Philip A Efron, MD, FACS, FCCM

I come from a family of surgeons and as the youngest, I was inspired to follow suit. Now, I am a professor of surgery in the University of Florida while serving as the medical director for the UF Health Shands Hospital Surgical Intensive Care Units (SICUs). I aim to establish the best critical care in the nation, so that patients and loved ones can feel assured of the highest quality of medical care and expertise. My goal is to create and ensure the success of UF Health’s first Critical Care Organization (CCO), further enabling world-class critical care. Most of all, I love what I do every day — providing surgical critical care to those in need.

I received my medical degree from the University of Maryland with multiple honors, and then completed my general surgery residency at UF. My residency included a three-year period as a T32 research fellow in the Laboratory of Inflammation Biology and Surgical Science under the mentorship of Lyle L. Moldawer, PhD. During my tenure as a general surgery resident, I received the Edward R. Woodward Surgical Resident’s Award. Subsequently, I completed my critical care fellowship training at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

I am a member and leader of multiple national societies related to surgery and critical care, as well as being on the editorial board of journals related to these fields. Importantly, I now direct the Laboratory of Inflammation Biology and Surgical Science, and I assist in leading the UF Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center (SCIRC). My research focuses on inflammation and immunology in severe injury and infection, and their contribution to poor long-term outcomes in ICU patients. This has led to multiple successful collaborations with UF and other institution researchers. Of note, I am a physician-scientist independently funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and my work ranges from basic research to clinical outcomes.

Outside of practice, I enjoy being with family: my wife, two daughters, son and dog. My wife and I revel in anything science fiction. As a family, we watch anime and support local, national and international sports meets and events. My hobbies include grilling/smoking food for friends and exercising.

Dr. Efron is an associate professor of surgery and anesthesiology at the University Florida College of Medicine and medical director for the UF Health Shands Hospital surgical intensive care units and respiratory therapy. Dr. Efron established a surgical critical care fellowship program at UF in 2010, which he currently directs. He is an advanced trauma life support instructor and has been selected for committees and leadership positions in several medical societies, including the Shock Society, the Surgical Infection Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. He also is a member of the Association for Academic Surgery and the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma and has applied for fellowship in the American College of Surgeons.

He co-directs the Laboratory of Inflammation Biology and Surgical Science and focuses his research on inflammation and immunology in severe injury and infection. Dr. Efron has created novel methodologies for studying trauma and further developed the laboratory’s sepsis research to include well- known factors associated with mortality, including blood product transfusion and aging. In addition, he has led the translational human studies in trauma and sepsis at UF’s surgical intensive care unit.

Dr. Efron joined UF’s acute care surgery section at the end of 2008. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Maryland with multiple honors, Dr. Efron completed his general surgery residency at UF, spending three years as a T32 research fellow in the Laboratory of Inflammation Biology and Surgical Science under the mentorship of Lyle L. Moldawer, Ph.D. During his tenure as a general surgery resident at UF, Dr. Efron received the Edward R. Woodward Surgical Resident’s Award. He completed his critical care fellowship training at Washington University in Saint Louis.

Dr. Efron has a professional interest in surgical critical care and trauma, both clinically as well as in the laboratory. He conducts basic science and translational research in sepsis and inflammation. He is currently one of the principal investigators for an NIH-funded P50 center grant for the UF Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center to study the persistent inflammation, immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome (PICS) following sepsis in surgical intensive care unit patients.