Dr. Kelly Hall, associate professor of critical care in the Department of Clinical Sciences at the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital, is the recipient of the 2021 Jack Mara Scientific Achievement Award, presented by the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC).

Hall’s passion is to improve trauma care through collaborative clinical and translational research and education. She is the executive director of the ACVECC Veterinary Committee on Trauma, a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional effort to enhance patient care and improve trauma outcomes. Since 2015, Hall has organized the annual ACVECC VetCOT Trauma and Critical Care Conference, which is held in conjunction with the Mattox Trauma, Critical Care & Acute Care Surgery conference in Las Vegas.

Primary drivers of Dr. Hall’s philosophy, whether on the urgent care clinic floor, coaching on the basketball court or lacrosse field, in the classroom or through research collaborations, include Angela Duckworth’s research on grit, Carol Dweck’s research on growth mindset and coach John Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success.”

Her current research efforts include multi-center translational clinical trials and co-leading the Translational Trauma Research Alliance, an international, multidisciplinary team including pre-clinical researchers and human and veterinary clinicians with a focus on a One Health approach to improving trauma care.

She earned her D.V.M. in 1998 from the University of Minnesota, where she was a faculty member for 14 years. She became board-certified in Emergency and Critical Care board certification in 2008, and earned a master’s degree in Clinical Research in 2013.

More recently, Hall took a non-linear path and spent six years teaching and coaching at the high school level, which led to a better understand of teaching pedagogy and the components necessary for effective teamwork. This experience is helping inform the CSU-led effort to develop a Veterinary Trauma Stabilization course in partnership with the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma leadership, ACVECC and dozens of colleagues.

“I am grateful to work with others that have similar interests and recognize that each effort to improve trauma care only makes progress because of the significant contributions of many,” Hall said.