Dr. LJ Punch
Trauma Surgeon & Advocate
Dr. Punch is changing the way we think about medicine from the inside, out. An incredibly talented and revered trauma surgeon, Dr. Punch is a transmasculine, non-binary, biracial, neuro-diverse human who loves to heal. Educated in medicine at the University of Connecticut and trained in surgery at the University of Maryland and Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, this desire to heal has brought to life a career with a three-fold focus: education, trauma, and equity.
Moving to Ferguson post-Ferguson to be on faculty at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, this work came to life for him in the development of a wide variety of educational and clinical resources in the management of surgical emergencies across the entire spectrum of illness and healing. In 2018 he collaborated with numerous health care professionals, students, and community members to create “The T”, a community of health working to reduce the impact of trauma through broad public health campaigns, mobile outreach and brick and mortar services. In the wake of the pandemic, he left academic medicine to be the executive director of The T with an expanded focus on multiple sources of trauma disproportionately experienced by Black people including COVID19, bullet injuries, and opioid dependence. This includes the creation of the Bullet Related Injury Clinic, or “The BRIC”, a community based free clinic for patients and their loved ones who are discharged from the emergency department after being shot, with a focus on the experience of the Black masculine body.