About this site

My father is Don Trunkey.  He was a renowned trauma surgeon and is finally retired to Idaho.  This web site will be about his life and achievements.  I will put an interview where my Dad talks about his career on the References page along with some newpaper articles.  

If you would like to contribute a story about Dr. Trunkey, please email Derek using “trunkeyd at gmail.com. ”

Basic Biography from OHSU:

Donald Dean Trunkey was born, raised, and educated in the state of Washington. He graduated with an M.D. from University of Washington in 1963 in the hope of becoming a General Practitioner. He interned under J. Englebert Dunphy at the University of Oregon Medical School, who became his mentor and turned his focus to surgery. When Trunkey was drafted into the Army, Dunphy went to San Francisco to begin one of the first trauma centers. He brought Trunkey in to join him after his service, and also got him a surgical Fellowship in Texas. On his return Trunkey rose to become chief of surgery for San Francisco General Hospital for 8 years. He then came back to Oregon to build a trauma system as Dept. Chairman over the next 15 years. An important interlude saw him as chief of surgery in an army hospital in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm. After the chairmanship he returned to teaching and lecturing on a global scale as a Professor and Professor Emeritus.

His varied experiences influenced his thoughts and actions on trauma care. In the Army rampant alcoholism led him to institute A.A. programs. In San Francisco the drug wars of the ‘60s made him both an expert in gunshot wounds, and an advocate for controversial measures like gun control and drug legalization. Work with traffic accident victims led him to lobby for seat-belt and helmet laws. Likewise, exposure to the Texas Burn Unit not only led him to replicate one in San Francisco, but also to research fire-retardant clothing and self-extinguishing cigarettes. His wartime service likewise gave him an up-close look at the current state and problems of combat medicine.

Trunkey’s decades-long involvement with trauma and trauma systems led to new surgical protocols of both invasive and non-operative types; the authorship of hundreds of articles and book chapters; the delivery of innumerable lectures; and participation in over 30 professional organizations.