2025 COT Annual Meeting

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

3:00-9:00 pm

COT Executive Committee Meeting (By Invitation Only)

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

8:00-9:15 am

Quality Pillar

9:30-10:45 am

Injury Prevention Pillar

10:45 am-12:00 pm

Spotlight Discussions

12:00-1:30 pm

Lunch on Own

12:15-1:15 pm

Movie Screening: Honorable but Broken (Ticketed Event - box lunch provided to ticket holders).

Join us to see a screening of Honorable but Broken: EMS in Crisis. This screening will elevate surgeon awareness of critical challenges in EMS, strengthen collaboration between the COT and NAEMT, and drive unified advocacy for enhanced resources to transform emergency care. Registration is required for this ticketed event and registration is limited. A box lunch will be provided.

1:30-2:45 pm

Systems Pillar

3:00-4:15 pm

Advocacy Pillar

4:15-5:30 pm

Spotlight Discussions

5:30-6:30 pm

New COT Member and New FTL Reception (By Invitation Only)

Thursday, March 13, 2025

7:00-8:00 am

Regions 1-8 Breakfast Committee Meetings

8:30-10:15 am

Resident and Fellow Trauma Paper Competition

10:30-11:30 am

Spotlight Discussions

11:30 am-1:00 pm

Lunch on Own

1:00-3:00 pm

Regional/Central COT Business Meeting

3:30-5:00 pm

Resident and Fellow Trauma Paper Competition

5:00-6:00 pm

Networking Reception

Friday, March 14, 2025

7:00-8:15 am

COT Regions 9-17 Committee Breakfast Meetings

8:30-10:15 am

Education Pillar Meeting

10:15am-12:30 pm

Special Session - A Bias for Action: Preparing the US Health Care System for Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO).

The next battlegrounds for the US are likely to involve conflicts versus a peer or near peer adversary. The United States military is preparing for the potential of large scale combat operations (LSCO) which would generate large numbers of casualties during the initial phase, with projections estimating 2,000-3,000 casualties repatriating to the US per day for the first 100 days of war. Casualties of this magnitude will require engagement of all civilian trauma centers along with a high level of coordination of patient movement and distribution. This panel will discuss the expected wounding patterns and types of injuries that will require care, the National Disaster Medical System pilot currently underway to model combat casualty movement back to the US, and lessons learned from a trauma center in the Ukraine, along with the urgency in development of the COT National Trauma and Emergency Preparedness System plan using Regional Medical Operations Coordinating Centers as its unit of action. There will be ample time at the end of the presentations for audience participation in a Q&A session.

12:30-2:00 pm

Taste of Chicago Networking Lunch

12:30-2:00 pm

COT Region Chiefs (By Invitation Only)

2:00-4:45 pm

Panel Session: Improving Trauma Systems During Challenging Times

Building high-functioning trauma systems is a universal challenge, compounded by modern complexities such as global pandemics, protracted conflicts, and constrained healthcare funding. These obstacles underscore, rather than diminish, the critical need for robust trauma systems. In this session, we will explore how adversity can be transformed into opportunity, leveraging challenges to innovate and elevate the delivery of trauma care worldwide.

Presenters and Topics:

1. Peter Fischer, MD, FACS: Success in adapting EMS systems—excellence regardless of geography, country, or conflict

2. Joseph Sakran, MD, FACS: Show me the money—a “how to” on advocacy for funding trauma systems

3. Jay O. Yelon, DO, FACS: Conflict and trauma systems—the intersection of improving care for those injured in conflict and to develop trauma systems for civilians

6:30-7:00 pm

COT Member Reception (Ticketed Event)

7:00-9:00 pm

COT Member Banquet (Ticketed Event)

9:00-10:00 pm

COT Member Dessert Reception (Ticketed Event)