Peter Meong Rhee (born September 18, 1961) is an American surgeon, medical professor, and military veteran. During his 24 years in the United States Navy, Rhee served as a battlefield casualty physician in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Formerly a Professor of Surgery and the Chief of Trauma, Critical Care, and Burn and Emergency Surgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine until 2016, he then served as the Chief of Surgery at the Marcus Trauma Center at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Currently he is the Director of the surgical ICU at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He was a tenured Professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona until 2016. Now he is Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda Maryland, Morehouse School of Medicine and is a tenured Professor of Surgery at the New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. He rose to national prominence when he served as the attending physician to U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords of Arizona, as well as other victims, following the 2011 Tucson shooting.
Biography
Early life and education
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Rhee lived for several years in Uganda where his father, a surgeon, worked in a clinic in Torroro, Uganda. The elder Rhee moved the family to the United States when his son was 10 to get a better education. The family was raised in a small Pennsylvania town, south of Pittsburgh. His father was an anesthesiologist at Uniontown Hospital. The younger Rhee graduated in 1979 from Laurel Highlands High School in Fayette County. In 1983, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Health Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 1987, Rhee earned his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine. He also earned a master's degree in Public Health from the University of Washington Department of Health Services. In 1999, he earned a diploma in Medical Care of Catastrophes from the Society of Apothecaries of London.
Military service
Rhee is a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. During a trip to China in 1998, he was selected to accompany U.S. President Bill Clinton as his designated surgeon. In 2001, Rhee became one of the first American military surgeons to be deployed in Afghanistan at Camp Rhino, the first forward operating base to be established during Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2005, Rhee was deployed to Iraq, where he established the first surgical unit in Ramadi. His service awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Navy Commendation Medal.
As the Director of the Navy Trauma Training Center at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, Rhee became involved in an interbranch disagreement between the Army and Navy regarding the adoption of new hemostatic agents designed for battlefield treatment of severe bleeding. While the Army had adopted blood-clotting bandage called HemCon, the Navy and Marines instead opted for a different product called QuikClot. After testing HemCon at the Navy Trauma Training Center, Rhee concluded in December 2005: "I've tried every one of these products, many times, on many different kinds of wounds. For big-time bleeding – and that's what we're really worrying about here – HemCon doesn't work." Though Rhee preferred QuikClot, he expressed reservations over its commercialization in 2003 because of the potential for misuse by untrained consumers.
Rhee was appointed as Professor of Surgery and Molecular Cellular Biology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and continues to consult for the Office of Naval Research and the Marine Corps War Fighting Laboratory.
Civilian medical career
Rhee worked in the trauma centers at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. In September 2007, he became the Chief of Trauma and Critical Care and Professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. By that time, he had published over 200 articles in medical journals. In July 2009, the University Medical Center was designated a Level 1 Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons. Rhee stated that the center had become ranked among the top 10 in the nation.