Col. (Ret.) Brian J. Eastridge, MD, FACS

Dr. Eastridge earned his MD from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, a time during which he was commissioned in the US Army Reserve as a second lieutenant Medical Service Corps officer. Following residency in general surgery at the University of Maryland and fellowship training in surgical critical care at The University of Texas (UT) Southwestern in Dallas, he spent 8 years on the general surgery faculty of UT Southwestern.

After 17 years of Reserves service, Dr. Eastridge transitioned to active duty as a colonel in the US Army Medical Corps, where he served as the trauma medical director for the Brooke Army Medical Center; director of Surgical Critical Care Program, the Joint Theater Trauma System (deployed), the Joint Trauma System (US Army Institute of Surgical Research of the US Army’s Medical Research and Material Command [MRMC]); and trauma consultant to the US Army Surgeon General.

He deployed six times to combat operations in Southwest Asia, leaving active service and returning to UT Health San Antonio and the US Army Reserves in late 2012. He retired from the US Army in 2020 with 31 years of military service.

Currently, Dr. Eastridge is a professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Trauma and Emergency General Surgery at UT Health San Antonio and holds the Jocelyn and Joe Straus Endowed Chair in Trauma Research. In addition, Dr. Eastridge is vice chair of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, an appointed member of the Texas Governor’s EMS and Trauma Advisory Council, and past-Trauma Systems Pillar Chair to the Central Committee of the ACS Committee on Trauma. In 2023, he was appointed as the Medical Director for the Military Health System Strategic Partnership ACS (MHSSPACS).

Dr. Eastridge’s numerous publications include three books focused on improving the military trauma system and combat casualty care outcomes. His current research focuses on remote trauma outcomes, trauma system development, and predictive modeling of injury outcomes and pre-hospital mortality.