UF Health surgeon to receive national award for research contributions

University of Florida Health surgeon Frederick A. Moore, M.D., a professor and chief of acute care surgery in the UF College of Medicine’s department of surgery, has been named the American College of Critical Care Medicine’s 2015 Distinguished Investigator.

“This award is the college’s highest recognition and is given to an individual whose scientific and educational contributions to the art and science of critical care demonstrates career commitment and excellence,” a letter from the group reads.

Moore joined UF Health in 2011 from Houston Methodist Hospital, where he led the division of surgical critical care and acute care surgery. He also was a professor of surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College.

At UF Health, Moore has led the implementation of new, hospitalwide protocols for recognizing and treating sepsis in patients as early as possible. He continues to work with other UF researchers to understand sepsis, a serious systemic infection that can result in organ failure and death if not treated in a timely manner, and a condition called persistent inflammation, immunosuppression and catabolism syndrome, or PICS. Moore and other UF researchers first identified this condition.

PICS is a low-grade inflammation and immune suppression that causes muscle wasting and weakness in patients. Many patients never recover from PICS, instead languishing in hospitals or long-term care facilities until dying.

“This award recognizes a lifetime career in the treatment of the critically ill patient,” said Lyle Moldawer, Ph.D., vice chairman of research and a professor in the department of surgery. “Dr. Moore has made seminal contributions to our understanding of the causes of multi-organ failure after trauma and sepsis. He has been a driving force for the standardization of care that has led to dramatic improvements in outcome in both trauma and sepsis patient populations.”

Related topics Moore has studied include inflammation, acute kidney injury, immunosuppression, transfusion science and abdominal compartment syndrome, said William C. Chiu, M.D., an associate professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who nominated Moore for the award.

Several of Moore’s 485 publications were listed among the most influential in the field of critical care medicine in a 2010 study published in the Journal of Critical Care.

Moore said he knew he had been nominated for the ACCM award but did not expect to receive it. He will accept the award in January at a meeting of the organization in Phoenix.

“The ACCM recognition of Dr. Moore as the 2015 Distinguished Investigator is a confirmation of what we see on a daily basis,” said Kevin Behrns, M.D., chairman of the UF department of surgery and the Edward R. Woodward professor of surgery. “Dr. Moore is an innovator in the intensive care unit and an advocate for advancing the care of critically ill patients. He is a model surgeon scientist who is highly deserving of this recognition.”