BU doc honored by the American College of Surgeons

(Boston)—Dane Scantling, DO, MPH, FACS, assistant professor of surgery at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been awarded the C. James Carrico, MD, FACS, Faculty Research Fellowship for the Study of Trauma and Critical Care from the American College of Surgeons. The two-year, $80,000 award will support his project, “Improving Equity and Access to Trauma Care for Victims of Firearm Violence.”

Firearm violence (FV) rates have risen to levels not seen in four decades. Nationally, Black and Hispanic Americans represent more than 75% of FV deaths. In Boston, they comprise 43% of population but 84% of FV deaths while white residents represent half the population but less than 4% of FV deaths.

The overarching goal of his project is to address the inequity in access to care and improve survival for Boston’s Black and Hispanic residents. Specifically, this proposal seeks to test whether Boston firearm fatalities can be reduced through a switch to more rapid police transport. “In Boston, as in other cities, both time and distance from a trauma center are associated with death from FV. Our group has identified relationships for both time and distance in the city, as well as racial and ethnic inequity in trauma center access,” says Scantling, who also is a trauma surgeon and surgical critical care intensivist at Boston Medical Center.

Scantling has an extensive background in clinical research. His areas of focus include: identifying inequity in access to trauma care as well as socioeconomic contributors to a lack of trauma care access; the importance of socioeconomic disadvantage as a source of firearm injuries, a focus on the role of firearm policies; and improving clinical trauma surgery care.  

Scantling began his medical career in prehospital medicine as a firefighter and paramedic. After receiving his MPH at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he enrolled at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed a residency in surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine, Hahnemann University Hospital, fellowship in Acute Care Surgery from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, followed by additional epidemiology and biostatistics training at the University of Pennsylvania.