, MCG-Wellstar
Medical education: MD- Texas A&M 1999, residency in orthopaedics- MCG 2005, Fellowship in Pediatric Orthopaedics University of UTAH 2006, Fellowship in orthopaedic oncology University of Utah 2007. Interests: tumors, trauma, scoliosis and clubfoot
I'm originally from Texas and have been practicing in Augusta for 15 years.

Matt Ferguson is currently the Emergency Preparedness Manager and Facility Safety Officer for Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center. Matt has been working in the healthcare industry since 2008 at various facilities across the state of Georgia in many various service lines. Matt is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration.

Jason Herman is a flight nurse for WellStar MCG Health AirCare. He has spent most of his career in the emergency medicine realm with over 8 years in emergency medicine. He has recently completed his Doctor of Nursing Practices but still advises everyone to dial 911 in case of an emergency.

Graduated medical school from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Competed general surgery residency at Atlanta Medical Center followed by a fellowship in Trauma/Critical Care at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Now a Trauma and General Surgeon as well as the Trauma Medical Director and Director of Trauma Critical Care at North Fulton Hospital

Dr Justice attended medical school and received training in general surgery residency at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. She furthered her training in trauma and surgical critical care fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr Justice has been in practice for over 10 years and joined Wellstar Kennestone over 2.5 years ago. She is passionate about providing quality surgical care and improving quality of life for her trauma and surgical patients. 

Dr. Alykhan Lalani received his training at the Medical College of Georgia-Augusta University. He has served as a vascular surgeon at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital since 2021 and has affiliations at Wellstar Cobb. He was born in India and grew up in Dublin, GA.

Mike Lutzenkirchen is the father of the late Philip Lutzenkirchen, former Auburn University student-athlete from 2009-2012. Since Philip’s passing in 2014, Mike has served as the executive director of the Lutzie 43 Foundation and has made it his mission in life to carry out Philip’s legacy. Prior to starting the Lutzie 43 Foundation, Mike’s career in sales, sales management and marketing included positions with Macmillan Publishing, IBM and SpeedTracs. He was born and raised in Wheaton, Illinois, a Chicago area suburb and now resides in Marietta, Georgia with his wife of 32 years, Mary. Together they have three daughters, Amy, Ann and Abby.

Dr. Nguyen grew up in Savannah, GA and completed undergraduate studies at the University of Georgia and medical school at the Medical College of Georgia. He completed neurosurgery residency at the Medical College of Georgia and subsequently completed a pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Atlanta. He currently practices pediatric neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital of Georgia in Augusta, GA. 

Dr O’Keeffe was born in England, and went to medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland. He emigrated to the USA in 1996 – where did his surgical residency at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon. He then went to Miami, Florida, for a Trauma and critical care fellowship, during which time he also obtained a Master’s in Public Health. His first faculty position was at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 2006, following which he moved to the University of Arizona in 2008. During his time in Arizona, Dr O’Keeffe was promoted to full professor with tenure over his more than a decade at that institution. Having served as the interim Division Chief of Trauma at the University of Arizona, he was recruited to Augusta University in 2019 where he is now the Division Chief of Trauma and the J. Harold Harrison Distinguished University Chair in Trauma Surgery. His research interests include critical care medicine, transfusion, traumatic brain injury and injury prevention. He has authored or co-authored over 190 peer-reviewed articles and twenty book chapters.

Dr. Paris was born and raised in Warner Robins, GA. She went to Georgia Tech followed by Mercer for medical school. She completed emergency medicine residency at Kennestone and moved to Birmingham for a one year fellowship in hospice & palliative medicine. She currently works solely in the ED setting but is passionate about the intersection of emergency medicine and palliative care.  She is board certified in emergency medicine, is fellowship-trained in hospice and palliative medicine and is set to take boards in Nov 2024.

Dr. Travis Perry is a graduate of the East Carolina University School of Medicine in Greenville, NC.  He completed his residency at Louisiana State University Health Science Center in New Orleans, LA and Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC.  He completed his fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX.  Dr. Perry completed his surgery training at Wake Forest University.
Dr. Perry is board certified in general surgery.  He specializes in the treatment of acute and reconstructive burn surgery, as well as complex necrotizing soft tissue infections, ulcers, and other traumatic wounds.
Dr. Perry is currently the Burn Medical Director at Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Wellstar Cobb Hospital.  He has a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

Mark Piehl is a pediatric critical care physician at WakeMed in Raleigh, NC, and a Medical Director with WakeMed Mobile Critical Care transport. Mark is also Founder and Chief Medical Officer of 410 Medical, a company focused on improving resuscitation in shock, sepsis, and trauma. He previously served as Medical Director of the WakeMed Children's Hospital and Director of Pediatrics at WakeMed. His clinical interests include trauma, shock, sepsis, airway management, emergency ultrasound, and critical care transport. Mark teaches frequently on the pre-hospital management of trauma and critical illness, and has faculty appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina and Duke University. He has numerous Department of Defense grants funding the development of technology to improve trauma care. Mark is also Founder of the Samaritan Health Center, a clinic for the homeless and uninsured in Durham, NC.

Ryan started in emergency services in 2011 as a volunteer firefighter. Shortly thereafter, he decided that his ultimate career goal was to become a flight paramedic. In 2015, he completed paramedic school. After working for several years on the ground, Ryan began working as a flight paramedic in early 2023. He is extremely passionate about education and improving the field of emergency medical services.

Dr. Jay Singh is an established and highly skilled physician and surgeon with 24 years of experience in Colon and Rectal Surgery. He has been serving the Atlanta, the Georgia, and the southern regional community for these many years, and is well regarded for his clinical work, particularly in his efforts to institute and foster quality minimally invasive care in his specialty. His deep seated belief in furthering minimally invasive surgery, particularly robotic surgery, is reflected in the many years he has spent educating hundreds of physicians and residents on the benefits of this technology and the need to master and harness this technology for the benefits of our patients.
Dr. Singh is a Georgia native, growing up in Augusta, Georgia and attending Emory University for college and medical school. He went on to do his surgical residency at UT Southwestern in Dallas and his fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Florida. He went on to start and manage a private practice here in Atlanta for many years while at the same time serving multiple leadership positions within the hospital and culminating with his participation as Chair of Quality and Safety on the health system board. As of September 2022, he proudly joined the Wellstar health System as Chief Surgical Officer spending most of his administrative time trying to expand upon the legacy of his predecessor and to modernize surgical care within an expanding health landscape in Georgia.

Dr. Alexis Smith earned her MD at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 2008. She completed her general surgery residency at the University of Maryland and Shock Trauma Center in 2015 and did her two-year pediatric surgery fellowship at Brown University, Providence, RI. She practiced as a Pediatric Surgeon at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and was the Trauma Medical Director at the Scottish Rite campus for many years but now practices as an adult trauma surgeon and pediatric surgeon across the state of Georgia. She has broad experience in pediatric general surgery with special interests in pediatric trauma, injury prevention, surgical oncology and surgical education.