Dr. Kenneth Wilson, Class of 1996, recently joined University of Chicago Medicine ahead of the launch of its expanded Trauma Care Center that will open next May.

The surgeons will join Selwyn O. Rogers, MD, MPH, who was selected as director of the U. of C. Medicine Trauma Center and Gary An, MD, a current trauma faculty member.

Dr. Wilson, a Baltimore native is an Emory University graduate who attended medical school at Howard University. He has worked for more than a decade as a trauma and acute care surgeon for both adult and pediatric patients, at Hurley Hospital in Flint, Michigan, as the director of Pediatric Trauma.

“Dr. Wilson is interested in the association between race and socioeconomic status on trauma-related health outcomes,” said U. of C. Medicine in a written release.

Last year, U. of C. Medicine broke ground on a new and expanded emergency department that will offer a Level 1 adult trauma center. The new center is expected to bring in 1,000 permanent jobs to staff the facility and 400 construction positions to build the facility.

A trauma-center designation means that the hospital has the facilities, staff, services, and equipment necessary to care for patients who suffer injury from car accidents, major burns, serious falls or gunshot wounds.

The new infrastructure will support 25,000 patient visits per year, an increase of 40 percent in the number of patients the hospital can currently treat. The new facility will be 76 percent larger expanding from 16, 517 square feet to 29,017 gross square feet upon completion. The expanded emergency department will open on Jan. 8, 2018, said U. of C., and the launch of the Level 1 adult trauma services would be May 1, 2018.