AGH houses the first unit in the state of Pennsylvania specifically designed for trauma care and has provided advanced neurosurgical care to traumatic brain injured (TBI) patients for more than 20 years. The Pennsylvania Trauma System Foundation has consistently designated AGH as a Level I Regional Resource Trauma Center with the highest level of patient care, research and education.

The hospital’s trauma services also include Life Flight, the first aeromedical transportation system in the northeastern United States. Life Flight, based at AGH and in four outlying communities, maintains five helicopters on 24-hour service, plus specialized fixed wing aircraft. The service has completed over 40,000 flights. Twenty million dollars was just expended to put two new state of the art medical helicopters in service.

AGH’s Shock Trauma Center is the largest in the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, with a $50 million expansion of the emergency department and the trauma unit having been undertaken within the past five years. Since 1984, AGH has been the leading institution in the area to focus on care and research into TBI and spinal cord injury (SCI)

Dr Jack Wilberger, MD, Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery was instrumental in development of the Guidelines for the Management of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. This evidence-based document first published in 1996 and most recently revised in 2006, codifies the optimal clinical management parameters for severe TBI. Utilization of these Guidelines has been shown to significantly improve outcomes for these patients. In addition Dr Wilberger is one of three editors of the textbook Neurotrauma , the most comprehensive compendium on the care of TBI and SCI in press today. Dr. Wilberger served as Chairman of the Joint Section of Neurotrauma and Critical Care of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons- organized neurosurgery’s spokesbody for the delivery of neurotrauma care in the United States

Over the past 20 years AGH has contributed to the advancement of the field of neurotrauma through more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, 9 books, and 51 book chapters and over 200 national and international invited presentations