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Burns, Critical Care and Trauma

For appointments and information, please call (212) 746-5410

Roger W. Yurt, MD

Johnson and Johnson Distinguished Professor of Surgery
Vice Chairman, Department of Surgery
Weill Cornell Medical College

Chief, Burns, Critical Care and Trauma Surgery
Director, William Randolph Hearst Burn Center
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
Weill Cornell Medical Center

The Division of Burns, Critical Care and Trauma Surgery provides a vitally-needed service for the community, and offers critically-ill patients a unique expertise and compassionate care from highly-skilled surgeons who are at the top of their field.

For three decades, the nationally acclaimed William Randolph Hearst Burn Center has been setting the standard for excellence in burn care. With an average of more than 1,000 inpatients and 4,000 outpatients per year about four times the average burn unit the Burn Center is known not only for providing the highest level of medical care, but also has earned a reputation as one of the most compassionate centers in the world. Since its founding in 1976, the Burn Center has had a close and unique relationship with the New York City Fire Department and works closely with the New York Firefighters Burn Center Foundation, which has continuously supported the development of our program, to educate the public on fire hazards and prevention. In addition we have established an extensive community outreach program.

The Burn Center team is comprised of more than 180 staff members from multiple disciplines, many of whom have decades of service to the Center. These include physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, nutritionists, psychiatrists, chaplains, aides and volunteers who are well-equipped to handle the physical and emotional challenges of caring for victims of burn injury, survivors and their loved ones.

The trauma and critical care surgeons in the Division of Burns, Critical Care and Trauma must be prepared every day to deal with a wide range of emergency situations, such as a call to the Emergency Department to evaluate a victim of a motor vehicle collision or a construction worker who has fallen from a scaffold; a call to the operating room for emergency surgery on a patient with a perforated appendix; or to manage patients or to perform a tracheostomy in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. Around the clock, our team stands ready to answer any call from any part of the Hospital in which accepts patients in need of expert critical care and acute care surgery from other hospitals.

As a Level 1 Trauma Center, the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell center is the busiest in New York City, with the full range of resources necessary to care for the most severely injured and critically ill patients. Often, these patients require the expertise of our trauma and critical care surgeons who are specially trained to address multiple organ system injuries and high-risk surgical cases. In addition, our division Is ready to accept critically Ill patients who are referred to us from other hospitals.

Our first priority is to save lives. Our philosophy is to provide total care of the patient and to always be available when needed. We not only perform surgery, but we also follow our patients throughout their hospitalization and recovery, providing a seamless continuity of care. At the same time, however, we also recognize that particularly at a time of crisis, patients and their families need compassion, sensitivity to their concerns, and ongoing communication.