Liz Dreesen

Elizabeth B. Dreesen, MD, FACS
Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery

Contact Information

4009 Burnett Womack
CB 7228, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7228
elizabeth_dreesen@med.unc.edu

Education

B.A., Boston University, History and African Studies
M.D., Harvard Medical School

Training

Intern, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
Resident, General Surgery, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston
Fellow, Nutrition, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston
Fellow, Surgical Critical Care, University of Maryland, R. Adams Cowley Shock-Trauma Center

Interests

Rural trauma systems
Literature and its role in physician identity and sustenance
History of Medicine
Surgical Education

Liz's background in her own words

I grew up in a Navy family and thus I’m not really from anywhere. I majored in History and minored in African Studies as an undergraduate and spent a year at the University of Nairobi. I continue to pursue my interest in history as the faculty advisor for the Bullitt History of Medicine Club, the oldest student organization at UNC SOM. My first medical job was as a secretary in the morgue at Boston City Hospital, where I developed an interest in anatomy. At UNC, I teach in the anatomy lab for both first and fourth year students. Though I had anticipated a career in primary care, I was seduced by surgery and now specialize in trauma, critical care and emergency general surgery. After training, I worked as a trauma surgeon at Johns Hopkins and then lit out for the territories, establishing a private mom-and-pop general (GENERAL!) surgery practice with my husband, Gary Gala, in rural North Carolina. My 7 years in rural practice left me with an interest in rural medicine. My life in medicine has only served to increase my love of reading, writing and literature. I have been a columnist for the Raleigh News and Observer and currently participate in a hospital based reading group.