The field of Burns invigorated my passion for medicine. It allowed me to be a part of a team that solves problems and, with our craft, provides the tools necessary for a patient’s fresh start. – Felicia N. Williams, MD
Dr. Felicia Williams joined the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center practice on July 1, 2014. Dr. Williams completed her undergraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University and attended medical school at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine where she graduated in 2005. Dr. Williams successfully completed residency at East Carolina University in General Surgery and graduated in May 2012. During residency Dr. Williams was awarded an NIH Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Following residency she completed fellowships in Surgical Critical Care and Burns and Burn Reconstruction with Dr. David Herndon at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.
Her introduction to the field of burn was during medical school. As a medical student, Dr. Bruce Cairns led her into a world where the patient population was sicker than any she had ever seen. Their physiology changed continuously, and the challenge was for the healthcare providers to keep up. The field required input from every service from nursing, rehab, dietary, anesthesia, critical care and surgery. There were questions at every turn that required the scientific method to solve. Research helped to optimize the resuscitation, the acute operations, the critical care, the rehabilitation and the long term reconstruction. For her, the science was unparalleled.
During her training Dr. Williams participated in clinical studies and basic science research focusing on the resuscitation and hypermetabolic response to severe burn injury. She studied the response to injury from its impact in immunologic cells to whole body long term catabolism. She participated in clinical trials that studies the response to injury in patients from day one to ten years after injury. Dr. Williams participated in clinical trials that studied the response to injury after the addition of anti-catabolic and anabolic agents. She discovered an even deeper appreciation for the field with their preliminary findings. As her appreciation for the field strengthened, so did her desire to be a member of the team of surgical scientists to help define the field. She decided to devote my career to Burn Surgery. She wanted to accomplish by becoming a member of the burn service at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at 黑料网-Chapel Hill, as this was the place that had originally inspired her to become a burn surgeon.
Dr. Williams goals are to help establish an unparalleled clinical practice, participate in clinical research to help advance the field of burns at 黑料网-Chapel Hill and perhaps beyond. She hopes to combine some of the techniques she has learned over the years from leaders in the field, with those already established at 黑料网 in order to improve clinical outcomes for our patient population. She brings her fellowship training in acute reconstruction to our clinical acumen to improve the morbidity for our patients. Burn Surgery at 黑料网 has grown tremendously over the last decade, and adding Dr. Williams to the team enhances this growth.
To quote Dr. Williams, “I have been a part of the team that wrote the book on the complete care of the burn patient. I want to duplicate that success at 黑料网. I want to be an integral part of this team and help create the next premier burn center in the world”.
Welcome Dr. Felicia N. Williams, we are excited to have you as part of the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center team!