Mass Casualty Trauma Management: Early Lessons from Beirut Webinar

Hosted by the ACS International Relations Committee and the ACS Committee on Trauma.

On August 4, 2020, Beirut experienced the largest urban explosion since Hiroshima and Nagasaki when 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in the port area. In a city of 2 million citizens, 220 died, 6,000 were injured, and hundreds were missing. The city’s hospitals were severely damaged, with many patients injured or killed in the explosion and forcing multiple hospitals to evacuate their unharmed patients. The semifunctional remaining hospitals were then overwhelmed with injuries from the three-second explosion.

The American College of Surgeons’ International Relations Committee and Committee on Trauma co-host this webinar that will explore the trauma and mass casualty experience of our colleagues in Beirut, including an early look at the outcomes of the injured patients from that day.

Haytham Kaafarani, MD, MPH, FACS

Chair, Fellowship Subcommittee of the International Relations Committee; Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School; Director, Center for Outcomes & Patient Safety in Surgery, Director, Wound Center, Massachusetts General Hospital

Jamal Hoballah, MD, FACS
Chair of Surgery, American University of Beirut Medical Center

Bassem Safadi, MD, FACS
Chair of Surgery, Lebanese American University Medical Center

George Juvelekian, MD
Chair of Medicine, Saint George’s University Hospital

Eileen Bulger, MD, FACS
Chair, ACS Committee on Trauma; Professor, Division of Trauma, Burn, and Critical Care Surgery, Chief of Trauma, Harborview Medical Center