Trauma Burn Center

Verified trauma and burn centers offer specialized care, services, equipment, and staff who are trained to treat serious burn and trauma injuries. To become verified, a center must also demonstrate leadership in research, education, outreach/prevention, system planning, and the ability to care for the most severely injured patients.  

Additionally, Level 1 trauma and burn centers serve as a resource to all hospitals caring for injured patients in their region. National experts in trauma and burn care continually review a center's accomplishments and performance to determine if verification as a Level 1 trauma center should continue.  Verification as a burn center and Level 1 trauma center is a prestigious accomplishment that we are proud to have maintained since our first review.  

The Trauma Burn Center was originally founded in 1959 as the University of Michigan Burn Center - one of the first dedicated burn units in the United States and the first in Michigan.  Burn specialists and researchers developed an international reputation for leadership in research, care and rehabilitation of burn patients.

In 1991, we became the University of Michigan Trauma Burn Center after adding the capability of caring for a wide variety of traumatic injuries, in addition to burns.  The facility was verified as a level 1 Adult Trauma Center in 1993 by the American College of Surgeons, and was verified as a Pediatric/Adult Burn Center in 2000.  Our service is designed to treat patients who suffered multiple traumatic injuries, mostly life-threatening or limb-threatening injuries.  We admit an average of 1450 such patients each year.