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Paula Ferrada, MD, FACS, FCCM, MAMSE (she/her/hers)

Chair of the Department of Surgery at IFMC, System Chief for Acute Care Surgery and Trauma
Inova Health System
Richmond, Virginia, United States

Dr. Paula Ferrada, MD, FACS, FCCM, MAMSE, is a nationally and internationally recognized trauma and acute care surgeon with more than 15 years of clinical, academic, and systems-level leadership experience. She currently serves as Chair of the Department of Surgery at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, System Chief for Acute Care Surgery and Trauma, and Medical Director of Perioperative Services for the Inova Health System. She is also a Professor of Medical Education at the University of Virginia.
At Inova Fairfax, a 902-bed academic flagship hospital with a Level I Trauma Center and one of the busiest emergency departments in the country, Dr. Ferrada leads more than 80 surgeons across all major specialties. She has direct oversight of operating room leadership and perioperative strategy for 56 operating rooms and 15 procedure rooms, supporting more than 54,000 procedures annually. Her work focuses on access, safety, efficiency, and building multidisciplinary cultures that deliver high reliability care.
Dr. Ferrada trained in general surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, becoming the first Colombian woman to graduate from a Harvard-affiliated general surgery program. She completed surgical critical care training at the University of Pittsburgh and was the first Acute Care Surgery Fellow at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Prior to Inova, she served as a full Professor of Surgery at VCU, where she directed the Surgical and Trauma ICU and fellowship programs.
She is a graduate of ELAM and the Darden Executive Program. An accomplished researcher, she has authored over 145 peer-reviewed publications and led multiple multicenter trials funded by the Department of Defense and the FDA.
Dr. Ferrada is the Immediate Past President of the Panamerican Trauma Society and President-Elect of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. Across all roles, she is deeply committed to advancing culture of trust.

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Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

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