University of Alabama at Birmingham Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Associate Professor and Trauma Medical Director Daniel Cox, M.D., has received a new appointment in the Air Force.
Cox, who was promoted to Colonel in the Air Force earlier this year, has been named Senior Medical Advisor for the Air Force Special Operation Command (AFSOC) Command Surgeon, Colonel Matthew Hanson.
AFSOC’s 24th Special Operations Wing, it’s special tactics unit, partners with UAB in two key programs – the Special Operations Surgical Team (SOST), and the Special Operations Center for Medical Integration and Development (SOCMID).
Each of the four SOST teams at UAB are comprised of a surgeon, a nurse, a scrub tech, an emergency medical physician, a respiratory therapist, and an anesthesiologist – all who are fully embedded at UAB. These teams are ready at a moment’s notice to deploy to austere locations and dangerous situations across the globe, providing trauma resuscitation and life-saving surgical care.
SOCMID, which was launched in 2020, is an educational hub for Air Force Pararescuemen and medics that allows them to come to UAB for a two-week rotation where they’re clinically integrated, getting hands-on experience in the trauma center to sharpen their medical skills between deployments.
In this new role, Cox will support the AFSOC Command Surgeon in his responsibilities of organizing, training, and equipping AFSOC medical forces.
“This is a well-deserved appointment for Dr. Cox,” said division director Jeffrey Kerby, M.D., Ph.D., FACS. “He is uniquely equipped for this role with his impressive military background and his proven leadership in trauma care. He is passionate about fostering the unique military-civilian partnerships between UAB and the Air Force.”
Cox has served in the Air Force since 2001 and is currently in the reserves. He has served in several deployments, and most notably served as trauma czar, chief of surgery, and surgical services flight commander at Craig Joint Theater Hospital in Bagram, Afghanistan. He has been awarded the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal three times, among other honors.
A UAB Heersink School of Medicine alum, Cox completed both his general surgery residency and surgical critical care fellowship at UAB and came back as a faculty member in 2018 after completing his active-duty service.
In addition to his extensive experience in the Air Force, Cox is also considered a subject matter expert on military-civilian partnerships. He’s lived both sides of the experience: he was an active-duty surgeon while embedded as an assistant professor of surgery at University of Cincinnati Medical Center and now works on the civilian side supporting embedded personnel here at UAB. He’s in regular contact with and gives lectures on trauma management to deployed teams across the globe.
UAB, home to Alabama’s only ACS-verified Level 1 Trauma Center, which saw over 6,500 trauma evaluations last year from across the state and even neighboring states, is a desirable place for military personnel to maintain their clinical expertise, especially since the end of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.