Alicia Mohr, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.C.C.M., has been appointed the division chief of acute care surgery in the UF College of Medicine’s department of surgery. She becomes the first woman to hold the title of division chief in the department.
Mohr received her bachelor’s degree in zoology from Rutgers University in New Jersey and earned her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Mohr completed a general surgery internship and residency at the same institution. During this time, Mohr became administrative chief resident in general surgery and, soon after, began a fellowship at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill in the department of surgical critical care and trauma.
Mohr arrived at UF Health in 2014 and is the program director for both the surgical critical care fellowship as well as the acute care surgery fellowship. Mohr says she found purpose in trauma care and acute care surgery, and she brought that passion into her work as an educator and researcher.
“When I’m taking care of patients, I get gratification seeing them recover from traumatic injuries,” Mohr said. “When I’m wearing the education hat, it’s seeing my trainees getting it. Understanding the pathophysiology. It’s that little lightbulb that goes off saying, ‘Oh, yeah, this really makes sense to me.’ When it comes to research, it’s the continued success of getting published and receiving grant funding that gives me a personal sense of satisfaction.”
Mohr’s dedication to the field has prompted her membership in various professional societies, including the American Trauma Society; the Society of Critical Care Medicine; and the Nathan A. Womack Surgical Society. She is also the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Fellow American College Critical Care Medicine Award and the Lester R. Dragstedt Physician Scientist Award.
Now, at UF Health, Mohr has big goals for the acute care surgery division.
“We are going to look at expanding the number of faculty hires to form a solid group of surgeons who can practice in all areas of acute care surgery,” Mohr said. “In addition, we are going to look at expanding our fellowship program. In the five years I’ve been here, we added the acute care surgical fellowship, and the surgical critical care fellowship has grown. Of course, we want to continue building our research endeavors as well. We have quite a bit of active research in sepsis, as well as in trauma. My personal research is looking at persistent anemia after trauma, and I hope to continue this research while serving in this role.”
Above all, Mohr wants to keep UF Health thriving and growing.
“Each one of the sections within the acute care surgery division – including trauma, emergency general surgery, surgical critical care and burn surgery – has grown in the short time I’ve been here,” Mohr said. “I look forward to continuing to grow the division, as well as improving patient care, education and, ultimately, our research. Dr. Fred Moore, our previous chief, did an outstanding job of moving the division along, and I look forward to keeping the division thriving.”