Robert D Winfield, MD

Dr. Robert Winfield is a double board-certified surgeon who specializes in trauma, surgical critical care, emergency general surgery and general surgery, collectively known as the specialty of acute care surgery (ACS).

Dr. Winfield is a member of the acute care surgery team at The University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City. The surgeons of the ACS teamwork with students, residents, fellows, nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to provide comprehensive trauma and surgical care to patients who may arrive to the hospital through the Emergency Department or are met by our comprehensive surgical care team for elective general surgery.

As an acute care surgeon, Dr. Winfield cares for a vast array of surgical diseases, including gallbladder problems, appendicitis, bowel obstruction, abdominal and groin hernias, soft tissue injury or infection, as well as injury to the liver, spleen, intestines, ribs and lungs. Patients who require admission to the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) remain under the care of acute care surgeons who are also board-certified in surgical critical care. In the SICU, acute care surgeons manage the ventilator (breathing machine) as well as medications to support blood pressure, antibiotics, pain and sedation. Acute care surgeons perform bedside procedures such as central line placement (large IVs), bronchoscopy (to clear the lungs), tracheostomy (surgically placed breathing tube) and gastric tubes (feeding tubes).

Acute care surgeons help coordinate the care of injured patients and may consult colleagues from other departments such as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, vascular surgery or interventional radiology, depending on the type and severity of illness or injury. Acute care surgeons provide care for patients from hospital admission through hospital discharge and routinely see patients after a hospitalization.

Dr. Winfield is professor and chief of acute care surgery at the University of Kansas Medical Center and the vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Surgery. In addition to training surgical fellows, residents and medical students, Dr. Winfield is an accomplished researcher with interests in violence prevention and postinjury multiple organ failure.

He earned 2 undergraduate degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his medical degree from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. Dr. Winfield completed general surgery residency along with a 2-year NIH-sponsored research fellowship at the University of Florida. His fellowship in trauma and surgical critical care was completed at the University of California San Diego.

Outside of work, Dr. Winfield enjoys a variety of activities to maintain physical fitness, including running, weight training, pickleball and golf. Beyond this, he relishes time spent with his wife and children.